[IxDA Discuss] iPhone 2.0 Game Over? I think not!

[Jared M. Spool]

On May 4, 2008, at 3:16 PM, Kontra wrote:

>> Apple had hoped to get the telcos in a bidding war.
>
> Is there any evidence to this at all, beyond mere pundit speculation?
>
> Apple's AT&T partnership is not the result of 'losing' in a telco  
> 'bidding war.'

It seems to be true that Apple approached several of the telcos. All  
but Cingular (including, initially AT&T) turned them down almost  
immediately, from all reports.

In several reports, it is repeated that Jobs had hoped to get Cingular  
to move quicker or find a better deal by playing more than one company  
off of each other. But, because they turned him down, he was stuck  
with working on Cingular's time schedule.

I don't know if you'd call this 'losing'. I just call it a business  
strategy that didn't quite pan out.

And, as we see by the explosive growth of the iPhone market, the  
boards of the other telcos are probably questioning their original  
decisions.

Jared