I believe the last time I heard this one was in March of this year. Back then, it was the Financial Times that said that T-Mobile might start selling the iPhone later this year or next year. Now it is Cult of Mac, which quotes a “highly paces source within T-Mobile” that there is an 80% chance that T-Mobile might start selling the iPhone in the third quarter of this year. We leave this one up to you to decide what 80% really means.
Apple’s relationship with AT&T has been discussed so many times over the past week alone and it is clear that AT&T has reached its limits where it can take Apple. And it appears that Apple thinks that AT&T could use some competition to get its act together in some areas, such as data services and especially the limitations AT&T has created.
It is more than likely that a competitor would be willing to open up its network a bit further in exchange to get a portion of the iPhone pie. T-Mobile is the smallest of the big 4 carriers in the U.S. with just under 34 million subscribers and its network quality isn’t the best. But it would help getting the phone to more customers. It might take some time until Verizon will get an iPhone as Apple is reportedly designing a CDMA iPhone from the ground up to accommodate a different chip set.
“Talks between Apple and T-Mobile are at an advanced stage, our source says, and it’s 80 percent likely that the iPhone will be coming to T-Mobile in Q3. The source works at T-Mobile but asked not to be quoted directly and to remain anonymous because they aren’t authorized to talk to the press. T-Mobile’s parent company, Deutsche Telekom, which carries the iPhone in Germany, was able to influence, the source said. T-Mobile USA is the fourth-largest U.S. carrier with 33.7 million customers. Apple’s exclusive contract with AT&T is reportedly ending this year, and many expect Apple to offer the iPhone to other wireless companies. Overseas, Apple has routinely added extra carriers when exclusivity deals in those markets expire.”