T-Mobile thinks the iPhone is cool. It would love to add it to its network. But it’s not happening anytime soon.
That’s according to a blog post by T-Mobile Chief Marketing Officer Cole Brodman, addressing customers asking T-Mobile for the iPhone. Here’s a quote from Brodman’s post:
We’ve heard from many customers who love their T-Mobile service, but are disappointed that we don’t carry the iPhone. To these customers, first, thank you for your business. Please know that we think the iPhone is a great device and Apple knows that we’d like to add it to our line-up. Today, there are over a million T-Mobile customers using unlocked iPhones on our network. We are interested in offering all of our customers a no-compromise iPhone experience on our network.
He’s right – there are a lot of unlocked iPhones on T-Mobile’s network – but that’s hardly the best way to get the device working for many customers’ preferred carrier. Bringing an unlocked iPhone to T-Mobile means sacrificing 3G wireless service and speeds available through AT&T and Verizon, and being stuck with EDGE cellular speeds instead. That works for some users, but not for most.
The blog post seems to be pretty definitive in terms of the rumors that the iPhone 5 would be available on T-Mobile’s network when it’s available this fall. Apple seems to be ready to announce the next handset on Oct. 4, but it seems safe to say that there won’t be a “one more thing” concerning T-Mobile at the event. According to many rumors, however, that could leave T-Mobile as the only major carrier without the iPhone come this holiday season.
Reports suggest Sprint will be picking up Apple’s next handset, with a leaked document from Best Buy backing up anonymous sources testifying to that effect. So one has to wonder: How would T-Mobile fare if it’s the only non-iPhone carrier?
Brodman has something of an answer for that. In his blog post, he advocates for a few nifty Android devices with 4G capabilities which are more powerful than the iPhone 4. And a new report from Nielsen suggests that Android devices are still gaining favor among consumers, holding down 56 percent of the total smartphone market.
Still, while iPhone holds only 28 percent of the market, that’s 28 percent of the entire smartphone market for one phone. T-Mobile has to be pretty bummed it won’t have the device this year. Just like its customers.
