The iPhone 5 News Blog

One of Apple’s Board of Directors may have just spilled the beans on the iPhone 5′s release in October — and that Board is none other than Al Gore. Move over climate change, Big Al is now the new iPhone rumor monger.

Former Vice President, inventor of the Internet, eco-warrior, and Apple board member Al Gore apparently spotted the beans on an October release, coming just on the heels of a report today that Apple has slated a media event for October 4th. His offhand comments came at this years’ Discovery Invest Leadership Conference wherein he commented to Stuff Magazine “Not to mention the new iPhones coming out next month. That was a plug.”

Much has been made of Gore’s remark, not only because it corroborates the prevailing rumors of an October announcement and release of the iPhone 5, but also the ever growing sense that Apple might co-release two new iPhone models, a theory once thought to be implausible. As a member of Apple’s board, Mr. Gore would indeed have access to sensitive information such as the nature of the next iPhone’s release. It remains to be seen if Gore’s comment was a gaffe or part of Apple’s often cryptic pre-marketing efforts.

I’m just relieved Gore wasn’t this reckless with national policy secrets when he was Vice President.

Should this comment price to be true, it remains to be seen how Gore’s slip up could affect his role on Apple’s board.

By Michael Nace

An upcoming new Droid smartphone from HTC is promising a beefy 4.5″ screen. If the iPhone 5 turns out to use the same screen and form factor as the 4, its screen will look puny next to its competitors.

The recent debate and conflicting rumors over whether the iPhone 5 will turn out to be either a refresh our an overhaul has had much to do with the form factor of the next iPhone design, and whether form factor alone determines if a new iPhone is indeed a refresh or an overhaul. Given the fact that the iPhone 3Gs was a refresh of the 3G and featured the same form factor, and the iPhone 4 was an overhaul and offered a completely new form factor, this syllogism leads many iPhone users to use form factor as a litmus test for the new iPhone’s level of ingenuity, in spite of the fact that the 3Gs and 4 were refreshes and overhauls, respectively, based on other features moreso than form factor alone.

Whether the iPhone 5 will need to have a new form factor or not for you to consider it an overhaul, however, will not change the fact that, if the next iPhone retains the same screen dimensions as the current iPhone 4, it will undoubtedly be outclassed by its top Android rivals in screen size.

Both the Samsung Galaxy S 2 and the Nexus Prime are slated to get 4.3″ screens that would dwarf the current screen specs of the iPhone 4. This is bound to irk avid iPhone users, who have been clamoring for a larger, edge to edge screen for the iPhone 5 since the start of the rumor cycle. Smartphone users as a whole are beginning to recognize that, as smartphones become smarter, the need for a larger gesture area becomes apparent. Typing, for example, is particularly painful on a 3.5″ screen (which I am currently experiencing as I write this blog post, thanks to Hurricane Irene knocking out my power for 36 hours and counting. Thank God for 3G.) Even if the next iPhone features significant upgrades, such as an 8 megapixel camera or even 4G, the lack of a larger screen could create a gap between Apple and Android.

To add insult to injury, there is yet another new Droid phone coming up that will up the ante with an even bigger screen. The HTC “Waikiki” – which is perhaps the stupidest rumored name I’ve ever heard come out of the Droid universe, next only to Ice Cream Sandwich – is rumored to sport a luscious 4.5″ screen, along with an impressive list of features such as 1.2 Ghz dual core processor, 1 GB RAM, 8 megapixel camera, and qHD display.

It’s enough to make an iPhone user feel jealous.

Truism #1: politicians lie. Truism #2: so do CEOs of multi-billion-dollar corporations.

Want proof? Just read through the transcript of Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam’s conference call that seeks to outline Verizon’s “positive” financials in the smartphone market for 2011. On the call, McAdams said the following:

“We are probably what I would view as maybe a quarter behind what we had talked about in January , primarily because we expected an iPhone 5 refresh sometime this summer. We don’t know when the next one is going to come out. You will have to ask Apple that. But we expect that probably sometime in the fall, and I think you will see a significant jump there when we get to that point.”

