The story goes like this: Apple offered Verizon first crack at its upcoming handset. Verizon either balked at the offer–or just flat out refused (perhaps due to the company’s then more pronounced need to load up phones with proprietary software like VCast)–so Cupertino went with AT&T, thereby consummating what has proven one of the most profitable partnerships in mobile history.
Verizon, naturally, regretted the decision almost immediately, and has been stewing in its own juices, waiting for the incredibly lucrative contract between the companies to run out.
Now that Verizon actually has the phone, the carrier’s CEO is telling his side of the story. Verizon was never actually offered the phone, Ivan Seidenberg tells Charlie Rose in an excerpt from an upcoming interview.
“Apple decided that it wanted one carrier in every major market,” Seidenberg explains. “So Apple and AT&T consummated a deal three years ago. And because Apple was more focused on a single technology–the GSM technology–they chose AT&T. We had good discussions with them, but it was clear to us that they weren’t looking to make a device for both sets of technologies”
Discussions opened up a bit once Apple opted to open up to a second carrier in other markets. “Now, over the course of the last three years, particularly if you go to Europe and some of the Asian countries, Apple expanded to a second carrier,” explains Seidenberg. “And it was time for them to expand to a second carrier here. So yeah, we did have a lot of discussions with them over the last couple years. We even installed antennas on their campus, and they tried our technology. When they were ready to make a decision to add a second carrier, we made sure that they had a favorable impression.”
