The Weekly Moan: Verizon, Sprint, Tmo — where are you?

I don’t know exactly when the rumors started regarding this mythical device, but I’m sure many Big Red customers since the announcement of the first iPhone have been longing and waiting, anticipating the day a Verizon iPhone would arrive. (Likewise, for T-mobile and Sprint.) For people who have been hoping for multiple carriers — something a lot of “experts” have been predicting for the next-gen Apple handset — the wait has been long and fraught with a lot of false starts and disappointments.

Here in Britain, we used to suffer through exclusivity as well. But O2′s exclusivity deal ran out in November 2009. In December, Orange began to sell the iPhone, and Vodafone were soon to follow suit in January. And since then, T-mobile UK started selling it “under the counter”, to existing, upgrading customers only. Even Tesco Mobile sell the darn thing, and they’re not even a real carrier; they “piggy back” off O2′s towers. There are even rumors flying around that the country’s least reliable network, Three, will start selling it.

Tesco Mobile has them, they're not even a real network....

Nobody’s sure exactly when AT&T’s secret handshake deal with Steve-o will end. (Yes, yes — it was a five-year deal set to expire in 2012, but there’s been speculation that the terms could have been rewritten or that Apple has enough justification to break the contract.) I do hope it’s sooner, and not later. Since the widespread release over here, the device has sold hundreds of thousands extra. Surely Apple can see the advantage of bringing it across to the other networks in America? There is no “there might be” about it. Competition is needed in every market, and one carrier having a country’s total monopoly of the world’s most popular mobile device is ludicrous. (Not to be confused with Ludacris).

Apologies for talking prototypes again, but wouldn’t it have been much more exciting, thrilling (insert appropriate adjective here), if someone in Vietnam, Portugal or wherever found a lost CDMA iPhone? Why can’t someone find one of those? I’d pay $5k for it… (Joke! Especially since Jobs would never “let it slide” would he?) I’m sure most of you would agree. I read a lot about customers hating that they have to be with AT&T to get their favourite device. Come on Apple, get a move on.

The price of medium fries at McDonald's is more top secret than the next gen iPhone

So with WWDC just around the corner, two days after my 5th wedding anniversary, honestly, it’s like having two Christmases at once. Will Jobs surprise us with a Verizon/Sprint/Tmo iPhone or not?

This relationship with Apple is a little like a marriage, not my marriage, but one where the consumer is the wife, and Cupertino is the mega-rich husband, who keeps her interested by bringing her shiny things to look at every now and then. Except this time, the wife has a good idea what’s up his sleeve, and it would require a huge surprise to get her interested in him again. An iPad alone won’t keep this relationship going; it’s going to take something more.

So as always, comment what you think below, or tweet me @TiP_Cam.