Rather than simply taking Lowell McAdam’s word for it, let’s step back a moment, and observe the confounding nature of this quotation from several angles.

First off, what is McAdam talking about when when he says that Verizon “expected an iPhone 5 refresh?” How is it in any way responsible for the Verizon CEO to publicly speculate on the next iPhone being called the “iPhone 5,” and that it would be a “refresh,” especially considering that in the same breath he also tells us that Verizon doesn’t “know when the next one is going to come out. You will have to ask Apple that”?

Huh?

Perhaps you, dear reader, think I’m being a bit obstinate in my reading of mr McAdam’s quote due to my belief that the iPhone 5′s release was delayed precisely because Verizon wanted more time to sell their version of the iPhone 4, but wouldn’t you have to admit that the above-quoted comment is a contradiction in terms?

I believe that we should take George Costanza from Seinfeld‘s approach to looking at what the Verizon CEO had to say in his conference call to investors, and instead believe the opposite of everything he stated.

Let’s start with the obvious: does Mr. McAdams expect us, the average iPhone user, to believe that Verizon (and AT&T, by extension) have no idea about the next iPhone? That even today, on July 22nd, with every indication that Apple is imminently preparing to launch the next iPhone, that AT&T and Verizon (and whoever may peddle the next iPhone in the U.S.) is completely in the dark about what the next iPhone will be, what it will look like, and when it will be released? Should we assume, then, that the way it works is that a fleet of trucks just appear at AT&T and Verizon’s distribution centers one morning and dump 15 million boxes of iPhones for them to sell, completely unannounced?

Forget turnips — Mr. McAdams must think that we just fell off of those fictional Apple trucks.

But McAdams doesn’t stop there. He compounds his iPhone yarn by saying, “Given the delay of the iPhone 5 is more than a quarter, I think we have actually performed quite well.” This, I believe, is the lynchpin of the fib, and why Verizon wants to perpetuate the sense that they have no idea about the whereabouts or the whenabouts of the iPhone 5. It’s all about fiscal quarters: particularly the third quarter, which will ostensibly be a bad one for Verizon.

In spite of McAdams’ characterization that Verizon has had a fruitful second quarter of iPhone 4 sales, financial media outlets are reporting that Verizon has done little to penetrate AT&T’s market share of the iPhone. Reuters is reporting today that, in spite of all the positive bluster on Verizon’s investor conference call, “Verizon Communications (VZ.N) failed to gain market share against AT&T Inc (T.N) in iPhone sales in its first full quarter selling Apple Inc’s device, sending shares down as much as 3 percent,” and that they only activated 2.3 million iPhones, as compared to AT&T, who activated 3.6 million.

So, Verizon is trying to essentially damage control this news. And Reuters is even parroting the spin when they say: “Verizon Wireless expects to sell a new version of the iPhone sometime in the autumn, which is roughly a financial quarter later than it previously expected. As a result, it will take that much longer than expected to achieve its goal of having half of its subscribers using smartphones, which generate more revenue.” This rationale by Verizon tells me that they are trying to blame Apple for failing to meet investors’ expectations on iPhone sales. To me, it is very clear and obvious.

And chances are, Q3 Verizon earnings for the iPhone 4 are going to be abysmal, since we already know that iPhone 4 sales have dropped across the board in Q3. This is precisely why the new Verizon CEO is saying, “”We expect [the new iPhone] probably sometime in the fall. I think you’ll see a significant jump there.” Talk about groveling to investors, pleading that they don’t jump ship on Verizon stock and leave the company in the lurch from a cash flow standpoint, just when the next iPhone is due out.

But truth be told, I don’t really care about all of that.

If Lowell McAdams needs to spin the data and jump through flaming hoops to keep his bigtime investors happy, more power to him. Those guys play their little games, and we just watch from the sidelines. I get that.

