5 ms·

They didn’t say it did?

by orf 3y ago

silisili 3y ago
It's a weird connection to make. 3G is rolling out for much faster data, so carriers can start charging data. This makes it sound like a marketing play by carriers to push it. But why would they push a device using the much slower EDGE? There were plenty of 3G phones out at the time if that were the angle.
- Spooky23 3y ago
  Because AT&T / Cingular didn’t have a good 3G story. The iPhone was the right device at the right time with the right launch partner. Its success allowed them to cow Verizon, whose bureaucracy and contract management is government like. People bought the iPhone in spite of EDGE. EDGE was fine for text devices like the Blackberry or T-Mobile Sidekick. iPhone tipped things over in lots of ways.
  - Apocryphon 3y ago
    Huh. Did the success of the iPhone lead to the T-1000 esque re-formation of the AT&T monopoly?
    - lotsofpulp 3y ago
      No, that had already happened. See the graph and dates here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breakup_of_the_Bell_System https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breakup_of_the_Bell_System ATT had acquired Cingular by 2005.
  - lotsofpulp 3y ago
    They did summer of 2008 though when they released the iPhone 3G with unlimited mobile broadband data. If I recall, that was unprecedented in the US.
  - silisili 3y ago
    I had ATT at the time, and 3g was already rolled out. It had been since 2005, even. I definitely agree with the last paragraph, the fact that it sold so well without 3g was a testament to its following. I simply don't feel mentioning 3g in the article was worthwhile - it is not a reason for the iPhone's success.
    - Spooky23 3y ago
      It’s been a long time, but my recollection was that it varied widely by region. Where I lived, alot of the territory between cities was controlled by regional/local companies like Cellular One, and those companies basically leveraged control of territory to extract whatever they could from the carriers. You had 3G in town, but drove a few minutes away and there you got handed off to the little guy, usually using EDGE. Iirc, Verizon and AT&T acquired most of them circa 2007. I think you’re right in that 3G is not responsible for the iPhones’ success, but I would say that iPhone is responsible for the success of 3G and the growth that accelerated LTE.

They didn’t say it did?

by orf 3y ago

They didn’t say it did?

It's a weird connection to make. 3G is rolling out for much faster data, so carriers can start charging data. This makes it sound like a marketing play by carriers to push it. But why would they push a device using the much slower EDGE? There were plenty of 3G phones out at the time if that were the angle.

Spooky23 3y ago
Because AT&T / Cingular didn’t have a good 3G story. The iPhone was the right device at the right time with the right launch partner. Its success allowed them to cow Verizon, whose bureaucracy and contract management is government like. People bought the iPhone in spite of EDGE. EDGE was fine for text devices like the Blackberry or T-Mobile Sidekick. iPhone tipped things over in lots of ways.
- Apocryphon 3y ago
  Huh. Did the success of the iPhone lead to the T-1000 esque re-formation of the AT&T monopoly?
  - lotsofpulp 3y ago
    No, that had already happened. See the graph and dates here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breakup_of_the_Bell_System https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breakup_of_the_Bell_System ATT had acquired Cingular by 2005.
- lotsofpulp 3y ago
  They did summer of 2008 though when they released the iPhone 3G with unlimited mobile broadband data. If I recall, that was unprecedented in the US.
- silisili 3y ago
  I had ATT at the time, and 3g was already rolled out. It had been since 2005, even. I definitely agree with the last paragraph, the fact that it sold so well without 3g was a testament to its following. I simply don't feel mentioning 3g in the article was worthwhile - it is not a reason for the iPhone's success.
  - Spooky23 3y ago
    It’s been a long time, but my recollection was that it varied widely by region. Where I lived, alot of the territory between cities was controlled by regional/local companies like Cellular One, and those companies basically leveraged control of territory to extract whatever they could from the carriers. You had 3G in town, but drove a few minutes away and there you got handed off to the little guy, usually using EDGE. Iirc, Verizon and AT&T acquired most of them circa 2007. I think you’re right in that 3G is not responsible for the iPhones’ success, but I would say that iPhone is responsible for the success of 3G and the growth that accelerated LTE.