Starting early next month, Verizon Wireless will begin selling iPhone 4, giving the US consumers more options of carriers for the first time. This is a much anticipated news as Since the debut in 2007, Apple’s iPhone had been exclusively provided by by AT&T network. Verizon COO, Lowell McAdam and Apple COO, Tim Cook called it “the beginning of a great relationship between Verizon and Apple”. I can’t tell if this could be a successful corporation, at this time, I just can point out 4 reasons why people wouldn’t buy the Verizon iPhone 4.
1. No GSM Chip
Apple marketing boss Phil Schiller confirmed that Verizon iPhone 4 will not have the GSM Chip for true worldwide roaming. That means it will just be able to roam on CDMA networks, not GSM networks. Enterprise users will find it difficult when they go abroad because the number of CDMA operators outside the US is very limited compared to GSM.
2. The same iPhone
The Verizon iPhone is the same device as the one on AT&T. It still has the Apple retina display, Facetime, 5 MP camera, HD video, A4 processor. There are just some minor improvements such as the different side buttons, the updated version of iOS that includes new Personal Hotspot capabilities and a reportedly improved antenna.
Moreover, Verizon offers the same price as AT&T, suggested retail prices are $199.99 for the 16GB and $299.99 for the 32GB model with a new 2 year contract.
3. iPhone 5 is coming
The iPhone 5 will come out in the next few months and purchasing the iPhone 4 with a 2 year contract is not a smart decision at the moment. It is very possible that iPhone 5 will be available on both AT&T and Verizon, we absolutely don’t want to terminate the contract at that time because the fees are very high. Besides, iPhone 5 is expected to have a lot of great features such as NFC or 4G support, so 5-6 months will be worth our waiting.
4. Other great smartphones
In CES 2011, many new awesome smartphones have been announce and will debut soon. We can name the Motorola Atrix 4G, LG Optimus 2X, HTC ThunderBolt or Samsung Infuse 4G. If you are not crazy of iPhones, it is time to consider other brands with much more competitive prices.
These are my opinions, the decision is yours. If you don’t get the Verizon iPhone 4, could you tell me your reasons?
About Tuan Do
Thanks for the share.. BTW my favorite smartphone is Motorola…
The reasons are reasonable enough. One more reasons, Verizon CDMA networks does support simultaneous data and voice service so you cannot being called when online.
Oh yes, the CDMA network doesn’t support data and voice service at the same time, but I think we still can receive incoming calls, the data connection will be interrupted then.
Hopefully this will be solve when they make the LTE based iPhone.
As I know, the iPhone 5 will be include both GSM/CDMA chip, then you can wait to this June/July for more information about it.
Why do people keep thinking that an iPhone 5 will be announced in June?
For me, it’s very obvious that an iPhone 4G will be announced with 4G tech added… at most, an iPhone 4GS with a dual-core processor.
Look back at history… see the time frames of the iPhone. People were thinking the same back then as well. X.X
Hi Manny,
There are some obvious reasons that iPhone 5 will be released this July. Firstly, it is very possible that the next version of iPhone will not include 4G, so it can’t be called iPhone 4G or something like that. Besides, Apple has filed series of patents for new technologies and they would be the main features of iPhone 5.
Hands down, Apple’s app store wins by a mile. It’s a big variety of all types of apps vs a relatively sad choice of a handful for Zune. Microsoft has plans, especially in the realm of games, but I’m not certain I’d want to gamble on the future if this feature is vital to you. The iPod is a much better preference in that case.