What I do not appreciate, however, is Verizon’s characterization of its business relationship with Apple — that they have no idea about the next iPhone, and that Apple has somehow let down Verizon, investors, and the iPhone community its delay in the iPhone 5, especially when Verizon may very well be the prime reason why the iPhone 5 was delayed in the first place. If the iPhone 4 had launched to a resounding success for Verizon to the extent that they cut deeply into AT&T’s entrenched market share of iPhone 5 sales, we may have even heard Mr. McAdams boasting of the delay so as to allow Verizon more time in developing its market share of the iPhone 4.

However, what this speaks to is the possibility of a failed scheme for Verizon, and one wonders if the succession of the CEO position at Verizon from Ivan Seidenberg to Lowell McAdams had anything to do with missteps as far as the iPhone 4 is concerned. We’ll never really know, but perhaps if Verizon had waited and simply released the iPhone 5 in June, maybe Verizon, Apple, and even all of us would have been a lot happier about the iPhone here on a hot July 22nd?

By Michael Nace

More indications that the third largest mobile carrier will indeed be brought onboard by Apple in 2011 to offer the new iPhone 5 to its subscribers – all in a bid to compete with Android.

As you know, the iPhone 5 News Blog has reported on the prospects of Sprint getting the iPhone 5 for some time now. As we get closer and closer to the iPhone 5′s official release, more and more evidence is pointing to the reality that Sprint will indeed get the new iPhone along with AT&T and Verizon. The newest report comes today from CNET, which is reporting that “according to Piper Jaffray analyst Chris Larsen, the latest to weigh in on the mounting speculation that carriers beyond AT&T and Verizon Wireless will get the next iPhone, ‘While we remain uncertain regarding the next-generation iPhone’s specs and features, we believe the most noteworthy change could be the device’s ability to run on more networks, specifically Sprint and T-Mobile in the U.S.”

Larsen’s memo joins another recent analyst prediction from Citadel analyst Shing Yin, who said that “he believed Apple would begin selling the iPhone for Sprint later this year.”

The move by Apple to include Sprint in the list of U.S. mobile carriers who sell the iPhone 5 is significant, since it will give apple a leg up on Google/Android, which is always selling copious amounts of Android phones on Sprint’s network.

Read Why AT&T & Verizon iPhone Users Should Love Sprint

I’m gonna go out on a limb here: I like Sprint.

My wife is a Sprint customer, and while her new Android-based Kyocera Echo — for all of its dual-screened goodness — falls way short of the quality mark of the iPhone, Sprint is in itself a noble company, as far as mobile carriers go, and it is no fault of their own that Droids are crashy.

Sure, they are by no means a product-leading mobile carrier here in the U.S., but what they do offer is value pricing in a market that seems to be getting less and less competitive between carriers, thus driving the cost of mobile computing up. The mobile market in the U.S. is fast becoming a binary, with AT&T on one end and Verizon on the other. Even if you are not a Sprint customer, you should applaud the fact that Sprint exists: they essentially keep AT&T and Verizon from turning into Ming the Merciless when it comes to data plan pricing and other fees.

In fact, it can even be argued that Verizon dropping its unlimited data pricing this year is a result of AT&T’s acquisition of T-Mobile: while it may not seem that such a merger would directly impact Verizon, it does: by AT&T taking T-Mobile off the gameboard, all who is left is Sprint/Nextel, meaning that AT&T and Verizon can marginalize Sprint’s pricing by reaching data plan pricing parity with one another, since together they garner the lion’s share of subscribers.

In short, it creates a “binary monopoly,” also known as a “duopoly.”

It is for this reason that Sprint is petitioning against the AT&T/T-Mobile merger (did you know that?), making th point to the FCC. In Sprint’s petition to the FCC on May 31st, 2011, they state:

“The proposed transaction would turn back the clock on competition and innovation and bring this era of unprecedented wireless expansion and technological innovation to an abrupt, but avoidable, halt. The transaction would make AT&T the nation’s largest wireless carrier with 118 million subscribers in total and 43 percent of the post-paid market. Coupled with Verizon’s more than 94.1 million total subscribers and 39 percent of the post-paid market, the transaction would create a Twin Bell duopoly with 82 percent of post-paid subscribers, over 78 percent of all wireless revenues, and 88 percent of all wireless operating profits. The Twin Bells’ market dominance would dwarf Sprint, the sole remaining national carrier, and the rest of the wireless industry, thereby creating an entrenched, anti-competitive duopoly.”

