News

Verizon CEO Has Sharp Words for Apple and Jobs

Friday, June 27th, 2008 at 3:40 PM - by

Verizon chairman and chief executive Ivan Seidenberg had some sharp comments to make about Apple and Steve Jobs in his interview with the Financial Times on Friday. [Subscription may be required.]

The principal focus of the interview was whether, with telco consolidation, his own company might get swallowed up some day, perhaps by Vodaphone -- a current partner.

"We're not for sale," he said in his interview the Financial Times. "And in case you didn't get that the first time, we're not for sale. OK?"

Recently, Verizon bought Alltel, the fifth largest U.S. wireless company in the U.S., propelling its customer base of 80 million customers just above AT&T's.

During the interview, Mr. Seidenberg turned his attention to Apple and noted that while it's a great company, Apple still has a very small share of worldwide mobile phone sales. Asked about whether the new price of the iPhone 3G would turn it into a mass-market winner, he scoffed: "There goes the conspiracy again," he said. "You're declaring them a winner before they've earned it on the field."

The Verizon CEO also stated that Apple has no monopoly on innovations. There are all kinds of possibilities for disruptive nature of the smartphone, and he's bullish on Verizon's future. "It's very cool," he said. "And Steve Jobs eventually will get old ... I like our chances."

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ctopher said:

member since 25 Aug 2006 with 134 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Fri Jun 27, 2008 4:17 pm

I like it when a CEO uses the "eventually will get old" argument when asked about a competitor. Why innovate when we can wait it out?

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A guest said: (hide)

Fri Jun 27, 2008 4:22 pm

"It's very cool," he said. "And Steve Jobs eventually will get old ... I like our chances."

So, Verizon's strategy is to wait until Jobs retires?

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mactoid said:

member since 01 Feb 2005 with 29 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Fri Jun 27, 2008 4:23 pm

I also like his complacent assumption that NO ONE ELSE AT APPLE can innovate. If I was a Verizon stockholder, I'd be hoping the CEO had a little more innovative vision.

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rabber said:

member since 18 Apr 2007 with 3 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Fri Jun 27, 2008 4:25 pm

I think that Mr. Seidenberg has taken a very Bill Gates/Steve Balmer approach to Apple. Verizon is currently in no danger of going out of business and they have a dominant position, along with AT&T, in their business. However, Apple has taken a huge chunk of mind share. In fact, it is incredibly disparate with their actual market share. Because of this, Apple stands to influence and guide the entire mobile phone industry and, eventually, become a dominant supplier of handsets. This is supported by the number of advertisements I see for "iPhone killers". The rest of the industry is rapidly trying to match Apple's products. It doesn't matter if you think Apple has a great product, a lousy one or something in between. There is no denying that other manufacturers are introducing phones that try to match the iPhone.

If I was a Verizon shareholder and my CEO stated that he is waiting for Steve Jobs to get old to stop Apple from innovating, I would have serious concerns about the future of that company. While I certainly agree that Steve Jobs will eventually leave Apple, what will happen to Verizon between now and then? And who says that his replacement will slow the innovation? With Verizon's strategy, they deserve everything that will happen to them.

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A guest said: (hide)

Fri Jun 27, 2008 4:37 pm

You gotta love when a CEO publicly humiliates themselves.

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vasic said:

member since 09 Aug 2005 with 278 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Fri Jun 27, 2008 4:54 pm

Many prominent people have said stupid things that have become legendary for their myopic values. Some lovely moments from not-so-distant past:

Bill Gates: "640K is more memory than anyone will ever need"

Ken Olsen (CEO Of Digital): "There is no reason for any individual to have a computer in his home"

Ed Colligan (CEO of Palm, about iPhone): "We?ve learned and struggled for a few years here figuring out how to make a decent phone,? he said. ?PC guys are not going to just figure this out. They?re not going to just walk in."

There are many more people who are in high position, yet tend to blurt out things that come to bite them later. And journalists love to pounce on those old statements. It will be fun to watch how this one plays out.

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A guest said: (hide)

Fri Jun 27, 2008 5:21 pm

First and foremost, lest you discount my comments as a "manic Apple conspirator," I currently use a PC. And further, I like Verizon, think their advertising is spot-on and think they as a company are generally considerate of their customer's concerns.

