The Apple iPhone is being widely criticized for having relatively slow data service (about 256 kilobits/second) compared to Verizon's much speedier EVDO data service, which can run two or three times faster. The wireless wars have whipsawed back and forth over the past several years. Four or five years ago, many of us, including me, were enthusiastic about the potential of WiFi winning the wireless connectivity wars. But as the shortcomings of WiFi became clearer, Verizon began deployment of their EVDO wireless technology, which is piggybacked on top of their existing cellular network.
As we know from the famous Betamax vs. VHS war, the best solution does not always win. About a year ago, I began thinking (reluctantly) that perhaps the inferior EVDO system might win the mobile wars. But things are beginning to swing the other way. Verizon, following the Microsoft playbook, has made EVDO data service pricey, and EVDO is not really fast enough to handle all the things we will want to do in just a few years with our wireless devices.
So what does this have to do with the iPhone? At least one expert thinks Apple is smarter than Verizon (I know, that is setting the bar really low). Apple has used the more common and less expensive EDGE data technology in its phone to keep the price down. But it has also built in WiFi support--Verizon, by comparison, usually cripples WiFi in phones it private labels so users are forced to use the more expensive EVDO.
See the pattern? Apple expects that the winner in the wireless wars will be IP based services like WiFi and WiMax. Verizon thinks they can force everyone to purchase their one vendor only EVDO solution. It would be a mistake to bet against Apple: here is an incomplete list of technologies that Apple has pioneered that later became industry standards.
Apple seems to have a lot of cards it has not yet put on the table when it comes to the iPhone. The next couple of years will be interesting.