sleepy

The End of Exclusive: How Apple Plans to Grow Market Share

Actually, iPhone is a commodity handset; it's just a commodity with its own category, and a relatively high price. What makes it a commodity is (1) quantity sold/in use, (2) they are all iPhones with uniform device and global service specified and part implemented by Apple (via iTunes and MobileMe), (3) universal software update keeping them all in step.

Apple have created a product in its own generic market space, which is a business proposition for a carrier very similar to a basic voice+SMS phone, except for the higher ARPU it generates. It thus offers large and immediate growth for the carriers out of the saturated voice market. Apple's largest current business is selling growth to the carriers.