Apple’s iPhone is exclusive with Cingular
Apple has announced the much awaited iPhone today. It looks pretty damn impressive, and it has classic Apple signatures all over it.
I was intrigued by the decision to go exclusive with one carrier, in this case Cingular. This is a great news for Cingular, who will no doubt benefit from the exclusivity and being associated with such a premiere “cool” brand like Apple. I obviously don’t know the details of the deal, but I wonder if Apple has more to lose by going with just one carrier.
In the North American phone market, it is commonly believed that the carriers exercise more control over the phone manufacturers about the features, even the design of the phones. They dictate where the phone will display their logo, and what kind of features to enable/disable on the phone.
I would have thought that with Apple’s brand reputation and the huge number of loyalists that grows everyday, they don’t have to play by the same rules — Apple can turn it around and command more from each carrier. Make them play nice with each other, and get the greatest market share possible with the phone. Look at RAZR — there are variations from each carrier, and of course some “exclusive” models exist, but you can get a RAZR from every carrier now, because it’s perceived as cool and they probably lose business if they don’t offer it.
Well, I’m the first to admit I don’t know what I’m talking about. There’s probably a sound business reason to go only with Cingular (for now, anyway). I just hope that when the phone comes out for real in June, it looks as impressive as it does now, without all the meddling from Cingular.
