Imagine someone wanting to work for Apple, but saying “they’d have to pay me $1 million a week.” Sounds absurd, right? But T-Mobile is taking a similar tack in its attempt to sell iPhones. The carrier insists the tech giant support a little-known 4G spectrum, AWS.
Although available only in the U.S. and Canada, the Advanced Wireless Services band is needed by T-Mobile’s 3G and “4G” networks. Without AWS, iPhone users would be slogging through 2G or EDGE connection. In a statement, a T-Mobile marketing executive said the “issue remains that Apple has not developed a version of the iPhone with technology that works on our fast 3G and 4G networks.” Supporting AWS would provide “an additional compelling option” for T-Mobile customers, said Andrew Sherrard, senior Vice President of Marketing.
How the iPhone 4S’s description as a “world phone” would mesh with a technology available only in parts of North America is unclear. Apple currently is selling more handsets internationally, so why build an iPhone that wouldn’t work in China or Europe escapes me.
However, T-Mobile has a right to be testy. It has to watch all three of its major rivals — AT&T, Verizon Wireless and Sprint — get the iPhone. Even little-known regional carrier C Spire has the handset. For a brief moment, when AT&T proposed buying T-Mobile USA, the carrier thought it might get the iPhone in a sideways sort of arrangement. Now the Justice Department seems to have put a kabosh even on that.
But T-Mobile seems to have given itself a way out, humorously stating “Ultimately, it is Apple’s decision.” Problem for T-Mobile is that decision was already made long ago.
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.
26 responses to “T-Mobile: We Want the iPhone — But It Needs to Support AWS”
an iphone with no 3G…i dont blame em
This post is quite misinformed. AT&T’s 3G frequencies are just as non-standard as T-Mobile’s relative to the rest of the world, but Apple has supported them from day one. Obviously an iPhone that supported AWS would continue to support the rest of the world’s frequencies, just as Android phones that run on T-Mobile do.
Cspire hasn’t actually released the iPhone, just claims they are going to. Also they rent service from Sprint so they are probably getting the access that way.
Add to this that DTK has been in the process of selling off for ages and it makes sense that Apple is delaying setting up a deal
Keep in mind that the Galaxy Nexus is also a “world phone” and supports AT&T and T-Mobile’s data frequencies right out of the box.
There’s no reason Apple can’t have a “penta band” iPhone as well.
True, we can’t blame Apple for this decision. Have you ever try to use an iPhone while on EDGE(2G) it sucks to the point that is not even fun to use it. The phone freezes and stop working properly and when people see that, who are they going to blame, T-Mobile? Nop they are going to blame Apple and brand the iPhone a POS. Apple won’t take that risk and they shouldn’t.
AT&T GSM standard is used world-wide…my iPhone has worked all over the world and has used 3G speeds.
No, AT&T’s 3G frequencies are NOT the same as the worldwide ones. Your iPhone supports AT&T’s frequencies AND the global standard ones. That’s why it works in the US as well as overseas. Refer to Wikipedia article “UMTS Frequency Bands”. Almost the whole world uses Bands I & III; AT&T uses Bands II & V; T-Mobile uses Band IV.
This is crap.
If my MyTouch4g can have a radio that works on AWS here and various frequencies overseas; and Blackberry can do the same thing, than I’m sure Apple can do the same with the iPhone.
Apple DOES NOT WANT YOU TO EVER HAVE AN IPHONE……. EVER.
As a carrier – YOU SUCK !!!
I would tell t mobile to suck it. Didn’t they just climb in bed with Samsung to fight Apple?
A phone without 4G is absurd.
T Mobile will slowly loose all of it’s customers. The ANDROID PHONES CAN’T COMPARE TO THE IPHONE’S advancement in technology. Simple as that. I am a T Moblie customer for 10 years but I love the iPhone I’ll be switching carriers soon. :)