I have Altell. I don' know if I want to part with "my circle." Why can't Apple just let every &*$@!ing company carry the damn phone?
They have a deal with Cingular/AT&T. AT&T has (USA) exclusivity for five years, but Apple gets a cut of the subscriptions, and a lot of control that other 3rd party manufacturers probably don't have. While I don't have the exact details, here are some quotes from a Verizon exec who turned Apple down before they went to Cingular:
Among other things, Apple wanted a percentage of the monthly cellphone fees, say over how and where iPhones could be sold and control of the relationship with iPhone customers
According to Verizon, Apple CEO Steve Jobs insisted that he have hard control over iPhone distribution. The problem? While Apple and Verizon stores would have it, Wal-Mart, Best Buy and other Verizon distributors could have been left out.
Customer care was another hitch: If an iPhone went haywire, Apple wanted sole discretion over whether to replace or repair the phone.
What it comes down to is that Apple execs are a bunch of hard-asses who want complete control over every aspect of the experience, from the advertising, to the point of sale, to the things you can install on their devices, to the tech support. They've historically been in favor of proprietary systems, and this is how that manifests itself in the cellphone market.
kono
