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Verizon-AT&T iPad 2 fight is preview of iPhone 5 upcoming summer wars

Verizon-AT&T iPad 2 fight is preview of iPhone 5 upcoming summer wars

The iPhone 5 wars are coming this summer, as for the first time Verizon and AT&T will be releasing competing versions of the same iPhone at the same time. And the first taste of what those wars will look like is coming now, as those in the United States prepare to watch the two carriers battle over the iPad 2.

Sure, Verizon and AT&T have gone at it a bit with the iPhone 4 this past month, with Verizon using its “Can you hear me now” guy and AT&T airing a creepy ad about its iPhone making you a less crappy husband. But that’s all reactionary, as Verizon got the iPhone 4 well after AT&T’s initial iPhone 4 spurt had come and gone. The iPad 2 is technically the first product to debut on both carriers at once, but the carriers are a smaller part of the iPad equation. Many consumers opt for the non-mobile-network version of the iPad anyway, and even among the new Verizon iPad 2 and AT&T iPad 2, they’re both contract free and neither is judged by the ability to make a phone call; on the iPad they’re merely data networks. With the iPhone 5, however, everything changes.

The iPhone, by definition, is a mobile network driven device. Anyone who owns one is using it as their cellphone and therefore, most likely, their primary personal telephone. While Verizon and AT&T customers will argue all day as to which of the two carriers provides the better network, the bottom line is that choosing a carrier is a major part of the iPhone buying decision.

It’s also a big deal for the two carriers, as the one you choose gets to have its way with you for the length of a two year contract and monthly money for talk minutes, data plans, text messages, and more. And the iPhone 5 will be the first Apple phone to debut on both carriers simultaneously. Expect the iPhone 5 launch to mark the beginning of Verizon and AT&T, who’ve long appeared to be in secret collusion with each other regarding pretty much every negative aspect of the cell carrier experience one might imagine, finally going after each other – and hard. For the two biggest U.S. carriers, the iPhone 5 wars are a zero-sum game. And that’s before one even considers the prospects of Sprint or T-Mobile possibly entering the iPhone 5 wars as well, if those deals are put in place.

Those who’ve long been waiting to see whether a product line a multi-carrier iPhone could finally force the American cellular carriers to actually compete with each other rather than continue colluding with each other, the iPhone 5 wars won’t start until this summer. But in the mean time, keep an eye on the iPad 2 skirmishes between the two carriers; they’re a preview of what’s to come.

[Thanks: http://www.beatweek.com]

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