Smartphones are increasingly becoming a necessity in the fast paced world in which we live. Students all over West Virginia University’s campus access social networks and email in the convenience of the classroom and during leisure time. Emails are exchanged on car rides, and large amounts of school work are delivered over cellular networks from home or while on vacation. For those people who feel like they can’t goo through life without constantly being “connected,” many cellular networks have provided the luxury of smartphone choices for several years.
Until now, AT&T was the only mobile service provider who offered the Apple iPhone. As of 3 a.m. on February 3, 2011, punctual Verizon service carriers have been able to pre-order their Apple iPhones. However, this early morning release date provided stress to consumers across the globe.
“I stayed awake just so I could purchase my highly anticipated iPhone, but I kept getting an error message on my screen,” said Melissa Moraes, senior Public Relations major at WVU. “The next morning I found out I could pre-purchase my phone straight from the Apple website, so that’s what I did.”
Verizon and Apple customers are both excited about the release date because now their choices for smartphones aren’t as limited. On February 9th at 3 a.m., Verizon will open the pre-sale on its website again, and open its merchandise stores at 7 a.m. for the purchase of the new Verizon iPhone.
The controversy is on its way to being over now, as both large mobile service providers, AT&T and Verizon, can offer their customers the number one agent in smartphone construction, the “iPhone.” Each provider offers internet service packages to their existing customers for around $30.00 a month, with a price tag of $200.00 for a 16GB, or $300 for a 32GB iPhone with a two-year contract.
With comparable prices, there should be no controversy in customers switching from one provider to the other. With the addition of Verizon adding iPhone to their network, more families and friends will be able to share and connect with Wi-Fi face timing, online picture sharing and text messaging services. Now iPhone possessors around the world can rejoice because they are adding several hundreds of thousand members to their network, and it will have nothing to do with which service provider they got their iPhone from.