Now Things Get Complicated

[calvin-c]

Originally Posted by Worldwalker

T-Mobile also has a GSM network. However, AT&T got a multi-year exclusivity deal with Apple. Every single iPhone user I know is looking forward to the day when that deal ends, because to a one, they ate AT&T, and want to jump ship to any other network that can take them. They love their iPhones, but oh, do they ever hate AT&T.

Whereas I like the AT&T service but hate the iPhone. Most of the problems I've read about are complaints by idiots, i.e. people who think that 1 million users of a network can see the same performance as 1000 users.

[dmaul1114]

I'd say it's hardly a complaint of mostly idiots. There are lots of times where I have good reception on my Verizon phone and my friends with AT&T have poor or no signal. And I can't recall a single instance where the opposite was true.

I really like the iPhone, but there's no way I'd leave Verizon to get it. I'm not sure I need a smartphone enough to pay the $30 for the data plan anyway though since I spend most of my time at a computer as is.

[TallMomof2]

Originally Posted by dmaul1114

I'd say it's hardly a complaint of mostly idiots. There are lots of times where I have good reception on my Verizon phone and my friends with AT&T and poor or no signal. And I can't recall a single instance where the opposite was true.

I really like the iPhone, but there's no way I'd leave Verizon to get it. I'm not sure I need a smartphone enough to pay the $30 for the data plan anyway though since I spend most of my time at a computer as is.

A few years ago, DH was on AT&T and I was on Verizon. His phone was through his then employer and they paid for it so it was good enough. Whenever we'd go out together I was always amazed at the poor reception on his AT&T phone. It's improved but when DH left that employer he switched to Verizon.

iPhones are purty but I won't be spending any more money at Apple.

[SensualPoet]

AT&T is struggling to build out enough HSPA capacity is certain core markets -- New York and Los Angeles esp -- to satisfy the iPhone users there. It's not an iPhone flaw. The US is the last "hold out" market without multi-carriers ... based on the iPhone design itself: to date, there is no CDMA or AWS option. That shuts out Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile ...

Canada was the second last hold out: the dominoes fell in Nov when Bell and Telus rolled out their HSPA overlay network on their CDMA facilities. Until then, Rogers, with a true "legacy" GSM/HSPA network, had been the sole iPhone provider. Between the very solid build of Rogers HSPA, and the virtually empty highway of the Bell/Telus spanking new network, iPhone does really well here.

AT&T, nonetheless, has managed to convince Apple, so far, not to develop a "Verizon friendly" iPhone. And, in the grand picture, that's probably a smart move -- and probably costing AT&T a serious premium for exclusivity. Eventually there will be a network agnostic iPhone in the US -- maybe as soon as June 22. But in the meantime, AT&T is spending serious dollars building a more robust data network which, in the long run, preps it for ongoing leadership as new devices arrive.

[leebase]

The iPhone entered a mature market and has taken a 25% share in 3 years. The iPad is breaking ground in a new niche and effectively has a 100% share. Well, minus the 90 JooJoos that sold

I think magazine publishers would do quite well to target the iPad. Sometime this summer or later in the year, the serious competitors will enter the market. The windows slates will be a non-starter, but the android ones will occupy the "what to target after we've created our iPad app" niche

Lee

[Crowl]

Originally Posted by bevdeforges

When the iPhone first came out in the US it was limited to AT&T (by contract). I think the EU Trade Commission stepped in and told Apple they could not limit their product to a single carrier in any of the European countries.
Cheers,
Bev

Nope, most eu countries had similar deals, but it was only the american deal that got extended, so that resulted in more carriers with the iphone while still only the one in the states.

[Crowl]

Originally Posted by leebase

The iPhone entered a mature market and has taken a 25% share in 3 years. The iPad is breaking ground in a new niche and effectively has a 100% share. Well, minus the 90 JooJoos that sold

The smartphone market still isn't mature either, just a bit more established than the slate one.

I think magazine publishers would do quite well to target the iPad. Sometime this summer or later in the year, the serious competitors will enter the market. The windows slates will be a non-starter, but the android ones will occupy the "what to target after we've created our iPad app" niche

At this stage, targeting the ipad has to be the sensible move for magazine publishers whether its via zinio or an app per issue because its the ideal time to learn what works and what doesn't as far as the digital editions, their pricing etc. and as the options expand they can do the same sort of thing that publishers did to the kindle and start dictating terms a bit more when the ipad is less of an issue for them.

As far as dismissing windows slates, that seems a little shortsighted, the things that have held back the form factor in the past have been things like the OS, device power and battery life with most of those being a lot obetter with current hardware and windows 7. You also have to look at the netbook market, that's a huge and growing market and it would only take a relatively small shift from that market for windows slates to do very well. They would have a plus for publishers that went for options like zinio that it would only require slight updates from the basic windows client to add things like better touchscreen support and they were done. Android tablets will probably get more attention, but they will probably need more work than a windows ones.