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damn, I guess that ends consumers desire for an iPhone

I would love to hear what Steve Jobs thinks about this. I think Verizon just dug their own grave. No iPhone for you!!!!!!
How stupid is the CEO of Verizon?! I could do a better job then him! And for less!!!!!!!!
Moron!

I love the iPhone but in Chicago the drop calls is starting to get to even me! I hope they start to do something.

Nov 09, 09 - 09:49 am Comment from: MacAdvocate

...which places every handset Verizon has ever expectorated on the neighboring Island of Dipsh*t Toys.

Nov 09, 09 - 09:49 am Comment from: Mac-nugget

I though it was pretty funny. I don't see it as much against the iPhone. They only get disillusioned when the bogus map shows up. Didn't AT&T;sue them because of this?

I still think the ad is clever as heck.

It's almost like Verizon themselves are attempting to dispel the "iPhone on Verizon soon, no really!" rumors themselves, with the ads they're running.

Nov 09, 09 - 09:58 am Comment from: Mac-nugget

@Ebster:

Steve Jobs is about business. Back in the day, he even made a deal with Microsoft. They when't back to ATI after there squabble, they even dropped the litigation against those reporters that leaks secret info about two years ago.

If Verizon can sell iPhones, Apple will deliver them. The advertising is not against the device, it's against the network. Very clever indeed.

Well lets get on board Apple. I'm not going to change to AT&T;just because of the iPhone. Have you seen how much it costs to switch? AT&T;should be waiving fees just to get my business, not nickel and diming me. I need Apple to meet me half way, get on Verizon's network today! Otherwise I'll just keep using my iPod Touch, and pay half as much as everyone on AT&T;'s plan!

Love Apple to tears but........it's actually a GREAT commercial. The masses will connect with this.

AT&T;took over Cingular, who's tag line was "We Raise the Bar". At AT&T;, they've replaced that with "We Raise Your Expectations". In a place like NYC (where I live), service should be blazing but remains sluggish and spotty, yet I have had unprecedented speeds while driving through rural PA, go figger. I'll dump AT&T;and pay the penalty for early termination in a heartbeat for decent, reliable service.

Hire Verizon's marketing firm. NOW!

He won't -- Microcr@p will continue to pump out ads as bad as their products.

@Ebster
I doubt you would be able to do a better job THAN him. Better to first start with learning basic grammar, yes?

I don't see it as putting down the iPhone but the other toys feeling sorry for such a good device being stuck on AT&T;. So it's pro iPhone and anti-AT&T;.

I want an iPhone but I'm likely getting a Droid until Verizon gets the phone next year. Yes it will happen and on the CDMA network. Qualcomm has a chip set that does all protocols including CDMA and LTE. I believe that Apple will use it in the next generation phones.

Nov 09, 09 - 10:09 am Comment from: dd

Verizon is as delusional as Microsoft.

Nov 09, 09 - 10:10 am Comment from: dd

I like the idea of iPhone + Wimax. Go CLEAR! (CLWR)

Nov 09, 09 - 10:10 am Comment from: HMCIV

SJ next year: "We finally have a CDMA capable phone. And we are proud to announce our exclusive 10 partnership... with Sprint.

"Sprint has a long history of cheap service plans and are desperate to make any deal that looks like market share. Oh and they didn't piss me off while I was eating breakfast."

Nov 09, 09 - 10:11 am Comment from: Ray

Verizon has banked it's future on the Moto-wireless division. From personal experience....that is a very very bad idea.

just my $0.02

In his frothing stupidity (as usual) MDN misses the clear message of the ad: the iPhone itself is great, AT&T;'s coverage sucks. The toys basically say, how could you ever end up here, you can do so many things. The iPhone then throws up the AT&T;coverage map.

Unlike the first droid ad, this ad goes to great lengths to not slam the phone itself.

I cannot help but agree as I sit in my office staring at City Hall in Philadelphia with a iPhone that drops more than 2/3's of the calls I make, that often cannot even initiate a call without flashing up "call failed," and which works like it supposed to accessing the internet only through my Verizon FIOS over wireless.

And that is in the morning. In the afternoon AT&T;'s wireless network in my area basically shuts down for anything other than short calls over EDGE.

The best is when I go over to the AT&T;two blocks away and am told, "Yeah, we get people in with iPhones all day complaining about the coverage."

I'd like to see some other cell phone take off. I would love to chuck my basically useless as a cell phone iPhone and replace it with a Touch.

@ Dave;

As someone who spent 4 years with Verizon, wanted an iPhone and has now spent 2 years with AT&T;, allow me to make a few corrections for you;

"Well lets get on board Motorola. I'm not going to change to Verizon just because of the Droid. Have you seen how much it costs to switch? Verizon should be waiving fees just to get my business, not nickel and diming me. I need Motorola to meet me half way, get on ATT&T;'s network today! Otherwise I'll just keep using my iPod Touch, and pay half as much as everyone on Verizon's plan!".

