Is known to hinder bluetooth on their phones, charge you any way they can, the only benefit is that their phones have such technology that they'll find a Verizon analog signal in the middle of the mountains. They, like Sprint, use CDMA which is a good American attempt to dethrone GSM as the world standard. Sadly, GSM is in more places and the SIM card concept is what makes it so strong. I do want to know WHERE the SIM goes in the iPhone.... there is no battery compartment! But the Cingular exclusive is a shocker to me because I don't like them as a company, but yes they aren't hindering their phones. Verizon release a phone that has wifi? HAHAHHAA.... we'll see OS X for Dell and generic Intel before that.

Your a d***.

The "radio" part of the phone is not anything difficult and Apple could have come out with a CDMA for Verizon and a GSM for the rest of the world or even a combined CDMA/GSM radio if they wanted to. Just look at the RAZR. Comes with any "radio" technology you want.

Quite expected comment from a garbage scow, or maybe he's talking about his own cancer.

Also a current Verizon customer who will not be renewing for a couple of reasons. Number one, Verizon cripples their phones. I wish Verizon would spend their resources on creating the best user experience possible instead of trying to figure out new ways to F me over. I was going to stick with Verizon b/c I have OnStar and they are providing my plan for my car too for $10 more, but I don't use it enough to justify it. Since Cingular is offering the iPhone, and allowing Apple to control the user interface, yeah, I'm switching in September. I really figured the reason Cingular was chosen by Apple was because of the reason point out in this article; got all that just by being a verizon customer. Bye bye verizon.

all too well, verizon likes to be in charge on media transfer between your phone. With most companies, if you have something like BlueTooth file transfer as a feature on your phone, you can use it. However, verizon puposefully disables abilities like this so you have to use their ridiculously expensive "V-Cast" service, which they seem to think is a good thing.

The iPhone lets you be in charge of what goes on and off, and even moves the content distributor from the carrier to Apple. With so-called services that come at these kinds or premiums, they can really stick it to the average person (a.k.a. majority of consumers). In time, Verizon will either learn from this mistake if they lower their prices, or drop customers if they don't change this ludicrous business model.

It is trying to be a bad version of Apple itself - control and a media source. The V-Cast business model I'm sure was as big an issue against partneriing with Apple than merely loss of some control. While Verizon gets great leverage with its large supply system (Wal-Mart, etc), it is stuck in that system.

All of the carriers and internet and media content providers are going to be choosing their camps in the next year. Verizon wants to lead one group, AT&T wants to co-lead another with Apple (smart on their part) and who knows what Sprint and MS and RIMM will be doing. There will be a season of reconning in about 2 years when these systems start to need to consolidate.

I have been a relatively happy Verizon customer for years and have lots of "In" family and friends, but I will probably be ready to switch to an iPhone when it gets down to about $300 with version 3 in a year and a half.

Odd, my Verizon phone isn't crippled. In fact, it works just fine. I can make calls and receive calls. It hardly ever, almost never, drops calls. I've cancelled my home long distance service now that I have a phone that actually let's me use my minutes I pay for. I can use the phone while driving along major Interstate highways where another phone company SAID I'd be able to make calls, but never delivered. Heck, I can even make (and receive!) calls in small, rural communities here in the Midwest.

Ok, ok, so I see your point about "crippling phones", but I guess it's all a matter of perspective. I got a cell phone to...wait for it...make and receive calls! To me, it's Cingular who cripples the *phone*. Sure, they make it easy to wirelessly transfer crappy, low-res photos from a hand-held device to your computer, but try making (and not dropping) a phone call!

Oh, and for the record, from day one I've had no problems using iSync via Bluetooth to sync my Address Book contacts and iCal appointments to my Verizon phone. Out-of-the-box, seamless, no additional software, no hacks, no fees, etc.