T-mobile users can start the party as this network will take place of current AT&T,after their contract with Apple will expire in 2010.Most analysts were expecting the handset developer to reach an agreement with Verizon Wireless,but a Thomas Weisel analyst,Doug Reid,strongly believed that it will sign with T-mobile U.S.He thinks though Apple would be more satisfied in cutting a quick deal with T-mobile then launching in a serie of hard and insecure negotiations with Verizon,who made fun of Apple's iPhone in their Droid adverts.The analyst also stated that Apple wanted to get away from exclusivity,and T-Mobile represented the network that could help them achieve this in the U.S.
Apple already had agreements with T-Mobile in some European territories including Germany,which is the home of the mother company that holds T-Mobile,Deutsche Telekom.With more than 350 million subscribers world wide,T-Mobile is the third biggest carrier in the world,after UK-based multinational Vodafone and Spain-based Telefonica.It was said that T-Mobile UK will merge with Orange UK to hold a better leverage for the iPhone deal.The deal was made even though T-Mobile suffered a few major incidents last November,such as a major service disruption that retained clients from using the texting ability of their phones,or the Sidekick problem that deleted all personal data on the T-Mobile Sidekick smartphone like contacts,calendars,e-mails,and others.
Even from the beginning,T-Mobile looked like a terrific choice,as it is America's fourth-largest wireless carrier that registered over 34 million subscribers in the third quarter and $17 billion worth revenue.Combined with AT&T,the T-Mobile deal can expand Apple's clients to over 120 million customers(roughly 40% of the country population).That would eclipse Verizon's 89 million subscribers.However,a big role in choosing T-Mobile over Verizon was played by several aggressive adverts of an "anti-iPhone,pro-Droid" nature.
Everyone from customers,to media and analysts think that an Apple-Verizon agreement would be stunning,especially now when the latest statistics show that AT&T is one of the worst large networks of the country.Some did not lose faith and are still waiting for a dual-carrier iPhone which can support both Verizon's CDMA/EVDO carrier,and the Mobile 3G industry carrier of AT&T and T-Mobile.However,Apple doesn't want to get to complicated,and would rather chose an LTE enabled iPhone which can support all 4G networks using the radio technology.
Don't get too excited about this,as the new T-Mobile iPhone 4 comes with quite a price tag. Depending on the phone's model, memory and other details,the price in the UK can even reach $499.You can also get a free iPhon by subscribing to T-Mobile,and paying 60 pounds a month.Such a contract on two years is necessary for obtaining the 16 GB model of the iPhone 4 alongside some network benefits(extra minutes,text messages,and 1 GB of extra memory for data transfer).