See how much better the revised version sounds? Especially when it's a whooooole lot more accurate than yours?

Stop being so sensitive, MDN.

These ads aren't targeting the iPhone, they target ATT. If anything the ads are sympathetic to iPhone users who must swallow the bitter taste of ATT coverage that comes with their phone experience.

It's more like Verizon telling us that the iPhone would be better on their network. If Steve Jobs is petty enough to leave access to 90 million highly paid Americans over these ads, then it hurts Apple just as much as Verizon.

Nov 09, 09 - 10:41 am Comment from: shen

the simple fact that they feel they need to make a whole series of special ads just to combat a single product tells you exactly who is winning....

"In his frothing stupidity (as usual) MDN misses the clear message of the ad: the iPhone itself is great, AT&T;'s coverage sucks. "

Ah, maybe because, AT&T;has a TON of customers? No one uses the bandwidth like iPhone owners. If Verizon had the iPhone, people would be bitching about that too. Especially in fsckin' San Francisco (eg. the entire technorati community, all iphone owners), a city built on a massive steep hill.

Can you say cellular dropouts?

"I cannot help but agree as I sit in my office staring at City Hall in Philadelphia with a iPhone that drops more than 2/3's of the calls I make, that often cannot even initiate a call without flashing up 'call failed."

That ATT can't manage decent coverage smack in the middle of one of the most populous cities in America speaks volumes about their capability and willingness to provide decent service.

It's no wonder ATT was Steve Jobs' second choice after he shopped the phone to Verizon. We know what network he really wanted pumping through the veins of his treasure.

It's not about the iPhone. I love the iPhone in fact it's my third one. I had the first one, the 3G and now the 3GS. Its the best phone in the world. However AT&T;'s network is a JOKE! I live in Los Angeles, work out of San Francisco and New York. All three areas SUCK in coverage. EDGE works better than 3G. AT&T;is failing with success on this one. Those ads are attacking the weak point of owning the iPhone which is the network and they are correct.

Apple can change this landscape by releasing it to all the networks even MetroPCS. If this happens all the networks would be competing and improving their networks and dropping their prices.

Frankly Verizon I don't think they want the iPhone for that reason. It would bring upon heavy costs and price wars that will make all the providers do a death match. They will loose money across the board. This would give Apple more power over them. This what the providers fear.

Verizon claims to have full 3G coverage here. They do NOT! I live smack dab in the middle of a red zone on their map but when I tried a Verizon phone for a few weeks, I could not get ANY service at all at home or work (and I work in the busiest part of our town!). I called Verizon about this several times and the bottom line is they said they haven't got any towers in our area and they have no plans to add any for the next few years.
I switched back to AT@T and have 3G and all the bars!

I thought people loved competition in business? Shouldn't we be glad that the iPhone has encouraged/forced AT&T;to improve their service? Of course, it would be better if AT&T;had the best service, but Rome wasn't built in a day. Where I live, I haven't had any dropped calls, so AT&T;service isn't an issue for me. Verizon nickle/diming was.

I'm waiting for the AT&T;commercial that shows someone needing to hang up their (Verizon) call in order to use their map application. So much for running multiple applications...

Nov 09, 09 - 10:58 am Comment from: Jubei

This is like DELL talking SMACK at Apple back then. Jobs put that target on DELL on a keynote. Maybe its time to do the same thing to that cocky Verizon bull sh**ter.

Nov 09, 09 - 10:58 am Comment from: JadisOne

I live in SC and have to travel to FL a lot to meet with my clients and for a project I'm working on. I love the 3G coverage in FL and where I live in SC, I'm never without 3G coverage.

On the flip side, my wife has a Verizon cell phone and whenever she travels with me, it's her phone that's always dropping calls and never having coverage. So, in my experience Verizon sucks and I would never switch to them no matter how many iPhones they wished they had.

I'll be staying with AT&T;. I'm happy with their service. I LOVE my iPhone. And I will continue getting my Verizon friends to jump ship and come on board with AT&T;. My most recent "convert" can't stop raving about how great the iPhone is.

Nov 09, 09 - 11:04 am Comment from: NCIceman

I would not worry so much about the future of a deal between Verizon and Apple. Note they are clear to attack AT&T;'s 3G network coverage here, not the iPhone. Of course they make indirect references to it...after all, it IS the hot competition. This ad could just as well be aimed at Apple Execs...

Everyone is going to choose which service is better.

EVERYONE has gripes with any of the carriers.

Verizon's network is good, not great, they hit AT&T;right where it hurts, National Coverage, this is where anyone can chime in for local results.

