At this point, I don't see the iPhone as such a lucrative piece of the sales like it was when it first came out. With so many high end handsets available with so many OS options, the iPhone has really become "so 2009".

The only way T-Mo can push iPhone sales is by offering it at rock bottom prices, with a cheaper data plan than AT&T.

And is T-Mo ready for the network onslaught of heavy data use? I know locally they are only GSM/EDGE, so this phone would crush capacity quickly.

this would be huge if they get an iphone with a new design. If it's just T-mo selling the 3Gs then it'll be there whole customer base wanting early upgrades.

In the USA, AT&T only covers about 20% of the country with 3G.

T-Mobile is even *LESS*.

Not sure why anyone would want "less".

(Verizon coverage is about 80% of the country.)

http://vzwmap.verizonwireless.com/dotcom/coveragelocator/images/maps/3Gcomparison.pdf

Th only way Apple can get the iPhone on T-Mos network would be to add 1700(AWS) to the radio. That we'll see from FCC acceptance reports.

I think the only way we'll see VzW carry an iPhone or iPad is if it's CDMA/LTE. With a couple companies so close to launching LTE, I don't see anyone throwing a party with old technology.

And.... Currently there are NO commercial LTE deployments in the US, and no LTE handsets either.

In order for Apple to sell units at the rate they did with the launch with AT&T, they will need to do it with another carrier, with a new technology LTE, and it will have to be backwards compatible to GSM or CDMA.

The carriers count coverage in terms of POP, not the whole map. Basically, it only matters where the large population centers exist, and where a carrier can make the most return on their revenue.

Apple can include a an AWS radio in the iphone if they choose to do so, and if there's sufficient incentives. Several chipset vendors are already producing them for others.

LTE is not currently backward compatible with CDMA, but is backward compatible with GSM.

The market woes of Spring may impact T-Mobile's spectrum position in a positive way. Sprint is losing customers, market share, and market capitalization. Its credit rating is below investment grade, so it's making it harder to raise capital, and will make it more expensive to service its existing debt. This means that the company may have to liquidate even more assets to stay afloat, or it may disappear entirely.

Haha...looks like you've bought into the whole map game. Reality is that AT&T covers over 80%, and T-Mobile over 70% (and growing) of where people actually LIVE and work. Those maps don't mean a whole lot.