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Apple will not allow Verizon to preload software on iPhone
- 37prime 16y agoAs a consumer I'm glad that Apple would not let Verizon pre-load their crapware on the iPhone. If only other manufacturers could do the same. Unfortunately they are not in the same position with Apple. As a matter of fact, Apple will not Verizon the iPhone if they do not agree to that. I love using the Nexus One with its pure Google-Android experience. I have yet to upgrade to Nexus S.
- hoag 16y agoAgreed. The biggest issue I have with a V-powered iPhone is the inability to simultaneously engage in voice and data activities due to CDMA's limitations. That I also routinely average around 3 Mbit/sec on AT&T 3G and peak at 5-6 Mbit/sec gives me no desire to switch. Also like the fact that I can use the GSM iPhone internationally.
- rdouble 16y agoAlso like the fact that I can use the GSM iPhone internationally. The AT&T iPhone has been a disappointment for international travel. The international data plan is a terrible deal, and it seems to be impossible to carrier unlock without also jailbreaking. Jailbreak is not a great option if you're an app developer as the jailbreak ties the phone to a specific OS version, and you generally want the latest, or even a beta OS installed. If you want to use local SIMs, your only real option is to buy a phone factory unlocked from somewhere like Singapore. If you know of a way to carrier unlock without jailbreaking, let me know!
- joewest 16y agoAgreed. You can buy an unlocked iPhone in Canada, which may be more convenient for you.
- rdouble 16y agoI did some research into this, and seems like Hong Kong and Singapore are the least expensive. Canada is not too bad if you're in the USA (I'm in Australia.)
- pedanticfreak 16y agoI want to echo that the AT&T iPhone is hugely disappointing when traveling internationally due to the outrageous cost of AT&T's roaming plans. Data is prohibitively expensive. Think $1 per megabyte (not a typo, mega-byte). That's $200 for 200 MB or $2,000 for 2 GB. Voice calls are usually $1 per minute. You're pretty much stuck with a very pretty machine that sends $0.50 text messages. Even if you get an unlocked phone, you will most likely only be able to get a voice+text SIM card when traveling. Especially in Europe, only full blown plans included any amount of data. And every damn country requires a new SIM. Absolutely painful and honestly not that valuable. You might just gain ever so slightly cheaper calls and texts to local phones, and absolutely nothing if you want to call back home. Verizon Global phones, on the other hand, are amazing. AMAZING! You pay $80 per month for unlimited data. Yes, UNLIMITED international data. And Verizon will prorate your fees for only the days that you travel and also discount you the cost of your existing data plan during these days. Otherwise it is the same as AT&T, but this is a HUGE difference. If you travel and want to use data then Verizon is the way to go. You just need a Global phone, and unfortunately the iPhone isn't one of them.
- haberman 16y ago> Even if you get an unlocked phone, you will most likely only be able to get a voice+text SIM card when traveling. Especially in Europe, only full blown plans included any amount of data. This is totally untrue. I traveled to England last year with my Nexus One, bought a T-Mobile SIM card, and got unlimited data for a week for something absurd like £1 ($1.50) a day, after paying for the $20 SIM. https://www.britishsims.com/T-Mobile_SIM.html https://www.britishsims.com/T-Mobile_SIM.html
- pedanticfreak 16y agoTotally untrue? So one country in Europe works therefore all the other countries do as well? I would welcome more countries adding a plan like the one you described. But so far that's the only one I've seen. By comparison the Verizon plan supports over 200 countries. You just go (after enabling Global Roaming, of course) and your phone recognizes the new towers automatically. You don't have to buy a new SIM card, hope this country's carrier has some kind of non-outrageous data plan, and so on. I think SIM switching is works best for people who move to one place for reasonably long periods of time and know a decent number of local people they want to call/text. For example I know a few people who are from Taiwan who go back for a few months at a time to visit family. Getting a local SIM for those few months is really nice. But getting a SIM for France for a week then another SIM for Spain for three days and another SIM for Italy for a week. That's just a pain in the ass.
- billpaetzke 16y agoInfographic of countries with factory-unlocked iPhones and their prices: http://www.cutviews.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/02081001.png http://www.cutviews.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/02081001.... Cheapest: #1 Hong Kong #2 Singapore #3 Canada #4 Switzerland Looks like the all the iPhones have the same radios. So, if an unlocked iPhone doesn't work on 3G with your current carrier (i.e. T-Mobile in the US), then you won't be able to find an iPhone anywhere that does. From the Apple site (I verified with the top 4 cheapest countries): * 3G Support: UMTS/HSDPA/HSUPA (850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz) * 2G Support: GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz)
- hoag 16y agoExcuse me, I misspoke (mis-wrote?) ... I meant to write that I could -- theoretically -- use the iPhone internationally. In fact precisely because of the exorbitant costs, I have rarely ever done so, and any event, never for anything other than text messaging. I just meant that at least, being a GSM phone, the capability is available. I didn't even realize Verizon had global phones -- how does that work? Are they dual band CDMA / GSM? -- so thank you for sharing this with me. Time to rescind that entire last clause of what I wrote it looks like. :) Would edit that previous post but I guess after a certain time edits are not possible(?).
