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Broadband & Mobile Featured Article
October 24, 2007
One in Six iPhones Never Hook Up with AT&T
By Tim Gray TMCnet Web Editor
While Apple continues to boast tremendous sales success with its wildly popular iPhone, more than one ion six of those never dial up AT&T (News - Alert), the devices exclusive U.S. cell phone service provider.
In fact, about 250,000 of the nearly 1.4 million iPhones already sold will connect to a different carrier, according to Apple (News - Alert) Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook said Monday on a conference call with analysts and investors.
The exclusive rights can mean a lot of business and has already brought AT&T at least one million iPhone (News - Alert) users in three months in the United States.
However, the numbers aren’t adding up and as Apple ships the gadget out the door it is becoming apparent that the buyer isn’t contacting AT&T.
Since Apple launched the iPhone in June, hackers have been developing work-arounds that “unlock” the phone and allow users to contact carriers such as Verizon Wireless or T-Mobile (News - Alert) to set up accounts.
The number of unlocked iPhones jumped after Apple cut the price on the device last month by $200, Cook said. He did not say if or how Apple would respond to the high rate of unlocked devices.
Since June 29, 250,000 have not been activated to run on AT&T's wireless network, Cook said in the conference call with reporters and analysts following the release of fourth-quarter performance results.
And this could be a problem for the Cupertino, Calif-based company as it continues to hash out deals with telecoms overseas.
Apple recently signed deals in the United Kingdom with O2, and T-Mobile in Germany to carry the phone.
However, a the deal with French carrier Orange has got hung up because of the lock-in agreement may violate that country’s competition laws.
AT&T, which doesn't get any monthly service fees from those customers, but for Apple, with which AT&T shares a portion of iPhone service revenue.
Tim Gray is a Web Editor for TMCnet, covering news in the IP
communications, call center and customer relationship management industries. To see more of his articles, please visit Tim Gray’s columnist page.
In fact, about 250,000 of the nearly 1.4 million iPhones already sold will connect to a different carrier, according to Apple (News - Alert) Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook said Monday on a conference call with analysts and investors.
The exclusive rights can mean a lot of business and has already brought AT&T at least one million iPhone (News - Alert) users in three months in the United States.
However, the numbers aren’t adding up and as Apple ships the gadget out the door it is becoming apparent that the buyer isn’t contacting AT&T.
Since Apple launched the iPhone in June, hackers have been developing work-arounds that “unlock” the phone and allow users to contact carriers such as Verizon Wireless or T-Mobile (News - Alert) to set up accounts.
The number of unlocked iPhones jumped after Apple cut the price on the device last month by $200, Cook said. He did not say if or how Apple would respond to the high rate of unlocked devices.
Since June 29, 250,000 have not been activated to run on AT&T's wireless network, Cook said in the conference call with reporters and analysts following the release of fourth-quarter performance results.
And this could be a problem for the Cupertino, Calif-based company as it continues to hash out deals with telecoms overseas.
Apple recently signed deals in the United Kingdom with O2, and T-Mobile in Germany to carry the phone.
However, a the deal with French carrier Orange has got hung up because of the lock-in agreement may violate that country’s competition laws.
AT&T, which doesn't get any monthly service fees from those customers, but for Apple, with which AT&T shares a portion of iPhone service revenue.
Tim Gray is a Web Editor for TMCnet, covering news in the IP
communications, call center and customer relationship management industries. To see more of his articles, please visit Tim Gray’s columnist page.
