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It’s happening, but it should come as no surprise to anyone: Verizon is going to be getting tiered pricing according to CEO Ivan Seidenberg. The carrier, who currently offers unlimited data packages with its smartphones, will start metering data or offering tiered packages. Although it has been argued that Verizon is the best network in the U.S., the growth of smartphone usage, mostly thanks to Android, is beginning to show its effects on the carrier.
After a similar move from AT&T earlier this year, Verizon’s chief was asked about the carrier’s own plans. CEO Ivan Seidenberg says, “”We didn’t need to be first on tiered pricing. We’re not sure we agree yet with how [AT&T] valued the data.”
According to the Wall Street Journal:
Mr. Seidenberg said the introduction of new products and services—likely in conjunction with the launch of fourth-generation wireless services—would allow Verizon Wireless to introduce a tiered pricing structure. The carrier would follow AT&T, which earlier this year introduced a two-tiered data structure with caps on how much data can be used. But Mr. Seidenberg said the tiers and bundled offerings would be different.
This probably isn’t going to make power users too happy, but with the tremendous growth of smartphone usage it was inevitable. The news also comes shortly after Sprint CEO Dan Hesse said that metered pricing wasn’t in the works, but being considered or at least wouldn’t be ruled out in the future.
Seidenberg also reiterated the rumors surrounding a CDMA iPhone for Verizon, and while he mentioned that Verizon would love the iPhone, it probably won’t happen until LTE gets off the ground. The CEO says that it’s really up to Apple at this point.
While there are no solid details on the tiered plans, and the time frame is still a bit up in the air, we do know that Big Red’s plans will take effect by Sprint 2011 at the very latest. Knowing how the mobile operators do things, it’s safe to say that the pricing will be pretty competitive with what will be served up in the market at that time.
[Via: WSJ]
About The Author
Marc Flores
Marc has been a mobile fanatic for the better part of a decade and has had more devices pass through his hands than he would care to count. Originally from Los Angeles and briefly in San Francisco, Marc now lives in Brooklyn where, unlike Will Park, he longs for simpler times and simpler technology. All the while, he writes about gadgets and wireless technology as he tinkers, hacks and ultimately breaks most of his gadgets in the process. Marc has written about the mobile industry for Boy Genius Report, MobileCrunch, Laptop Magazine and has had his work appear in the Wall Street Journal, Gizmodo, CrunchGear and more.
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