You can read the entire petition here. It is actually very compelling and an interesting read.

Folks, it’s a bad thing that AT&T is poised to subsume T-Mobile and put the finishing touch on AT&T/Verizon’s bid to create a duopoly. If they forced Sprint out of the picture enough, we could very well see a Verizon/Sprint merger in the near future (a hostile takeover), which would be horrible for us, the consumers. For as much as we may imagine AT&T and Verizon to be mortal enemies, don’t think for a second that they are not working together — albeit implictly — to destroy Sprint.

And I’m telling ya, if Sprint folds, the cost of being a smartphone user will necessarily skyrocket. Given the poor outlook of the American economy, this would indeed be a bad thing.

The iPhone 5 on Sprint: Apple Gets It

If Apple forges the deal with Sprint to give them the iPhone 5, for them, it’s all about competing with Android and RIM. But it also may be in Apple’s best interest to keep Sprint alive as well, since an increase in data usage costs in the wake of a Sprint-less vacuum in the future could hurt the iPhone more than Android, since now iCloud will be the defining feature of the “Apple ecosphere.” Since we still don’t know what data usage is really going to look like post-iCloud, if data usage pricing skyrockets, then the iPhone could become less desirable, since users will consider it to be too expensive to run. Kind of like how cars that have poor gas mileage tend to sell poorly in a strained economy.

It very well may be that giving Sprint the iPhone is Apple throwing them a lifeline in the event that the AT&T/T-Mobile merger saps competition even further. By giving U.S. subscribers an unlimited data plan option for the iPhone 5, it will force the Big Two (especially Verizon) to tread carefully when it comes to data pricing.

And for all of us who use AT&T or Verizon, that’s enough to thank Sprint for.

 By Michael Nace

Verizon’s recent gaffe confirms that the iPhone 5 will indeed be a dual-network device that will work with both CDMA and GSM. While the notion of a dual-network iPhone 5 isn’t much of a revelation, the news helps Verizon more than AT&T. Here’s why:

Another slip of the tongue has confirmed yet another detail about the upcoming iPhone 5.

Less than three weeks after Sony CEO Howard Stringer tacitly admitted that the next iPhone 5 camera would be of the 8 megapixel variety, Verizon’s Chief Financial Officer Fran Shammo seems to have now confirmed that the iPhone 5 will indeed be a dual-network device, supporting both AT&T’s GSM and Verizon’s CDMA technologies. Venturebeat reports that “in an attempt to deflect an analyst probing for details on Apple’s next phone, Verizon inadvertently mentioned that [the iPhone 5] will be a ‘global device’.”

While the iPhone community is always happy to have virtually any detail about the iPhone 5 confirmed or corroborated (except, perhaps, for the recent report of a late September release), news of a dual-network iPhone 5 should not come as an earth-shattering revelation to those who have followed the it over the past six month of so. It is true that Apple had to fashion an alternate CDMA-equipped iPhone 4 to work on the Verizon network, creating two network variants with very slight design differences between the two.

But the production of the CDMA model was a work-around for Apple; obviously, a deal with Verizon had not been solidified by the time the iPhone 4 was launched in the summer of 2010, meaning that the initial AT&T model had no CDMA capabilities. And as we all know, there was no way that Apple could have clandestinely outfitted the original AT&T iPhone to run on CDMA — too many iPhone geeks out there pop open their new iPhones to look under the hood. Any stealth move to equip the iPhone 4 for both networks would have been discovered. This time around, however, it makes good business sense to make sure that the iPhone 5 works on both networks; it will keep production costs down and make shipping and inventory far easier.

