Silly me, but the idea of a $500 phone seems absurd.


"Billybobh3" <billybobh3@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:hqGdndPE0O7qByPYnZ2dnUVZ_tOmnZ2d@comcast.com. ..
> Verizon rejected Apple iPhone deal
> Updated 1/29/2007 9:50 AM ET
>
>
>
> By Leslie Cauley, USA TODAY
> NEW YORK - Verizon Wireless, the No. 2 U.S. cellphone carrier, passed
> on the chance to be the exclusive distributor of the iPhone almost two
> years ago, balking at Apple's rich financial terms and other demands.
> 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, said Jim Gerace, a Verizon
> Wireless vice president. "We said no. We have nothing bad to say about the
> Apple iPhone. We just couldn't reach a deal that was mutually beneficial."
>
> Verizon's decision to pull the plug on talks sent Apple into the
> waiting arms of Cingular, which will be the exclusive U.S. carrier for the
> iPhone. The multifunction device is expected to ship in June and cost
> about $500.
>
> Apple and Cingular (which now is solely owned by AT&T and adopting
> that brand name) have declined to discuss terms of their alliance. But the
> Apple-Verizon talks offer a peek into the computer giant's thinking.
>
> 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. "That
> would have put our own distribution partners at a disadvantage" to Apple
> and Verizon stores, Gerace said.
>
> Customer care was another hitch: If an iPhone went haywire, Apple
> wanted sole discretion over whether to replace or repair the phone. "They
> would have been stepping in between us and our customers to the point
> where we would have almost had to take a back seat . on hardware and
> service support," Gerace says.
>
> Cingular won't talk about the financial terms or say how long its
> iPhone exclusivity lasts, but two people with direct knowledge of the deal
> say it's a five-year contract. The exclusive is USA-only, leaving Apple
> free to market its iPhone globally.
>
> Natalie Kerris, an Apple spokeswoman, declined to comment on any
> aspect of this story.
>
> Mark Siegel, a Cingular spokesman, said, "We think this is a win for
> Apple, and it is a win for Cingular."
>
> Siegel declined to comment on customer care plans but said Cingular
> would field calls related to the wireless service. "I don't want to leave
> the impression that these (iPhone) customers are not ours. They are."
>
> Siegel would not say whether Cingular distributors, which include
> Wal-Mart and RadioShack, would get the iPhone. The deal announcement
> referred only to Cingular and Apple stores and their websites.
>
>
>