Andre Yoskowitz
1 Dec 2009 13:34
According to Thomas Weisel analyst Doug Reid, Apple may choose to add the iPhone to the T-Mobile lineup of smartphones starting next year, leaving Verizon out to dry for their recent foray into anti-iPhone ads, mainly promoting the Motorola DROID.
Reid says Verizon will likely not get the smartphone until 2011 when 4G infrastructure is more widely available.
T-Mobile uses GSM and EDGE data making the move pretty straightforward if necessary however T-Mobile's 3G operates on a different band than that of AT&T, and needs T-Mobile network support, which could prove costly for Apple to implement.
Additionally, T-Mobile is much smaller than Verizon or AT&T, and has 33.4 million customers which wouldn't leave much growth for Apple. Both AT&T and Verizon have over 70 million customers.