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I remember the iPhone launching as an AT&T exclusive or something back in the day. Did whichever US carrier it was get the same duration of exclusive placement?

2bitencryption 6y ago
Ah, Cingular wireless, gobbled up by AT&T after the iPhone announcement.
- acheron 6y ago
  That’s not what happened. Cingular was jointly owned by SBC and BellSouth. The two companies merged, and SBC also bought out AT&T and rebranded themselves. Once Cingular was solely owned by a company named AT&T, it was rebranded to match the parent company.
DaiPlusPlus 6y ago
I understand that was more because AT&T/Cingular was the only carrier willing to allow a phone that they literally weren’t allowed to see until launch day onto their network. Didn’t the other carriers baulk at Apple and tell them to pound-sand for thinking they’d let them use their network without any oversight of their phone’s software system or similar?
- FireBeyond 6y ago
  Plus Visual Voicemail, if I recall.
- orev 6y ago
  Yes. At the time, Verizon was doing things like completely blocking Bluetooth for anything other than headsets, because they wanted to force people to use their mobile data to get pictures off their phones.
- rblatz 6y ago
  At the time Verizon also mandated every phone on their network had a whip style antenna. The networks had a stranglehold on the handset market, and it took the iPhone to break it.
  - jaywalk 6y ago
    The whip antenna thing is absolutely not true, at least for smartphones. I had a Palm Treo and multiple BlackBerries on Verizon, predating the iPhone, which definitely didn't have whip antennas. The Treo had a little nub, and the BlackBerries had no external antenna.
- Someone 6y ago
  In Europe (and, I would guess, everywhere) everybody can launch a GSM phone without cooperation of phone companies. You do need to pass certification tests, but those are set by governments. Those tests may be defined with lots of input from industry and may be executed by institutes created by manufacturers as a group, but AFAIK, those institutes are so independent from the manufacturers that they won’t let commercial interests affect test results. The issue with the original iPhone was that consumers were used to get a ‘free’ phone with their subscription. To do that, manufacturers need to work with a phone company. The iPhone’s success was not a given and Steve Jobs had fairly stringent ideas about pricing. That made it hard to find a phone company to work with. IIRC, AT&T was a bit of an underdog in the market. That made them fall for Steve’s offer.
- kindatrue 6y ago
  AT&T/Cingular was in a very weak position at the time, and really needed a win -- Steve Jobs exploited/leveraged the situation.
pvg 6y ago
The AT&T exclusivity deal was quite different - it was both exclusive and it lasted years. But at the time, carriers also weren't making deals where they didn't control what software was on the device to begin with.
floatingatoll 6y ago
Verizon only got two-thirds as much time as AT&T did for the iPhone launch — 4 minutes instead of 6 minutes. MacWorld keynote, 2007, the CEO of Cingular is given the stage at 78m23s, in front of a giant Cingular logo. He leaves the stage at 84m23s, in front of a pair of Cingular and AT&T logos. So that's precisely 6 minutes on stage, out of precisely 80 minutes total. In the 71-minute iPhone 12 keynote, the CEO of Verizon is brought on stage at 15m55s, and speaks until Tim boots him at 19m55s. So that's precisely 4 minutes on stage. Additionally, millimeter-wave 5G is given airtime, but says Verizon's product title for that a total of 5 seconds only. ps. All iPhones offer carrier branding in the top-left corner of the screen when cellular service is active and control center is open (non-notch phones may not need to open control center).

2bitencryption 6y ago

Ah, Cingular wireless, gobbled up by AT&T after the iPhone announcement.

acheron 6y ago
That’s not what happened. Cingular was jointly owned by SBC and BellSouth. The two companies merged, and SBC also bought out AT&T and rebranded themselves. Once Cingular was solely owned by a company named AT&T, it was rebranded to match the parent company.

DaiPlusPlus 6y ago

I understand that was more because AT&T/Cingular was the only carrier willing to allow a phone that they literally weren’t allowed to see until launch day onto their network. Didn’t the other carriers baulk at Apple and tell them to pound-sand for thinking they’d let them use their network without any oversight of their phone’s software system or similar?

FireBeyond 6y ago
Plus Visual Voicemail, if I recall.
orev 6y ago
Yes. At the time, Verizon was doing things like completely blocking Bluetooth for anything other than headsets, because they wanted to force people to use their mobile data to get pictures off their phones.
rblatz 6y ago
At the time Verizon also mandated every phone on their network had a whip style antenna. The networks had a stranglehold on the handset market, and it took the iPhone to break it.
- jaywalk 6y ago
  The whip antenna thing is absolutely not true, at least for smartphones. I had a Palm Treo and multiple BlackBerries on Verizon, predating the iPhone, which definitely didn't have whip antennas. The Treo had a little nub, and the BlackBerries had no external antenna.
Someone 6y ago
In Europe (and, I would guess, everywhere) everybody can launch a GSM phone without cooperation of phone companies. You do need to pass certification tests, but those are set by governments. Those tests may be defined with lots of input from industry and may be executed by institutes created by manufacturers as a group, but AFAIK, those institutes are so independent from the manufacturers that they won’t let commercial interests affect test results. The issue with the original iPhone was that consumers were used to get a ‘free’ phone with their subscription. To do that, manufacturers need to work with a phone company. The iPhone’s success was not a given and Steve Jobs had fairly stringent ideas about pricing. That made it hard to find a phone company to work with. IIRC, AT&T was a bit of an underdog in the market. That made them fall for Steve’s offer.
kindatrue 6y ago
AT&T/Cingular was in a very weak position at the time, and really needed a win -- Steve Jobs exploited/leveraged the situation.

pvg 6y ago

The AT&T exclusivity deal was quite different - it was both exclusive and it lasted years. But at the time, carriers also weren't making deals where they didn't control what software was on the device to begin with.

floatingatoll 6y ago

Verizon only got two-thirds as much time as AT&T did for the iPhone launch — 4 minutes instead of 6 minutes. MacWorld keynote, 2007, the CEO of Cingular is given the stage at 78m23s, in front of a giant Cingular logo. He leaves the stage at 84m23s, in front of a pair of Cingular and AT&T logos. So that's precisely 6 minutes on stage, out of precisely 80 minutes total. In the 71-minute iPhone 12 keynote, the CEO of Verizon is brought on stage at 15m55s, and speaks until Tim boots him at 19m55s. So that's precisely 4 minutes on stage. Additionally, millimeter-wave 5G is given airtime, but says Verizon's product title for that a total of 5 seconds only. ps. All iPhones offer carrier branding in the top-left corner of the screen when cellular service is active and control center is open (non-notch phones may not need to open control center).