macnn
04/29/2008, 4:45pm, EDT
Tuesday, April 29th
Apple re-evaluating iPhone distribution?
Apple could be re-evaluating its iPhone exclusivity agreements in future global releases as it expands into Europe, Asia, Central, and South America. Spanish language news site CincoDias writes that the same business methodology that Apple used to successfully launch the iPhone in the US doesn't necessarily mean the approach works globally. The publication cites poor European sales – when contrasted to North American numbers – especially due to individuals compromising the device's exclusivity through alternative means.
Two telecommunications companies are currently under scrutiny for a Latin American launch of the iPhone: Americas and Telefonica Movil. While Apple denies a slowdown in European sales, it could be in talks with both companies to provide the iPhone to Latin America in response to some critics who have noticed a discrepancy between European and North American sales.
Apple has not officially commented on criticism, and has not confirmed any changes to its distribution procedure for the iPhone.
Filed under: iPhone, Apple, industry
Other story tags: Europe, distribution, Latin America
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AT&T?
I was with Verizon for many years, and the sorry old Motorola phone I had with a broken antenna worked much better than my iPhone with AT&T. I tend to think it isn't the iPhone so much as the AT
its GSM that is bad
I believe GSM is the problem. My CDMA phones with Alltel worked great but my iPhone on AT
Differences
There are different technological differences between GSM and CDMA, however, the biggest factor is the spectrum that they are on in your area and the number of antennas in use. When a cell company gets an area to put up towers, they get a specific group of frequencies they can use. Lower frequencies means less towers are needed as the signal can travel further. In densely populated areas this doesn't matter as more towers are needed anyway for capacity, but when you start getting out in the country, putting up more towers gets to be expensive.GSM is rather new in the US, so many outlying areas tend to have less coverage from what I've seen.