- jrockway 16y agoYes, Verizon sells dual-band phones. I have a Blackberry from Verizon for work, and it's CDMA/GSM, with the GSM specifically for international roaming.
- ryanpetrich 16y agoBuying an unlocked iPhone in Canada is probably easier.
- jra101 16y agoThe annoying thing is even the Nexus One comes with preinstalled apps that you cannot remove. Specifically: Amazon MP3, Twitter, and Facebook.
- alexmat 16y agoYou can remove them using Titanium Backup or something similar if you have root: http://www.appbrain.com/app/titanium-backup-%E2%98%85-root/com.keramidas.TitaniumBackup http://www.appbrain.com/app/titanium-backup-%E2%98%85-root/c...
- 37prime 16y agoTwitter was pre-installed on Nexus One? Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't remember seeing it out of the Box. As for as default Facebook installation and integration is a bad idea. I really hate that.
- steveklabnik 16y agoI purchased a Nexus One shortly after launch, and it did not come with Twitter installed. In fact, the Twitter app didn't exist then. I _did_ however do a hard reset the other day (ugh...) and all of my stuff was gone. Twitter, Amazon, and Angry Birds Holiday seemed to still be there... But looking at my phone now, a bunch of other apps that I had downloaded are back, mysteriously. I dunno.
- drivebyacct2 16y agoIt's a feature. No, really. When you sync your Google account, it redownloads your apps.
- steveklabnik 16y agoThat's pretty awesome. I guess it happens in the background?
- jra101 16y ago
- berberich 16y agoWhile I'm happy to hear this, I don't find it surprising. Despite having a different chipset and radio, the Verizon iPhone is still just another iPhone and Verizon still just one of several dozen carrier partners around the world. If they didn't allow any other carriers to preload software, why would they let Verizon?
- koenigdavidmj 16y agoMicrosoft, at their retail store(s), enforces the same policy on computers. When you get a computer from there, you get stock Windows 7. (And drivers, I would hope, although 7 seems better about bundling more recent drivers--even Broadcom wireless and Intel graphics!)
- imkevingao 16y agoI'm really happy Apple is doing that. I honestly believe that Verizon is the sole reason that America is like 50 years behind in mobile technology. The carrier dominates the market in cell phone service because it gives most of the technology illiterate generation X a a better deal with the monthly plans, but at the same time it gives all of its users crappy cellphones with crappy software. Honestly anything Verizon touches becomes intellectually dull. When's the last time you heard Vcast or Verizon store on TechCrunch? So I am really happy that Apple knows that although Verizon is a good mobile carrier, the company has not innovation at all, and Apple refuse to allow Verizon to touch their gadget.
- loewenskind 16y agoTrue to a point, but it sounds like they have touched it. No data during a phone call? Will Verizon users be able to use this thing anywhere else? Are Ebay buyers going to have to keep an eye out to make sure it's not a crippled Verizon version?
- blinkingled 16y agoI personally don't have a big problem with carriers loading apps on the phones as long as they don't interfere with what I do, but it is mind boggling how idiotic the "rest" of the industry is in not identifying this opportunity. It took the PC industry only a decade or so to start offering crapware free computers - first at $50 premium and now free as an option. May be the carriers can do better. The carriers should really stay out of the software side - less spending for them, clean experience for users and let the manufacturers do what they know best. If the OHA members just stood up for themselves and convince the carriers, I can easily see it happening. In a way T-Mo has taken the right direction for G2, hopefully each manufacturer offers at least one clean experience phone per carrier.
- pedanticfreak 16y agoCrapware isn't an expense, it's a source of revenue. Think of it like the ads on Google's result page. Just another conduit for commerce the carrier and manufacturer use improve profitability. Deciding to kill a source of revenue, whether it's more appealing to the consumer or not, becomes harder to justify when that source of revenue is paying off creditors and funding new development.
- patio11 16y agoA gigantic source of high margin incremental revenue. If Dell generates one signup to $ANTIVIRUS_MAKER_FOO, that can be worth about as much as the sale of the machine to Dell's bottom line. (For these and other scary insights, I suggest attending shareware conferences.)
- blinkingled 16y agoWhen I referred to spending I was thinking more about carriers taking responsibility of writing the custom apps, testing and distributing the OS updates etc. If they let the manufacturer do that (like Apple) they would have less stuff to bother about. As far as crapware goes - yeah it might be ad like revenue but I can't imagine it's a major part of revenue for carriers - they can mitigate it by charging little more for the clean experience models.
