30% Apple

[Richard Pieri]

On Feb 19, 2011, at 8:19 AM, Jerry Feldman wrote:
> 
> But the real issue is that there carriers are each using different
> network protocols and frequencies which mean hardware.

The flip side is what manufacturers have to do to support multiple carriers with a single device.  One option is to manufacture different models of the same device.  Motorola does this with the RAZR and KRZR phones.  They're the same shell and mostly the same innards, but Verizon's models have a CDMA baseband while T-Mobile's have a GSM baseband.  The other option is to use a multi-network baseband.  Apple is moving in this direction with iPhone.  On the one hand, this makes for a higher manufacturing cost per unit; on the other hand, it means a single model line for the device which should improve line production costs due to scale.

--Rich P.