An interesting question to consider, however, is whether or not a dual-network iPhone 5 benefits either carrier, or is it just a wash?

I would argue that, while the dual-channel iPhone 5 revelation isn’t going to be any kind of groundbreaking game-changer for either mobile carrier, it is Verizon that may have the most to gain from the notion that both companies will share the same iPhone design.

More than any other iPhone 5 topic on this blog, the subject of AT&T versus Verizon has inspired more angst, vitriol, and hurt feelings. We wrote an article about it a while back, and people weighed in on the issue with gusto, defending their mobile network providers with bravado. It’s a fact: iPhone users are passionate about their carriers. AT&T and Verizon are like political parties around here. (I guess Sprint customers are the Independents.)

Thus, I know that I am stepping into a minefield with Verizon customers when I reluctantly state that CDMA is generally considered to be the slower of the two mobile technologies, disallowing the kind of multi-tasking that AT&T iPhone users typically enjoy. Whether or not this is true, however, is not the issue: the fact remains that this is the prevailing belief about Verizon.

With this is mind, one can imagine that it can only benefit Verizon for prospective iPhone 5 customers to see that the device works on both networks. Unlike the iPhone 4, which has two variants for GSM and CDMA, the iPhone is the same phone, same specs, same technology. AT&T will no longer be able to infer that they have the “better iPhone” model.

Sameness is the name of the game for Verizon this time around, as they will finally have a chance to compete with AT&T right out of the gate with the iPhone 5. The game plan will be the same for both carriers: AT&T will tout speed and versatility, and Verizon will roll out their maps. It should be a real hoot.

Perhaps this admission by Verizon about the dual-channel iPhone 5 will turn out to be the first innoquous shot fired in the iPhone 5 network wars?

By Michael Nace

Fresh rumors abound of a “delayed”  iPhone 5 release for September. Read about why a September release has always made sense for the iPhone 5 — and how the iPhone 5 News Blog has predicted a “Back To School” iPhone 5 release all along.

In the world of the iPhone rumor mill, there are basically only two types of prognostication: when will the iPhone 5 be announced/released, and what new features will it have. While the majority of recent rumors have focused on features, a new round of prognostication has included suggestions from sources that the iPhone 5 is headed for a September 2011 release.

Here at the iPhone 5 News blog, we’ve been eyeing a “Back To School” iPhone 5 release all along.

In early January, we predicted in another article that “the iPhone 5 may not be announced until the early Summer of 2011, with a projected release date sometime in late August or September, just in time for a big ‘Back To School’ promotional push.” While late-comers to this prediction are still searching for a reason — from Steve Jobs’ purported illness to production delays — the reason for a late-Summer release has always been apparent to us: Verizon is owed ample time to sell its own iPhone 4 with0ut an iPhone 5 announcement killing their sales.

Read More

Industry leaders in the consumer electronics accessories market are scrambling to retro-engineer their iPhone 4 cases so that they will work with Verizon’s new iPhone. But will the first generation of Verizon iPhone shell cases fit properly?

Apple never seems to give mobile electronics case designers any advance specs on their new gadgets. Last year, Steve Jobs’ iPad announcement left little time for manufacturers to design their iPad cases, and as a result, many of the first generation iPad cases were little more that glorified iPhone 3Gs cases.

The same is going to be true with the Verizon iPhone.

While at first glance the Verizon iPhone 4 seems to be the same as its AT&T counterpart, the fact is that there are a few subtle changes to the Verizon design that are going to have a not-so-subtle effect on electronics accessories designers. Dan Frakes over at Macworld recently reported that:

“It appears the Verizon iPhone uses a slightly different antenna design that repositions the gaps between the phone’s multiple external antennas (found in the metal ring around the phone’s outer edge). Along with this change, the phone’s Ring/Silent switch has been moved ever-so-slightly closer to the bottom of the phone.”

You can read the rest of Macworld’s exclusive insight into the differences with the Verizon iPhone here.

