| reply to fiberguy
Re: In the us only tmobile or att works with the sim based iphon I never said there was no way in hell.. I said it was unlikely.
Sure, all that is really needed is a different radio and a driver change in the iphone for cdma to work..
Now Apple has to have 2 different devices made for them (by foxxcon I believe). The potential result may be an over production in CDMA phones which have limited use outside the US (yes there are millions of CMDA users, but thats the possibility is there).
There is of course the cost of paying someone to maintain 2 different lines of products.
Why, why bother spending all that additional money, when they can wait a few months longer, produce a single device that will work on all current and most likely future wireless network topologies... and not have to deal with a third device (the LTE one assuming they actually do start making gsm and cdma variants) in a year or 2 when everyone is pushing LTE. (Verizon already has 2 small test areas).
No one really knows at the moment, everyone is speculating, except people inside apple.
But from a cost/production standpoint over the long term, does it really make sense to produce 3 different devices, when they could produce a single device that works on all networks, and will most definitely maximize their profits |
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 jsz0Premium
join:2008-01-23
Jewett City, CT | Apple has about $30B in the bank. Whatever money they spend developing a CDMA iPhone to sell for a couple years is nothing compared to how much profit they will make. It also gets more customers onto the iPhone platform -- in a few years when LTE is widespread they will converge the devices again. |
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Eek2121Lovin Verizon FIOS
join:2002-10-12
Newton, NJ Reviews:
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| reply to jvanbrecht
Actually, if Apple developed a phone that worked on both GSM and CDMA networks (similar to my Blackberry tour), then they could sell to any carrier they please. There aren't any large technical hurdles, and despite what you may think, CDMA is far from dead. Even as LTE rolls out in the next couple of years CDMA will not go away. CDMA EASILY has another 5 years left before any major carrier pulls the plug. Verizon and Sprint both have tens of millions of subscribers, which is a very large potential market base for apple, and one it can't afford to ignore forever. |
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