One of the most pernicious lies about the newiPhone 4S is that it works "across all carriers." (I saw that in the New York Times this morning.) That's wrong. It doesn't work on T-Mobile USA, making Apple now fully complicit in AT&T's plan to destroy the smaller carrier so it can gobble up T-Mobile's tasty, tasty spectrum.
There's a technical reason why the iPhone 4S can easily work on Sprint, but not on T-Mobile. Sprint uses the same technology and same frequency bands as Verizon Wireless; putting out a Sprint iPhone is just a matter of testing and tuning. But T-Mobile has been cursed with the unusual AWS 3G frequency band, which no iPhone has ever supported.
To produce a T-Mobile-compatible iPhone, Apple would need to change their radio to include AWS. There aren't very many phones with both AT&T's and T-Mobile's 3G bands; the Huawei U9000 can do it, as can the Nokia N8, but it's not exactly common, and radio design has never been Apple's strong point.
So there's a valid excuse for Apple not to sell a T-Mobile iPhone. That doesn't change the facts on the ground, though. Now T-Mobile's three larger competitors all have iPhones and T-Mobile doesn't, which puts T-Mobile at a competitive disadvantage. And I can't help but think that AT&T is rubbing its giant blue globe in glee at the prospect.
T-Mobile has a strong Android lineup—right now I'm using the HTC Sensation, which is a terrific phone—but there's a segment of the U.S. public for whom only an iPhone will do.
If you want to get really pedantic, the iPhone 4 doesn't work on a bunch of other carriers either, including Canada's Wind Mobile, Cincinatti Bell, or Russia's SkyLink, among others. And it will "work" on T-Mobile at painfully crippled, 2G EDGE speeds if you buy it at a super-high unlocked price. But a kneecapped, EDGE-only, $550 iPhone doesn't compete with a $199 3G device.
T-Mobile vs. T-Mobile
AT&T needs to promote a narrative that T-Mobile is a terminal case, dying and hopeless. One of the things that makes me angriest is that T-Mobile's owners are promoting that case, too, essentially stabbing all of their workers in the back.
I've spoken to many T-Mobile employees who are passionate about their product and about the possibilities for T-Mobile in the future. They think the carrier can have a great lineup, will do innovative things with HSPA+ 4G, and can arrange alliances that could serve it in the future. Let's not forget that today, T-Mobile's HSPA+ 42 nationwide network is faster than AT&T's nationwide system. T-Mobile's owners don't care about any of that; in fact, it looks like they'd prefer that their own employees fail, because it strengthens the case for the merger.
I've repeated enough times why this merger would be bad for America, and I'm happy that the U.S. Department of Justice agrees with me. It's a pity, then, that Apple seems to have aligned itself, whether on purpose or not, on the other side.