Verizon: no "iPhone killer" needed
updated 02:40 pm EDT, Wed June 20, 2007
Verizon on iPhone Killer
Verizon can use services rather than devices to compete against the iPhone, the carrier's CEO Ivan Seidenberg said today at a press event during this week's NXTcomm expo. The company head dismissed notions that one or more hot devices would be the only solution to counteracting Apple's effect on the US phone market, saying that services were at least as important and would convince users to keep subscriptions where many other carriers suffer from a rapid turnover of users who sign up for but soon leave their services. Verizon's customers are typically far more loyal, Seidenberg said.
"We just added four new devices in the past month," Seidenberg said. "The new BlackBerry is flying off shelves. The way we see it, our customers have price points and service packaging that is different."
The CEO also pointed to services that were currently impossible to reproduce on other networks, such as its V CAST TV digital broadcasts that requires a Verizon subscription and one of the few phones capable of supporting over-the-air TV in the US.
And no proof exists yet that AT&T's strategy is the right one, Seidenberg added. While AT&T has declared that the iPhone will change the industry, Verizon will take a wait-and-see approach to determine whether or not it should adapt its plans in the wake of Apple's hardware. "I don't think it changes the game plan for how we approach the market," he said. "But we need to see the impact. The burden is on [AT&T] to prove the market will change."
Verizon reportedly turned down the iPhone two years ago, when it felt that Apple's terms for the deal were too stringent and would have taken much of the control of sales and service away from the carrier.
Great Verizon Services!
06/20, 02:56pm reply
Like crippling my Bluetooth so that I can't sync between iCal and my Razr V3c, and so I can't transfer photos between my Mac and my Razr without paying for VCast messaging!
Hooray Verizon!
Enforcer5981
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Jul 2006
Cost might be worth payin
06/20, 02:58pm reply
I'm highly considering buying out my Verizon contract and dropping the wad on the iPhone just to have the functionality that Verizon refuses to grant me. That being direct computer to phone workflow.
burger
Junior Member
Joined: Sep 2000
selling...
06/20, 03:02pm reply
Which is easier to sell? A service or a product?? Me thinks product :)
eldarkus
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Feb 2004
iPod redux...
06/20, 03:04pm reply
This was the argument about the iPod - the specs on a jillion other mp3 players were supposedly batter, they had bells and whistles and k**** that went to 11. Where are they now?
jpellino
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Oct 1999
Verizon says,
06/20, 03:10pm reply
"We're like rubber, AT&T's like glue. Flaws bounce of US and stick to YOU." Except Verizon playing by themselves...
Ben Lawson
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Jul 2002
vCast
06/20, 03:10pm reply
Has anybdy ever used vCast? I mean, like, ever?
I know many people with verizon phones (includng me) but noone has ever used vCast that I know of. Who would pay 2 bucks for a single news report?
b.
fishtech
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Jun 2006
Meaningless story...
06/20, 03:14pm reply
Buries at the bottom of the "story" is this line:
"Verizon will take a wait-and-see approach to determine whether or not it should adapt its plans in the wake of Apple's hardware. "I don't think it changes the game plan for how we approach the market," he said. "But we need to see the impact. The burden is on [AT&T] to prove the market will change."
shmoolie
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: May 2002
VCast, et al
06/20, 03:20pm reply
It's $15/mo, and not worth it unless you're in a major market area all the time. I'm not. It's kind of nice, but the content's not very fresh, and the aforementioned drawbacks add up to, well, it blows.
AT&T is going to have VZW's lunch this time. And I'm happy to move my business to them. VZW's been hosing me long enough. All AT&T has to do is discount service enough for me to cancel two lines, and I'm in.
jcatma61
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Nov 2006
i hope
06/20, 03:44pm reply
someone smarter than me is archiving each and every one of these comments by ceo's and analysts. I could be very wrong, but my tea leaves point to these guys trying to pretend they "didn't say that" in about six to eight months.
zl9600
Forum Regular
Joined: Oct 2003
Think again
06/20, 04:04pm reply
When my contract ends in November I will be saying bye-bye to Verizon. As much as I have enjoyed my locked and crippled Treo, the iPhone is just a perfect match for me.
mgpalma
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Sep 2000