More than 85 million Americans subscribe to Sprint and T-Mobile. But as became clear at the iPad 2 launch today, Apple has no love for them—and the company may never pay attention to that market.
For years, we could pretend that Apple's AT&T exclusivity contract was what was holding iDevices back from being available on all U.S. carriers. Apple's really on the user's side, right? Right? And in many foreign countries, iPhones are available unlocked or on a wide range of carriers. Canadians can choose from five different carriers for their iPhones.
But Apple execs seem to have their egos invested in U.S. carrier brand images in a way that isn't the case for Canada or Singapore. Back when the iPhone first launched, I got a sense that the company only wanted to deal with "winners" or "the best," and that Sprint and T-Mobile were seen as low-end chumps, losers, failures.
Apparently, Apple hasn't changed its mind. The iPad 2 is the first post-exclusivity Apple wireless product, and Apple could have made a big splash by making it available on every U.S. network willing to carry it. Heck, why not U.S. Cellular? U.S. Cellular is known for great customer service.
Apple has shown, time and time again, that it's not particularly interested in U.S. consumers having a wide choice of wireless carriers for Apple products. Many people find that troubling, because of a sense that Apple is on the "user's side"—but that isn't true, of course; Apple is on Apple's side, and Apple may have decided that its brand image doesn't mesh well with Sprint's.
The irony, of course, is that this could backfire on Apple. In fact, it already has. Many people have argued that Android's dynamic U.S. growth throughout 2010 came not only because of some great Android phones, but also because many Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile users who might have wanted iPhones didn't want to switch carriers.
This creates a possible hidden benefit here: Sprint and T-Mobile could become the hubs of non-Apple tablet innovation in the U.S.. T-Mobile already bit back at the iPad 2 with a Tweet about its upcoming G-Slate, which records 3D video. Sprint will be the first carrier with the BlackBerry PlayBook. Of course, this also means that Sprint and T-Mobile need to drive their partners to ship, now. The PlayBook has now been shown so many times that it's reaching "notorious vaporware" levels, though it still hasn't missed its announced ship date of March. I'd be excited to see if this Apple snub leads Sprint and T-Mobile to speed the launch processes for the next round of Honeycomb tablets.
We need more competition in the U.S. wireless industry, not less. It would be great to have every phone on every carrier where technically possible, so the carriers could then compete on coverage, speed, price and services like mobile streaming TV. Wireless carriers don't make handsets, and they rarely add much value to the hardware; handset exclusives are an evil we have to put up with.
It's disappointing that Sprint and T-Mobile users won't get iPads that work on their networks without extra MiFi hotspots. But Sprint and T-Mobile (and MetroPCS, Cricket, U.S. Cellular and Cincinnati Bell) aren't about to just lie down and abandon the tablet wars. Maybe Apple's error here will leave room for more brilliant Android tablets to pair with great service plans and 4G speeds on America's number 3 and number 4 networks, which could actually increase choices for all.