These “ever-so-slight” changes have huge implications for the likes of Belkin, Griffin, Case-Mate, and a host of other electronics accessories leaders: instead of simply updating the packaging to include Verizon in the product descriptions, some case designers are going to have to re-cast their iPhone 4 shell cases to account for the nominal yet significant movement of key external components.

And all of these changes require a lot of time and money.

Case-mate is already launching a new product line and promotion for the Verizon iPhone 4, which will ready in time for the Verizon iPhone’s launch.

What the Rush To Make Verizon iPhone Shell Cases Means For You

If you’re planning on buying a Verizon iPhone, beware of the first round of iPhone cases that purport to fit the new Verizon iPhone design. Case designers only have about a month to work with in order to make sure they are “first to market” and have a case offering for the new Verizon iPhone. That, as well as the fact that they don’t have an actual device to work with, means that they will have to rely on mock-ups and in-house prototypes in order to approximate what the Verizon iPhone’s changes will really mean.

The result could be a slew of Verizon iPhone cases that don’t fit all too well.

There are some alternative measures you can take, however, to ensure that you get your Verizon iPhone properly covered and protected without running the risk of investing in a flawed case design. First, you can always let your new Verizon iPhone go naked for a month or so, and wait for the lagging case designers to release their versions of Verizon iPhone cases. It’s possible that their slow but steady pace may in fact prove to be the best course of action in ensuring that their cases fit and protect the Verizon iPhone properly.

Second, you can always go with a universal-fit case. Granted, cases like these are usually not shell cases – meaning that they are not hard plastic shells that snap around your device. Instead, they tend to be padded sleeve cases that you unzip and pull out. The disadvantage to a case like this is that you’re not going to be able to use your Verizon iPhone while it is still in its case. But if you’re uncomfortable with the notion that you might have to wait a month or longer for a reliable shell case, an inexpensive iPhone sleeve might be a good interim solution.

Third, look to Apple! Apple always offers a case or two of their own, or they “bless” a case by offering it in their online store. Chances are, whatever case Apple designates as being optimal for the Verizon iPhone, you can rest assured that it’ll be reliable.

A Concluding Thought — Why Did Apple Make Changes to the Verizon iPhone?

When you think about the flaming hoops that the entire iPhone accessories industry is going to have to jump through, just for a few features moving around on the Verizon iPhone’s fuselage a bit, one has to wonder why Apple made these changes at all? Is there some kind of sadistic tendency on the part of the apple engineers? Do they like to see case designers squirm?

Not likely.

Chances are, Apple is either indifferent to the consumer electronics accessories sector, or perhaps they even see it as an opportunity for iPhone case designers to profit from a second hype cycle for the iPhone 4. After all, the Verizon iPhone is like a re-launching of the iPhone 4 — there will most likely be another 4 to 6 month period of excitement about it, giving iPhone case companies the chance to retool, redeploy, and re-profit.

What do you think? Will you be getting a Verizon iPhone? If so, will you invest in a new case immediately or wait?

By Michael Nace

With the Verizon iPhone announcement, mounting iPhone 5 rumors, and aggressive comparisons to the Android, is iPhone fervor turning into iPhone furor?

If you’re a follower of national and/or world news, then you know that much has been said lately about the vitriol, invective, and “uncivil discourse” in the newspapers and from the pundits. And while all that has been said refers to the political discourse going on in the U.S., a similar argument can be said about the recent technological discourse as well, particularly as it pertains to iPhone users.

iPhone users now have their own political parties: AT&T and Verizon.

Since the announcement of the Verizon iPhone, there has been a heated argument between AT&T and Verizon supporters, and the argument has been anything but civil. Just as stereotypes are ascribed to political parties, it now means something to be labeled as a Verizon or AT&T user. It is the new “liberal” and “conservative” of the smartphone world.

And I’m not going to even attempt to label one as liberal and another as conservative — I’ll leave that trap to you.

What’s amazing is that iPhone users care so much about the Verizon/AT&T divide; you simply don’t see this level of bombast among Blackberry users deciding if Sprint is better than AT&T. There is something very different about the average iPhone user.