AT&T;has the more powerful network considering it can hand more operations than one(data and voice), but it doesn't have the national 3G coverage as verizon. This is true.

and YES verizon is attacking Apple too, calling them stupid or sad for not joining the wider covered network.

Over all the iPhone is still the phone to beat this holiday season, EVERYONE knows this. Apple has got to be doing something right considering every other carrier, EVERY smartphone maker is still trying to throw jabs, because they are still weak to throw haymakers and too stuck in their ways.

I love my iPhone, no gripes with AT&T;for me for the record.
Verizon blows for nickel and diming me for EVERYTHING.

Apple went to the Christmas Special land long before with it's classic Mac/PC series - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Zhp6V2eacE&NR=1 and did a much better job.

"I live in Los Angeles, work out of San Francisco and New York. All three areas SUCK in coverage. EDGE works better than 3G. AT&T;is failing with success on this one."

That's what these ATT apologists don't understand. Some people are fortunate enough to have ATT coverage in the few places where their fledgling network doesn't have a high congestion rate. But how many iPhone customers are in San Francisco, New York, LA? Philly like OpJ told us about. These are key demographical regions for not only iPhone customers but users of all Apple products and they can't get service. ATT has failed them.

The glue holding ATT together is that Apple exclusivity agreement. Should it ever expire, iPhone customers would drain from their network like an unclogged sink. That's the message these Verizon commercials are sending.

As Verizon is now taking big shots at iPhone (iDon't etc..), why do we keep seeing stories of iPhone coming to Verizon soon? Do you really make a product look bad that you reportedly want so badly?

Nov 09, 09 - 11:12 am Comment from: Deus Ex Technica

All facts aside, from a messaging standpoint, this is high ju-jitsu which very effectively uses AT&T;'s biggest strength to put them on the defensive.

The Verizon "maps" campaign as a whole is laser-focused on their value proposition, even more-so than their nerd-guy-is-everywhere campaign. The "misfit toys" ad in particular takes the "maps" campaign to AT&T;'s strongest product (iPhone) and very effectively connects it to their weakest link: their coverage.

Well-played, Verizon. Finally.

Nov 09, 09 - 11:19 am Comment from: Amazin1

It is all about the coverage in this ad. Nothing said about the actual phone. Interesting. They apparently feel they cannot go head to head on hardware capability so they go for the weak spot. Good approach. So far I have not had any issues with coverage or connection as I had in prior years (going back three years) with AT&T;. Only problems so far is the iTunes store apparently having issues yesterday afternoon.

Nov 09, 09 - 11:21 am Comment from: TowerTone

What I saw was a well made commercial that said the iPhone would be perfect if it were on the Verizon network.

I don't believe it. Since Verizon took over Alltel, my girlfriend has had several problems, including having the plan that she had for years taken away from her when she tried to get a new phone.

Reality is a bitch that got spayed on Madison Ave, then ran over....

This ad refers to AT&T;'s 3G network and has a device that resembles an iPhone but, if you look closely, it's not an iPhone. It's a fictitious iPhone look-a-like. How fictitious is the rest of the spot? Could the 3G coverage maps be as fake too? If I didn't already have an iPhone, this still would not sell me. Not my kind of advertising.

"Could the 3G coverage maps be as fake too?"

If the maps were fake, ATT would've quickly brought this campaign to an add with its litigious trigger finger.

No, the contrast between their 3G networks is just so remarkable that it seems unreal.

Pretty funny! AT&T;needs to hit Verizon hard, really hard. Perhaps the Land of Crippled Phones or the Dictatorial State of Nickels and Dimes. Verizon sucks, and people need to have that hammered in their heads. I can't believe that users are willing to put up with Verizon's hamfisted approach.

Reminds me that several years ago I was a Verizon customer and asked them if they had any phones that were compatible with downloading phone numbers and calendars from a Mac computer. The sales "guy" laughed at me, and said: "Why would anybody want a Mac?" I vowed then that if the opportunity came I would leave Verizon. Well, that opportunity did come in the form of the iPhone. AT&T;might have its issues, but arrogant salespeople haven't been one of them.

Nov 09, 09 - 12:10 pm Comment from: TigerCliff

These threads always baffle me. There are two simple issues when we think of iPhone + AT&T;(in U.S.) -- (1) the device question, (2) the carrier question.

iPhone vs. Droid and others -- iPhone is the gold standard. The first device that got handheld "mobile" computing right. The others are following... and they make no bones about it. Some of those devices will be pretty good. I know a number of people locked in outside of AT&T;that are excited about Droid. The pecking order is iPhone OS, Android, BB, and other. I have a many ex-colleagues in the mobile space and they say MS is not even on the map anymore.

Carriers - They all stink in the U.S. Why do we argue about this? It simply depends on which you're locked into and which has the best coverage in your particular area and places you visit. I live in a city where AT&T;is dominant ... and always wins on local "least" calls dropped. It's different in different places. I've had 3-4 different carriers in the last few years and all had horrible customer service... they're run like very old utility businesses and they don't care (or can't do anything) about quality or service.

