It is an exclusive partnership between Apple, Inc. and Cingular. Otherwise many of the phone and email features that you'll have and others to come in the future would not be available on the iPhone.
I'm not too happy about the Cingular "exclusivity" either. There are many people that would like the iPhone that are not on Cingular (for example, I'm on Verizon). See?:
"am i the only one ****** that its only offered on cingular? I mean a prision caffeteria buy has better customer service than those dolts.
I really think Apple did it this time. Cingular *****, but hey ... the legal writing's on the wall re: locked in services- it'll change.
"(both require a 2-year commitment agreement with cingular, of course)..."
- this will also cost you one soul
It's an awesome phone! Too bad it's with Cingular. I travel alot and have never gotten great service from them at all.
So, since I hate Cingular, but since they
are GSM, and I have T-Mobile, what kind of lock can they possibly have from me using it for my carrier? As of the 1st of January (I think) carriers cannot lock phones.
That and ME WANT ME WANT ME WANT!
I have never been happier to be a cingular customer and out of contract! Now if only June were here and my 8gb iPhone were too!
To everyone else: CINGULAR? *** APPLE! I was looking at their "plan" options...they blow. and if you want something with a decent amount of minutes + MMS + data...you're looking at close to $90/month, before taxes and "fees". That's insane.
The lack of VoIP mentioned leads me to believe that Apple are not doing everything they /should/ be doing to make this phone truly revolutionary.
Also, $600 w/ a 2-year contract with the devil is something I'm not prepared to pay, no matter how badly I want this phone. I've heard awful terrible things about Cingular as well.
Anyways, the only reason that the iPhone is with Cingular is because Apple asked Cingular to upgrade their system.
I bet if they asked the other carriers like Verizon, they'd be much obliged.
Well if the phone is locked it will only run with cingular if it is unlocked then is will run with a sim card with all the other phone companies except with verizon because verizon does not have a sim card
