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Verizon Gets the iPhone – But is Google the Real Winner?
The carrier finally gets the iconic Apple device, but by building it to work on its 3G network it is giving Google almost exclusive ownership of the term 4G for the next 12 months.
Kevin Fitchard
January 11, 2011
1 Min Read
Any way you cut it these, days, Google seems to end up smelling like roses.
Apple’s move to offer the iPhone on Verizon’s network should have a wide-ranging impact: for Verizon, of course, but for rival AT&T as well.
But when it comes to staking a claim as the leader in the next-generation of mobile broadband technology, Google could be the real winner.
Connected Planet has more:
It’s easy to see Google as the big loser now that Verizon has the iPhone. Verizon has been one of Android’s biggest champions, pitting its Droid smartphones against the iPhone while AT&T enjoyed exclusive operator rights to the iconic Apple handset. It’s a setback for Google, which is sure to see Android handset sales on the VZW network drop as the iPhone comes online (an effect that will be amplified if Apple extends the iPhone 4 to Sprint and other operators). But it may have won a key victory in the larger war. By keeping the iPhone firmly grounded in 3G, just as we’re entering into a mobile broadband revolution, Apple has handed the so-called 4G market over to Google—at least for the time being.
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