back to article Dumping exclusivity could double iPhone sales

Apple could double its iPhone sales if it ended its policy of exclusive contract with mobile service providers. That's the considered opinion of Morgan Stanley analyst Kathryn Huberty, voiced in a research missive issued Friday morning. Huberty cites a 136 per cent increase in the iPhone's French market share after the …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Boffin

    T-Mobile

    I know a lot of T-Mobile customers like myself that would opt for an iPhone if T-Mobile offered it. But AT&T - no way.

  2. Sibs

    Multiple Telcos not so multiple

    Not that Apple has limited itself to one-carrier-per-country arrangements. Although Huberty used France as her example, she could also have mentioned... ...Canada (Rogers and Fido),

    Rogers owns Fido.

  3. Sibs

    Branding

    Not that Apple has limited itself to one-carrier-per-country arrangements. Although Huberty used France as her example... ...Canada (Rogers and Fido),

    Rogers owns Fido, so its not so much a multiple-carrier arrangement.

  4. raving angry loony

    @Myslewski

    Correction: In Canada, Rogers and Fido are the SAME company and have been for years. There is currently no GSM competition in Canada.

  5. Iamfanboy
    Jobs Halo

    But that isn't what Apple wants....

    Remember, iPhones are not as much a cell phone as a symbol of bourgeois affluence that is available to the punters for a 'slight' markup - same with their computers, and their mp3 players.

    Their products function acceptably, but are little more than fashion statements over their competitors, snobbery incarnate: "Oh, deah me, are you using a PC, Mrs. Henderson? Those have WINDOWS - you really should move to an Apple computer, they're so much safer mah deah."

    If Apple actually began to TAKE a large part of the market share, the flaws in their 'benevolent dictatorship' business model would begin to shine through the aura of 'so much whiter than YOURS' they have somehow managed to put forth. That's why Apple's perfectly happy with the what, 2-5% they've managed to snatch during the Vista debacle, but I doubt they're seriously interested in spreading farther - otherwise they'll endanger their tidy business agreements with Microsoft...

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Is 4G LTE the next GSM?

    So one of the reasons I only choose a GSM phone in the states (even though Verizon offers better CDMA coverage) is because my phone will work wherever I travel as GSM is the standard in every other country.

    Is 4G LTE an international standard too? Are all the European countries going to deploy it, or does it represent more fragmentation of the global market?

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    doh! doh! doh!

    DOH! You don't have to be a rocket scientist! I was hoping it will be like Apple selling their ipod when Apple first announced the iphone.

  8. Simon 81

    Fido used to be a separate company

    The Canadian government (CRTC) allowed Rogers to buy Fido in 2005~2006 creating a monopoly for GSM phone providers in Canada. All the other providers are squabbling over CDMA users. It looks likely they will all move to GSM for the next generation (after 3G) then we might see some actual competition in the GSM / iPhone compatible space.

    In all fairness, Fido (as a brand of Rogers) has managed to differentiate itself from its parent company with some slightly better pricing deals, but never as good as it was pre buyout.

    There is zero possibility of having a canadian iPhone officially unlocked at this time, although all iPhone contracts are 3 years, and we only got it when the 3G launched, so there is still another 20 months or so before those start expiring. I still think there will be zero chance of an official unlock then too.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Pint

    Re: Anon

    The whole world is switching to LTE. Thank god.

  10. Tim Roberts 1

    Verizon - CDMA

    here in Oz, CDMA meant Cant Dial My Analogue

  11. raving angry loony

    @Simon81

    Yes, it used to be separate company. But the author is trying to claim that there is "competition" in Canada, an area I know something about. It makes me wonder if his other claims are as spurious for area which I don't know anything about.

    There should be some movement when LTE comes out, but that's in the future. The Rogers/Telus/Bell cartel will probably have found a way to continue their anti-competitive ways by then, aided and abetted by the Competition Commission, whose main role seems to be to prevent any from happening.

  12. Paul Hovnanian Silver badge
    Paris Hilton

    Verizon

    "But if Verizon could guarantee Apple a few million sales, we see no reason why Cupertino couldn't make a CDMA-based iPhone"

    I eagerly await the arrival of iPhones on the Verizon network. So I can watch the dismay on the faces of iPhone fans when Verizon disables all of its features.

  13. Wortel

    Pft

    Would be a bit late if they lifted the exclusivity.

  14. This post has been deleted by its author

  15. Adam 38
    Megaphone

    iPhone Carriers

    Here's a full official list: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1937

    Instead of checking each of Apple's foreign websites individually. Also tells you where you can get em unlocked. :)

  16. Charles Manning

    Exclusivity was the right choice

    In the beginning it makes sense to go with exclusive carriers for many reasons:

    1) Premium: When you're production constrained, as Apple were in the beginning, then it makes sense to go with the biggest margin per unit. You can't sell more so it doesn't make sense to drop prices.

    2) It is way, way easier to roll out with fewer telcos than with many, each with their own quirky services etc.

    Of course things change. and it makes sense to extend the telcos supported.

  17. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    iPhone in Hong Kong is (almost) exclusive carrier

    ...Hong Kong (Three, Broadway, and Fortress)..."

    Broadway and Fortress are not carriers. They're retail stores, and the iPhone they're selling is with Three (I think - I haven't actually checked). So Hong Kong would have an exclusive carrier arrangement, except for the fact that you can also buy the iPhone SIM-unlocked, contract free, from the HK Apple store.

  18. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Competition in Oz

    Yes the iPhone is available from pretty much all the carriers here in Australia (which are completely separate, unrelated companies).

    However, the handsets are priced fairly closely between all the carriers (and from Apple direct) at a price point that is roughly 4 times the RRP announced by Apple.

    Price collusion is against the law here, yet this quite obvious price collusion has been ignored by the local Competition watchdog (which only ever seems to concern itself with the lack of broadband competition).

  19. Tony Paulazzo
    Joke

    Title 0123

    >(and American Idol voting)<

    Makes me so glad I'm not a Lemming...

    'Cliff - what cliff?'

  20. Anonymous Coward
    Pirate

    Exclusive deals are bad idea anyway.

    If you look at any "Exclusive Deal" between companies all it ever means is that the customer is going to pay through the teeth for a standard (sub-standard?) service.

    If we're supposed to be part of a free market then thats what it should be.

  21. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    @ooFie

    We are part of a free market, if you don't like the deals offered on iPhones in your locality then you are free to buy a different phone.

    Being a free market means there is competition within the market not on specific toys within the market - much as Apple would like it differently the market in question encompasses either mobile phones in general or possibly PDAs (more specifically), not just Apple iPhones.

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