10/24/2007, 1:50pm, EDT
Wednesday, October 24thVerizon to bring Samsung F700 to US?
Verizon's primary competitor against the iPhone may be Samsung's Ultra Smart F700, according to a purported leak by CrunchGear lead editor John Biggs. The author claims that a version of the F700 adapted to the American carrier's CDMA network would be available as soon as the end of the year; no other details are available, though the change would require a switch to EVDO mobile broadband in place of the HSPA offered in the GSM version. The 5-megapixel camera, touch interface, and slide-out keyboard would likely remain unchanged.
The claim gains support from investment in Verizon by the European carrier Vodafone, which will soon offer the F700 as the Croix and is sharing an increasing level of technology with the American firm. Both companies have discussed implementing the same 4G access when it becomes available in coming years.
Verizon has so far relied primarily on LG devices to lure customers away from AT&T and the Apple handset, including the new Chocolate as well as the fully touchscreen-based Voyager. The company has also attempted to downplay the impact of the iPhone by developing similar rate plans and has received vocal support from Vodafone, whose chief executive said was continuing to grow in spite of the publicity surrounding the iPhone's release.
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Verizon is no different from any other carrier in that they have no clue how what customers want. Meanwhile, they believe the best profits will come if they charge extra for every feature and function the device has, and if they disable every feature that might circumvent their own way of charging for content or functionality.
Still; people will buy and be moderately satisfied by them.