Why iPhone Users Care So Much

Apple has a way of making it seem that they singularly dominate the consumer electronics market, when in fact, they only encompass 10% of the market share. That means that other tech companies compromise the remaining 90% of gadgetry out there. And yet, this 90% is the deafeningly silent majority; it is the Apple customer — and more specifically, the iPhone user — who seems anecdotally to be the most outspoken, passionate, and protective of their favorite electronics company.

Why is this? Why can’t Bill Gates inspire such devotion, such passion? Why does it seem that all of the tech evangelists and apologists out there worship at the altar of Apple?

I think the reason is simple: Apple products are a cultural phenomenon.

Unlike the remaining 90% of the electronics market, Apple’s products are more than just utilitarian electronic tools. They inspire creativity, communication, expression, and individualism.

A big reason for this is nothing more than marketing: few companies brand and market their products as brilliantly as Apple. They manage to transcend the boring, geeky, techie persona of most electronics and instead make a direct link with the consumer — the guy on the street. Then, they follow up this marketing message with designs and features that are incredibly organic, cutting edge, and socially prescient.

The final ingredient? Steve Jobs.

Few CEOs have the life experiences, perspective, and vision of this man. There’s no doubt that Steve Jobs has all the critical elements of a Big Business leader: his draconian approach to keeping secrets safe, as well as his biting commentary on competitors, show that he has a necessary edge. But Steve Jobs can also wax poetic on death, rising from failure, and persuing your passions in life. This is a man, after all, who was fired from his own company, started two companies in the interim (Next and Pixar), and then came back to Apple with the success of Pixar and the technologcal leap of Next under his belt.

Thanks to that little failure in Steve Jobs’ life, we’re still basking in the renaissance of Apple technologies and the creativity of Pixar, the only film production company in Hollywood making consistently impressive films.

Because of all of this, a thing like an iPhone comes to mean more to its user than just a plaything or mobile phone. It becomes an extension of self — a means to reaching out to others by using the pinnacle of 21st century technology. And because this means a lot to the average iPhone user, every news-making event that surrounds the iPhone makes an impression and spurs a litany of ideas. That, I think, is why people get so passionate about the iPhone:

Many of us are passionate people.

Rita Nace contributed to this article.

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By Michael Nace

Apple’s decision to open up the iPhone 4 to Verizon adds fuel to an already burning rivalry between AT&T and Verizon, the two top mobile networks in the U.S. Prior to the Verizon iPhone announcement, animosity already was running high between the two communication giants. A perfect example is the lawsuit launched in November by AT&T against Verizon over their poignant “there’s a map for that” commercial campaign, which made claims that Verizon has five times more 3G coverage (while deftly hinting at the iPhone’s iconic “there’s an app for that” iPhone ad campaign).

The lawsuit in and of itself is a bit of a non-starter and more of a publicity stunt for AT&T to rebuff Verizon’s marketing pitch. Nilay Patel at Engadget has a great article that will give you the low-down on the whole situation. You can read it here.

More recently, AT&T took another defensive swipe at Verizon in response to the excitement and fervor over the 1/11/11 announcement of the Verizon iPhone. When asked if AT&T was concerned about losing the market exclusivity of the iPhone, Mark Siegal, a spokesman for AT&T, told Clayton Morris of FoxNews:

“This loss of exclusivity has been overblown. In the 3rd quarter of 2010, we activated 5.2 million new iPhones. That’s a record for iPhone. Logic would tell you that if people were waiting to run to Verizon because of all the rumors, we wouldn’t have set a record in iPhone activations at the end of 2010. I don’t think we’ll see any kind of mass exodus.”

You can read all of Clayton Morris’ great article here.

Mark Seigal’s comment begs a question: now that new iPhone 4 customers have a choice between two networks, which one will they choose, and why?

Will New iPhone 4 Customers Choose AT&T or Verizon?