The reaction of MDN and the fanboys (despite the network, not the phone being targeted) shows how devastatingly effective these ads are.

It is always going to be the big cities that suffer the most. The complaints that ATT can't even get it right in a city like NYC is kind of ironic. It is BECAUSE the city is so densely populated that there are connection issues.

I just got back from NYC a few weeks ago, and I was stunned by the amount of people on iPhones. It seemed like 4 of 5 phones that were being used for something other than talking were iPhones. And I have never seen more plus 40 adults texting and emailing. On the streets, in bars, at restaurants. It was actually king of scary. The sheer amount of bandwidth being used by iPhone owners is enough to kill any network. It's not about coverage in this case, people. It is about volume.

There were times when I was there that I couldn't even make a call, let alone access the 3G network. When I got back home (Pacific Northwest), my iPhone worked perfectly again. Not that it always did... just in the last 8 months have a noticed a more stable network. But I almost never drop calls now.

I love this phone, but I hope ATT is pouring some of the billions of new-found revenue into their infrastructure. If not, we may se another Apple/Microsoft scenario, where the best new device on the planet succumbs to mediocrity.

@R2

I can't be certain because the maps in the ad are so hard to read, but they don't seem to indicate that there is 3G coverage with ATnT where I live, and most assuredly there is. Granted, it just went live a couple months ago, and even ATnT's website has yet to be updated to show that 3G coverage is available here, but I don't think that Verizon's map is truly indicative of the current state of ATnT's 3G coverage. With ATnT's ongoing upgrades, I'm certain that the map will look a LOT different in 6 months for sure.

Nov 09, 09 - 12:32 pm Comment from: The Other Steve

My friend has been waiting a long time for her Verizon to get the iPhone.

I guess this kind of kills that idea.

Nov 09, 09 - 01:02 pm Comment from: Chapleau

The "Island of misfit toys" was a place where defective toys went. The Ad makes no sense because the iphone is not defective. Anyway, screw Verizon.

Nov 09, 09 - 01:05 pm Comment from: MacRaven

Well, if anything comes of this slam, maybe it will be to inspire AT&T;to do something more.

MDN: "These Droids aren't the iPhone killers you're looking for"

Absoultely brilliant. Made my whole day. But now I'm afraid Sprint will steal MDN's killer wit and make an ad with the clip from Star Wars and change the sound over to "These ARE the Droids you're looking for" and cut to a hand holding out a Droid phone to the storm trooper (whatever they're called). It would be a highly memorable commercial. Let's hope they decide to stick with their current crappy ads. (And for the 1000th time, MDN - iPhone users need a bigger comments field)

Nov 09, 09 - 01:19 pm Comment from: Predrag

The ad clearly acknowledges iPhones dominant position, yet tries hard not to directly go against the iPhone (unlike the first Droid ad), but against the carrier instead ("What are you doing here? You can download apps and browser the web? Yeah, people love you!" say the characters in the ad; the iPhone pops up that notorious AT&T 3G map). In other words, the iPhone would be perfect, if only it were on Verizon.

Well, that ain't happening. Even if that exclusive contract weren't five years (as everyone seems to indicate) and were to expire only after three (i.e. next summer), Apple would still have no reason to open up to multiple carriers.

AT&T has voice coverage pretty much throughout the US. The difference between carriers when it comes to voice coverage is negligible. EDGE coverage is also available pretty much everywhere, much like EVDO. So, this is the ONLY thing that matters to people. Vast majority only complain when there's no voice or internet coverage in the zones where they use their phones most of the time. If voice and EDGE work, users are fine and they'll get the iPhone, totally oblivious of the fact that they aren't even using 3G.

Apple is getting a massive subsidy from AT&T. If they were to end the exclusive deal, the subsidy would immediately drop to the normal $250 that carriers are paying to all other smartphone makers. That would increase retail price for the iPhone to $400. Nobody would want it at that high a price, even if it WERE on Verizon. And no, CDMA chipset is not an issue (it's trivial to build an iPhone with CDMA; other makers have been doing it for years).

Nov 09, 09 - 01:21 pm Comment from: Big Al

MDN,

It's OK for Pepsi to mention Coke. ATandT is the iPhone's Achilles heel in the United States and it makes only good advertising sense for to attack iPhone's weaknesses.

Besides the inaccurate maps, at least Verizon is not making up phony iPhone weak spots anymore.

So here's morning after getting back from court: phone call from my loan officer. Call dropped 1 minute into the call. Tried to call back---called failed on dialing, three times. Phone finally dials, call dropped on "hello." he calls back--call failed after one minute. Finally got him using a throwaway metropcs phone.