As the iPhone continues to grow in popularity, more American carriers are offering the device, but what does that mean for current, non-iPhone customers? It could potentially mean a slower network for them and for iPhone users.
As a former AT&T customer, I can tell you there was often a lag in service and, at times, the phone wasn't really a phone, more of a fancy paperweight with really awesome apps. As a Verizon iPhone customer (owner of the 4, but soon to be proud owner of the 4S), I haven't experienced these issues.
According to David Owens, vice president of product marketing at Sprint, it is too early to tell if Sprint will experience any issues with service. He said that early users are usually the heaviest users because they are downloading a bunch of applications and customizing the devices. He said the company will not report the numbers at this point in time and may not ever do so in the future.
Owens said developers should, as I mentioned in this piece about dealing with data restrictions, always build smart apps -- whether they're for the iPhone or not. "You don't want to see the app constantly pinging the network. It shouldn't ping in an idol state either," he said, noting that heavy downloads included with applications should automatically prompt the user to wait for a wi-fi connection.
Carolina Milanesi, research vice president at Gartner, said that developers can't develop different applications for different carriers, they simply need to always be mindful of app efficiency. Additionally she said there may be less data used by iPhone users because of the number of applications -- iPhone users tend to use applications instead of their Safari browser to view Web information, which makes the usage lower.
Philip Redman, research vice president at Gartner, said that there shouldn't be a different between the Sprint iPhone and the AT&T or Verzion iPhone. He added that companies are often surprised by how much data is used by smartphone devices but that since Sprint already has these devices on their network, it shouldn't change their projections.
Are you a Sprint iPhone user? Or a Sprint customer? Do you notice any difference?