Apple cannot afford to keep single carrier policy

By Stan Beer
Friday, 01 February 2008 12:34

Opinion and Analysis

When iPod global marketing director Greg Joswiak was asked at Macworld 2007 why Apple had chosen to restrict iPhone to AT&T in the US, he replied that Apple could not have delivered functions such as visual voicemail without AT&T. That was no doubt true when iPhone was still under development but how can Apple afford to stick to exclusive carrier deals as it takes iPhone global?

Some analysts and commentators have noted that Apple has created bad blood between itself and a number of carriers who were passed over when it brought iPhone to the market. One can understand Apple's reasons for striking an exclusive deal with US heavyweight AT&T when it was a nobody in the mobile phones business. However, when Apple went into Europe with the iPhone five months later it was riding the crest of a wave. Just about any wireless carrier would have been willing to talk business with Apple concerning the iPhone.

However, instead of shopping the iPhone around to the multitude of carriers in the highly competitive European wireless networks market, Apple chose to go with the historical incumbent monopolists in the UK, Germany and France. In the process, it passed over a number of important carriers, not least Vodafone, the largest mobile network operator in the world outside of China.

It is probably a debatable point as to whether Apple should have taken the iPhone into Europe before a 3G model was available. Some say it doesn't matter. However, two things are fairly clear: European sales are not all they could be and there is a huge market for unlocked iPhones.

The discrepancy between the number of iPhones assigned to carrier contracts and the number of iPhones shipped is enormous. No doubt a fair proportion of this is due to unsold inventory in retail stores. However, a significant number of iPhones are being sold unattached to carrier plans. iPhones are being sold unlocked in the markets of Asia where you can't get them with a carrier plan, but they're also being bought and unlocked in the US and Europe.

The message is that many and probably most iPhone buyers would like to be given a choice of carrier when they buy their iPhone. Some would be prepared to pay more as they do with other smartphones and buy their iPhone unattached to any subsidised carrier contract. The point is many consumers feel no loyalty to carriers and resent being forced to choose one. CONTINUED