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 The relationship between companies is very important for growth. No one knows this better than Apple. Apple's interim chief Tim Cook praised AT&T recently as 'the best wireless provider in the US,' stating that its GSM foundation is cohesive with Apple's goal of providing 'one phone for the entire world' while rival CDMA technology 'doesn't really have a life to it.'
At Apple's second-fiscal quarter conference call, Cook explained that Apple chose AT&T (then Cingular) because of its support for GSM, the mobile networking standard in use worldwide by the majority of wireless providers.
The main competitor to AT&T, in the US, is Verizon. AT&T operates a 3GPP Release 5 network to incorporate improvements in the 3GPP specs, sch as LTE, which is simply a name attached to 3GPP Release 8. Once LTE networks are built, Verizon's LTE version of the iPhone would most likely compel Apple to couple a relationship with Verizon, as well as AT&T. Many phone developers market versions with both GSM/UMTS globally, but this requires more than normal development time This then becomes less appealing as CDMA providers begin to switch to the next and upcoming generation.
AT&T has already started planning an upgrade to its current network. This is definitely an easier path to LTE than Verizon's LTE plans to replace its CDMA/EVDO network.  AT&T may also continue to market a faster network, while Apple wants a faster iPhone and leverages worldwide 3GPP support for their wirless networks.
Submitted By:Â Rick Bartlett, Senior Editor |
