Remember all the chatter about a year ago that iPhone pricing separated Apple and Verizon? Well, it seems the carrier has moved closer to Apple’s thinking, spurring by a desire to block T-Mobile USA or Sprint from obtaining the popular handset, according to an analyst Monday.
Kaufman Bros.’ Shaw Wu told clients he is “picking up that iPhone economics to Apple are likely to be favorable, similar to that offered by AT&T.” Apparently, Verizon “may be willing to pay for exclusivity to itself and AT&T,” Wu writes.
Multiple reports suggest Verizon could get the iPhone early next year. One factor that once was a bargaining chip for Verizon seems now to have turned in Apple’s favor. Google’s Android platform has begun “to lose some of its luster” with the carrier, according to the analyst.
“Many, including ourselves, have been concerned that [Verizon] iPhone economics could be less favorable given the strength if Android and higher costs of components, particularly those associated with CDMA.”
[Fortune]
Ed Sutherland is a veteran technology journalist who first heard of Apple when they grew on trees, Yahoo was run out of a Stanford dorm and Google was an unknown upstart. Since then, Sutherland has covered the whole technology landscape, concentrating on tracking the trends and figuring out the finances of large (and small) technology companies.
