Verizon rejected Apple's iPhone terms

If only the cancer became terminal

That's not a very nice thing to say... you're an ass.

Sounds like you're too much of an idiot to afford anything but moronic comments.

Cell companies are convinced that they have to send a squadron of pixies out to carry every message, and erect a new towe for every phone. Or at least their fees seem to indicate. Build-out is over. Start charging what the service is worth, or someone else will punch thru this nonsense and take your lunch money. I'm surprised the vp gave his name - it'll be interesting to see where he is if the iPhone takes off...

on Verizon's part. I am a current VerizonWireless customer who, when the contract ends in Novermber, will not be renewing their service. Their loss. Too bad because they really have been an easy company to deal with, though I hate they lock out certain features of the Treo 650 I own and that there are no rollover minutes.

I thought Cingular was on a 2 year exclusive agreement, not five. Any one have facts on this? I don't totally trust MacNN's reporting accuracy.

The *real* dealbreaker was that Verizon wanted Apple to disable the really useful features so Verizon could then sell them back to their suckers, I mean, customers. :-)

People grouse about Cingular, but at least Cingular doesn't cripple their phones.

is there any chance that the iPhone could come to sprint some day?

I really don't see how Apple could have gone with Verizon - Verizon doesn't do GSM, right? Without GSM, the iPhone couldn't be a "world phone" and compete in all markets, just in the US, right? I guess Apple could have made a CDMA + GSM phone, if they wanted to, but with an "exclusive" deal, this would have been really hard to pull off...

The 5-year agreement for Cingular means no other carrier in the US will be able to sell it until this expires. This has been reported elsewhere (outside of MacNN/Electronista universe), although always with the reservation that it's unofficial (neither Apple nor Cingular want to disclose the terms).

You'll be signing a 2-year contract with Cingular when you buy this phone at $500 (or $600 for the 8-GB model).

As for Verizon, since it is big and popular, it is no surprise that Apple wanted to work with them. Neither is it a surprise that Verizon didn't want to work with Apple; instead, they just wanted Apple to do whatever Verizon wanted. There are manufacturers (Nokia/Samsung/LG/Moto/Sony-Ericsson/Palm/etc.) that will painstakingly design a handset, then cripple it at the whim of a carrier, just to get to play in the market. Apple will never be one of them. Unfortunately, these other makers have made carriers so used to the level of control over hardware they now have that it took Cingular (dare I say their vision?) to sign such an exclusive deal (on Apple's terms, no less) without ever seeing even a prototype. While I was never a major fan of Cingular, I really hope they get rewarded here by extra 10 million subscribers by the year's end.