Posted on 06/18/2009 8:15:00 AM PDT by llevrok
Let’s say you’re one of millions of Americans with a Verizon contract. Let’s say you really want an iPhone. And let’s say you don’t have hundreds of dollars necessary to break your contract, ditch your BlackBerry, and hop on board with AT&T. Right now, the whole furor over the 3G S is probably pretty frustrating, right?
Well, now you’ve got someone on your side.
Yesterday, Sen. John Kerry and three others on the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation fired off a note to Michael J. Copps, the acting chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, asking Copps to look into exclusive arrangements between mobile phone manufacturers and national carriers.
The letter has drawn a lot of attention, mostly because it seems to be partly targeting one of the longest standing deals around – the one that gives AT&T the sole right to sell service for the iPhone.
The request, which was penned by Kerry and Sens. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.), and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), precedes a Senate hearing this week on wireless service. Kerry is Chairman of the Commerce Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet. The other three authors of the letter are all members of the same subcommittee.
“We ask that you examine this issue carefully and act expeditiously should you find that exclusivity agreements unfairly restrict consumer choice or adversely impact competition in the commercial wireless marketplace,” the senators wrote. Among the specific factors they suggested Copps address: “Whether exclusivity agreements are becoming increasingly prevalent between dominant wireless carriers and handset manufacturers.”
(Excerpt) Read more at features.csmonitor.com ...
Kerry served in Vietnam?!
Funny he never mentioned it...
isn’t Algor heavily invested in Apple?
Could this turn into a squabble between Gore and Kerry? Oooh, I hope so!
“exclusivity agreements “ are common throughout industry. These guys are just following the money. They all need to be replace.
hey don’t screw with john kerry, he will kill your women and children, burn your hut to the ground behead you and rape your body while he attaches electrods to it, he says he’s done it and i believe him. he has medals for it that he threw over the white house fence.
so watch it.
ping
Kerry, Wicker, Dorgan, and Klobuchar.
What’s in it for them??
John Kerry has WAaaaaaaay too much free time on his hands.
What the heck are senators doing?
(s)Perhaps Obama should appoint a senate czar to oversee the problem. (/s)
Yup, Kerry’s a real techno type. This loon couldn’t make a bulb light, given batteries, wire, and the bulb.
Kerry? Wasn’t he in Cambodia?
Keep the D#MN government out of private business....these guys are RUINING this country so fast it ain’t funny!
You can’t make contracts any more.
Apple chose to make a GSM only phone just like a lot of phone makers and AT&T is the largest GSM network in the US
Senatsar Kerry. Sounds good.
It is natural that Apple would look to ATT as a distribution model so they can deliver advanced features.
It benefits the consumer and of ATT/Apple.
When the other networks have the ability to support the advanced features of the IPhone, it is likely that Apple will include them as part of their distribution model.
However, it should be noted that other manufacturers have exclusive arrangements as well. For instance, the Motorola Q9 is offered exclusively on the Sprint network.
There is a rationale for offering products and services unique to the competitor as they see advantageous in acquiring new customers and retaining them
Uh, well, uh...that's OK. I forfeit.
He isn't a major stockholder... but he has been a member of the Board of Directors of Apple Inc. since 2003.
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