- pedanticfreak 16y agoGreat news. Now how about that mobile hotspot? Will it be free or an extra $20 per month like Verizon's other phones? There seems to be confusion on this point.
- danilocampos 16y agoThe carriers have this fear of being relegated to the "dumb pipes" role. What the phone-bundled crapware shows is that they don't deserve any better. They're incapable of adding anything of virtue to the experience. I wish, instead of horning into the user experience with bullshit, they'd spend their time embracing their core competency: network infrastructure deployment and maintenance. And really do it with gusto – be the best they possibly can be. This would breed loyalty. This would create enthusiasm in consumers for the carriers they pay. But who am I kidding – it's much easier to license NASCAR and shove that trash into a feature phone.
- zdw 16y agoThe carriers SHOULD BE dumb pipes, and judged by how how well they perform this task. Would you stand for it if your water company tried to lock you into it's service by offering to make all your water "minty fresh"? I think not. I guess this is my minimalist hatred of useless tangential/unrelated features talking.
- mtsmith85 16y agoOffering? I think the comparison would have to be they just make all of the water taste like "mint" and talk about how great it is (though it sucks for cooking.)
- jhamburger 16y agoI understand the purpose of preinstalling the apps, but why make them so hard to remove? Do they think an informed user is going to spend all this time trying to remove crapware he obviously doesn't want to use and finally give up and say "Ah well, you win verizon. $25 worth of hip-hop ringtones please."
- ashbrahma 16y agoThe reason they are usually hard to remove is because they are burnt to the ROM.
- danilocampos 16y agoThis, and the carriers want to have a relationship with you. With all the creepiness, and clinginess, that implies. In their warped, MBA, boardroom bullshit philosophy, uninstallable apps are essential to that goal.
- lwat 16y agoThe apps are uninstallable because the carriers are getting paid for those apps to be there. If they let you uninstall they don't maximize their income.
- rmc 16y agoDo they think an informed user is going to spend all this time trying to remove crapware he obviously doesn't want to use and finally give up and say "Ah well, you win verizon. $25 worth of hip-hop ringtones please." No I doubt an informed user would say that. But a non-technical user might. And they get money for that.
- snissn 16y agoso only apple will be allowed to install things over the air on my device when I get the verizon iPhone? sadly i find that comforting
- joeybaker 16y agoOne of the best examples of Apple draconian measures benefiting us users.
- loewenskind 16y agoI don't think there are many (if any) "draconian measures" from Apple that don't actually benefit users. Nearly all complaints about Apple's behavior can be split into two groups: Idealogical (e.g. "Everything must be free! Even if that means there are 1,000 app stores to choose from, everyone one of them consisting of almost exclusively malware and viruses, it all has to be open!") and "slippery slope" concerns (e.g. "but if they make it so convenient, what will stop them from controlling the world!?" as if new competition wouldn't instantly spring up to replace them).
- jokermatt999 16y agoHow does not allowing users to sideload apps benefit users? How does not having apps in the App Store that "duplicate functionality" but offer more choice benefit users?
- loewenskind 16y agoIf you don't allow users to load apps you haven't vetted you can do a better job of making sure they never have a bad experience on your device. Personally I would go for offering some kind of "opt in" that says you know what you're doing and willing to worry about it yourself for people who feel constrained (personally, despite being a developer myself, I would never "opt in". I don't have time to worry about if an app is going to cause trouble or not). Similar answer with duplicate stores. The thing is, when people have a bad experience because of some stupid app they installed they often aren't technical enough to say "darn that mypic.exe! It screwed my computer". Instead they say "why did my iphone break! What a peace of crap". If you don't believe me, go look up what the actual source for most blue screens were on windows. Who got the bad rap for it? Bill Gates didn't seem to be bothered by it too much but I think being the richest man in the world but having that rep would be the same thing as utter failure to Steve Jobs.
- kevinburke 16y agoReally glad for this. I use Verizon, but keep buying Samsung SCH-a650's off of Ebay because it was made before Verizon installed their crappy software on every one of its phones.
- tehjones 16y agoOn the wifi access point side, its nice and all that one of the us carriers have infrastructure in place and maybe the other doesn't. What about the rest of the world? My carrier was built from the ground up to use 3G can I share an access point over wifi?
- watty 16y agoThis is a big deal for me, I HATE that carriers can install 5+ crapware apps on my phone that are completely uninstallable without rooting your phone. I let my nephew play with my phone for about 15 minutes one afternoon and a month later I get a bill for "Need for Speed". Turns out he opened NFS and pressed a single button to play the full version. Another way to hide the apps it to use Launcher Pro.
- orenmazor 16y agoThis has been coming up again and again, but the question I have to ask: did anybody actually expect apple to let verizon pre-install anything?