Apple will introduce a version of the iPhone next year that can use HSPA, AT&T Chief Executive Officer Randall Stephenson said today at a meeting of the Churchill Club in Santa Clara, California.
“You’ll have it next year,” Stephenson said in response to a question about when the 3G iPhone would debut. He said he didn’t know how much more the new version will cost than the existing model, which sells for $399. Apple Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs “will dictate what the price of the phone is,” he said.
Jobs plans to sell 10 million iPhones worldwide in 2008, which would give Apple a 1 percent share of the mobile-phone market. Apple has sold 1.4 million handsets through the end of September.
Other remarks by CEO Stephenson:
- On Verizon opening the network: I think it was overblown. Go back in time, the wireline network became open, the broadband network, the same thing. We are one of the most open networks in the world. All the handsets we sell are Java equipped. If you want to buy handset without a contract, fine, just pay retail price for the handset.
- On Google handset alliance. Six operating systems out today. Blackberry, Microsoft, Symbian, Palm. Here is new entrant that has never made an operating system. Will be interesting to see if they can develop a world-class operating system. If our customers want the phone, great. Our customers don’t say I want that operating system, they said they want a particular phone.
- The average household spends $127 a month on wireless. With broadband that becomes $200.
- On the 700 MHz auction: It is beach front property. It doesn’t get any better than this. (They will be bidding.)
- U-verse will be at 8 million customers by end of this year. Turning on one market every month. Turned on Austin this week. Dropped number from 18 million to 17 million by end of 2008.
- The company offers satellite service from EchoStar and DirecTV in areas it doesn’t reach with its own TV plan. Offering satellite will be “a long-term solution until we can get the video built out in those areas,” Stephenson said.
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