BUT... for Verizon's CEO to have turned down the iPhone when it was offered to them first and now millions of iPhones later imply Apple doesn't know what they are doing, or that they are somehow neophytes in mass marketing or portable electronics, is either dangerously arrogant or incredibly stupid... both of which are damaging to Verizon. Extremely bad form for a CEO.

Sometimes the braggadocio of declaring "who's on top," and stealing the thunder of another, takes on the persona of a two-year old crying for attention. This one epitomizes that scenario, sadly at great cost to his shareowners and customers.

VERONICA

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A guest said: (hide)

Fri Jun 27, 2008 5:53 pm

To build on Vasic's pertinent and entertaining contribution...

Get your feet off my desk, get out of here, you stink, and we're not going to buy your product.

-- Joe Keenan, President of Atari, in 1976 responding to Steve Jobs' offer to sell him rights to the new personal computer he and Steve Wozniak developed.

The Macintosh uses an experimental pointing device called a 'mouse.' There is no evidence that people want to use these things. The whole concept and attitude towards icons and hieroglyphs is actually counterrevolutionary ? it's a language that is hardly 'user friendly'. This type of machine was developed by hardware hackers working out of Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center. It has yet to find popular success. There seems to be some mysterious user resistance to this type of machine.

--John C. Dvorak on why the Macintosh would fail, San Francisco Examiner, 1984/02/19

"We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out."

-- Decca Recording Co. rejecting the Beatles, 1962.

VERONICA

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A guest said: (hide)

Fri Jun 27, 2008 6:08 pm

Apple has 20 billion in cash I wonder how much it would cost to buy verizon and shut their mouth?

Seriously though at&t is dumping alot of money to upgrade their network I think that alot of these ceo's

are going to eat there words. The iphone is a platform I think we haven't seen anything yet as to what it will

become.

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vasic said:

member since 09 Aug 2005 with 278 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Fri Jun 27, 2008 6:30 pm

Verizon is worth about $98B (approximately two thirds of Apple). Apple has less chance of buying out Verizon than Microsoft had buying out Yahoo. Keep in mind, though, this is the entire Verizon (local telco on the Eastern seaboard), not just Verizon Wireless.

Beside, Verizon Wireless would be completely useless to Apple anyway. They are CDMA, which is a dying breed.

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A guest said: (hide)

Fri Jun 27, 2008 7:33 pm

Seidenberg is running scared.

That's understandable...

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Nemo said:

member since 28 Aug 2007 with 24 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Fri Jun 27, 2008 9:31 pm

Mr. Ivan Seidenberg is, is he not, 62 years old? That is approximately nine years older that Steve Jobs, nearly a decade older. So, when Mr. Ivan Seidenberg says that Mr. Jobs will get old and, thus, either die or retire from Apple, he must be expecting his successor to enjoy the benefit of that event, because he most likely will have preceeded Mr. Jobs into either death or retirement.

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A guest said: (hide)

Sat Jun 28, 2008 6:17 am

I think that what Seidenberg might have been saying was the Steve Jobs and Apples' ability to continue to wow the consumer will "grow old" Lets be honest, Apple has had a very good run over the last few years with a continuous series of hits-iPods, iTunes, PowerBooks, iBooks, MacBooks, MacBookPro, and on and on the now the iPhone 3G . As a shareholder of Apple since they were trading at $14 a share, yes I am happy, but at the same time can Steve keep the fabled "Reality Distortion Field" in full force forever? We are in some serious economic times, will people still spend on a discretionary expense like iPods, iPhones and MacBook's? I hope so!

So I think to a certain degree Mr. Seidenberg does have a point, do I agree with him, no! Apple has shown amazing resiliency in it's corporate life, and I think that Verizon/Seidenberg will ultimately be feasting on a heaping platter of crow. Pass the salt, please!

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davesmall said:

member since 28 Jun 2008 with 0 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Sat Jun 28, 2008 11:09 am

Ivan Seidenberg will be known throughout history as the guy who turned down Apple's offer of an exclusive iPhone deal.

AT&T should erect a bronze statue of Seidenberg in the lobby when they open their new headquarters buiilding in Dallas. He has to be one of their biggest heroes.

Seidenberg's decision to reject the iPhone will be long remembered as one of the worst business decisions in history. It ranks right alongside these momentous decisions (and might be at the very top of the list when all is said and done):

* Ford's decision to build the Edsel

* Hilton's decision to build hotels in Cuba just before Castro took over

* California's decision to buy their electrical power from Enron

* Decca Records decision to turn down the Beatles

* In the late 19th Century, