Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Is It Really the iPhone

Jon Stewart had a great rant on the greatest almost phone in the world, outlining the wonders of the iPhone's software capabilities and slamming its actual phone properties such as talking, and rightfully so, but perhaps Mr. Stewart failed to see the potential criticisms that will be found with the iPhone over at Verizon. Here they are. Please note that all statements made henceforth are certifiably true, they were received from a member of the iPhone Specialist Support Managerial Team within the Apple Company. He is personal friend of mine and for these statements he will remain nameless.

"Verizon has been advertising a 4G network, and although they have this network, they do not have any phone's that can actually support this network, not even the new iPhone. AT&T's 4G will be up and running with phones long before Verizon has theirs. Also, the 3G network that AT&T offers is substantially more sophisticated than Verizon's. I.E. with AT&T's network you can talk, text and surf the web or use Google Maps all at the same time, with Verizon you will need 3 or 4 iPhone's to accomplish this. (On to reception). I would not under any circumstance try to defend the lackluster reception that AT&T offers us and yes, the dropped calls are insufferable but let's look at this subjectively. AT&T covers 97% of American's (supposedly), that would equal 291m people if there are 300m people in America. Within that coverage, AT&T's network is absorbed by iPhone's at a staggering 92% rate. So that means of 291m AT&T customers, 267.72m have iPhone's, and that's 3G phones of better. So, with these numbers it is no wonder the iPhone can have such reproachable reception and call qualities. So before we all jump ship in lieu of the new green grass, remember, when Cingular was small, with it's 51m customers in 2007-2008, our call qualities were great. So regardless of what you hear about the new iPhone this and the new iPhone that with Verizon, remember, it is not the same iPhone as AT&T's. "

9 comments:

  1. I'm going to have to call BS on this line:
    "AT&T's network is absorbed by iPhone's at a staggering 92% rate. So that means of 291m AT&T customers, 267.72m have iPhone's, and that's 3G phones of better."

    I don't think it means what you think it means. There's no way in hell AT&T has only ~24 million users NOT using an iPhone. Leslie doesn't have an iPhone.

    I think what it's actually referring to is usage. Talk, text and data usage might be 92%, especially since many users still have the original unlimited-data plans. But that's still a staggering number that I find very hard to believe.


    And actually, it's the exact same iPhone as AT&T and that's the problem. Verizon will get the next generation of iPhones to have CDMA capabilities (which is what their network runs on) that come out in the summer.

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  2. As a reference, take a look at this post at Gizmodo that shows a graph of all the major carriers and they're usage of Android, iPhone, and dumphones.

    Almost Everybody's Still Using Dumphones

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  3. I found our conversation to be very interesting. I agree that some of the numbers are pretty astounding and hard to believe. But it makes a bit of sense to see why or perhaps how the network we have come to love and hate is being utilized.

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  4. And he specifically said that 92% of users on AT&T's network used iPhone's.

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  5. I revere an argument with you Pele1410 as you are one of the smartest persons I know.

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  6. Gizmodo and the NY Times say otherwise. There's no way all the people using Android phones, Blackberrys and dumphones only make up 8% of AT&T users.

    Another fancy graph here shows that there are only ~16 million iPhone users as of November 2010. Just a wee bit short of the 267 million.

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  7. Don't get me wrong, I'd love for half the AT&T users to leave for Verizon. but realistically, that won't happen around here.

    Looking at this map Verizon doesn't have any 4G coverage in the area. Closest would be Houston or NO. And even their 3G coverage is spotty outside I-10 or I-49.

    Verizon's biggest gains will be in bigger cities like San Francisco or NY.

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  8. I don't necessarily agree that there is only 8% of people not using iPhones, but at the same time I don't think that Gizmodo (though I love them) and the NY Times act in the best interest of anyone but themselves and in that their numbers are as misguided as AT&T's 97% American coverage. AT&T is not going to advertise in the best interest of anyone but AT&T and thusly, 78% of all stats are lies. With that, these statements are coming from someone who works for Apple, not AT&T, so his numbers are generated from a manifest that I am certain comes from AT&T and is grossly manipulated in some way to fit Apple's interest in keeping Apple with AT&T only even though the wheels are already turning.

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  9. I agree that 124.65% (not 78%) of all stats are lies.

    AT&T's 97% coverage is actually true, but it depends on your definition of coverage. It includes roaming. While a sane person like you or I may not call that coverage, they do. And you can in fact make a phone call from their network towers in 97% of the country. Sneaky? Yes. Wrong? No.

    Apple hasn't been keen on staying with AT&T for a while now, ever since everyone and their mothers started bitching about the network. When your crappy network becomes a skit on The Daily Show, you know Apple wants out.

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