Whether the iPhone 5 finds its way to all four carriers or limits itself to just the current two, there’s a fight brewing already that’ll be bubbling over by the time the iPhone 5 surfaces. Verizon and AT&T are already battling publicly over the iPhone 4, with AT&T bragging about its ability to let you talk and surf, while Verizon touts its superior network overall. And price wars are on the verge as well, with Verizon talking internally about a discounted iPhone 4 and at least one AT&T retailer having already gone there. But just wait until the iPhone 5 arrives with 4G LTE and becomes the centerpiece of the other battle brewing between the two top tier carriers – and that’s before we learn whether the iPhone 5 will also surface on 2nd tier carriers Sprint and T-Mobile, which will determine which side of the battlefield they end up on. With battle lines being drawn already, here will be the iPhone 5 points of contention as far as the carriers are concerned.
Flagship: AT&T was always THE iPhone carrier by default, but now that Verizon has slipped in through the side door, Apple has thus far been diplomatic as to which carrier it steers iPhone buyers toward. But with most Americans still thinking of the iPhone as being an AT&T product, the iPhone 5 represents the opportunity for Verizon to steal the “flagship iPhone carrier” banner if it wants it. Thus far Verizon has largely blown that play by cutting off unlimited data plans ahead of the iPhone 5 launch and failing to figure out how to make talk+surf work on its current network, but there’s still time for Verizon to decide it actually wants AT&T iPhone users to switch when they buy their iPhone 5.
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4G LTE: Currently, Verizon and AT&T are battling over who has the faster 4G LTE network, in which both carriers conveniently sidestep the fact that they don’t yet offer 4G LTE to most customers or in most areas. Thus far the battles are mostly theoretical. But with the iPhone 5 arriving (IF it comes with 4G LTE which is no guarantee) around the time the big two will have built just enough 4G LTE towers for 4G to matter, the iPhone 5 is set to become the golden nugget of 4G LTE promotion for both carriers.
Sprint and T-Mobile: Whether the iPhone 5 surfaces on either, both, or neither of these two carriers is anyone’s projection. If so, they’ll back down from their current Android hug-a-thon and heavily promote the notion that they’re offering a better, cheaper, more reliable iPhone 5 experience than Verizon or AT&T. If not, they’ll go on plugging their Android phones in the hopes of losing as few customers to the iPhone 5 as possible.
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Pricing: The price reductions on the iPhone 4 are already tentatively about to begin; will they carry over to the iPhone 5? If the iPhone 4 is being blown out and the iPhone 5 ends up running the pricing gamut, will Verizon dare to offer the iPhone 5 at a lower price than AT&T, or vice versa? For the first time ever, we could see real pricing competition for the iPhone.
The bottom line is that while Apple will do its own massive iPhone 5 promotional campaign, the carriers battling each other over the iPhone 5 can only serve to help if Apple lines it up right. That means giving Verizon and AT&T what they want by building 4G LTE into the iPhone 5, and giving Sprint and T-Mobile what they want by giving them the iPhone 5. If Apple makes all that happen, then it’s set to be the beneficiary of the iPhone 5 carrier wars no matter which carriers come out on top.
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