Morris’ article makes a great point: Verizon’s network uses the older, slower CDMA technology, so why would Apple opt for a new partnership with a network provider who is decidedly slower than AT&T? Well, if (and that is a big “if”) we take Verizon at their word, they seem to have a more wide-ranging 3G coverage than AT&T. In this way, the decision for prospective iPhone customers is a choice between the tortoise and the hare, with the former being Verizon (slower but more wide-ranging) and the latter being AT&T (faster, but with less 3G coverage nationwide).

Morris weighs in on this question pointedly, saying, “coverage is king, not speed, and Verizon has the coverage thing down cold.”

What do you think?

Here are some key discussion points:

First, do you believe Verizon’s controversial claim that they have 5 times more 3G coverage than AT&T?

Second, do you think that new iPhone customers will choose Verizon over AT&T?

Third, do you agree that AT&T isn’t going to see a reduction in iPhone sales, now that Verizon has the iPhone as well?

By Michael Nace

The iPhone has finally come to Verizon.

The much-anticipated story, which broke on the Wall St. Journal’s tech page and quickly spread through the news, marks a significant turning point in the smartphone battle for market supremacy. The move by Apple to expand the network choices for the iPhone between Verizon and AT&T represents a key counter-move to the rise in popularity of Google’s Android, as Wall St. Journal tech writers Shayndi Raice and Yukari Iwatani Kane aptly commented:

“Apple is moving to expand its carrier base in the U.S. at a time when it is facing increasing pressure from phones powered by rival Google Inc.’s operating system, called Android.” You can read the Wall St. Journal’s full story here.

While further details on the Verizon iPhone are still forthcoming, it seems apparent to sources and tech analysts alike that, with the exception of the Verizon iPhone running on the CDMA technology platform, it should in effect be remarkably similar in look and function to the iPhone 4 carried by AT&T.

Up Next . . . the iPhone 5

Ever since the release of the iPhone 4 in the Summer of 2010, several key Apple-related rumors have circulated throughout the tech mainstream. Conjecture surrounding the Verizon iPhone, an “iPad Mini,” and an early release of the iPhone 5 have all remained prescient in the media since August, with countless critics and blogs (this one included) postulating on whether or not these rumors would come to fruition, and if so, when.

Many Apple enthusiasts use a kind of reverse psychology to predict Apple’s marketing moves and release dates since, as history has shown us, Steve Jobs runs his company a bit differently from others. The sometimes maverick marketing approach that Apple deploys led many people to firmly believe that the iPhone 5 would have been released in December of 2010, in response to the spoiled prototype and antennagate gaffes that Apple’s PR department had to deal with throughout the second half of 2010.

In 20/20 hindsight, however, it now seems apparent that Apple always had the Verizon version of the iPhone in mind before the release of the next iPhone.

So, When Is the iPhone 5 Going To Arrive?

Like clues in a mystery, the more clues we’re given, the easier it becomes to imagine when we might see the iPhone 5. AT&T’s iPhone 4 was released in June of 2010, and I’m sure that even as far back as the Summer, Apple had given AT&T a heads-up that a Verizon iPhone deal was imminent. That being said, Apple gave AT&T over six months of being the exclusive carrier of the iPhone 4 before making the Verizon announcement.

Logically speaking, it would not be surprising to imagine that Apple will give Verizon a marketing wndow of six months or so before making an announcement on the iPhone 5.

So, it is quite possible that the iPhone 5 may not be announced until the mid Summer of 2011, with a projected release date sometime in late August or September, just in time for a big “Back To School” promotional push.

And at that time, both AT&T and Verizon will get the iPhone 5 simultaneously.

In the meantime, I’m sure that a new iteration of the iPad will also make its way into the Apple discussion. Will it be the rumored “iPad Mini,” or an improved iPad? For a perspective on that, you’ll have to check the iPad blogs — we only do the iPhone 5 here.

Thanks for reading our article! We’d love to get your opinion of when the iPhone 5 will be announced and released, especially in light of the new Verizon iPhone 4 developments. Leave a comment, ok?

By Michael Nace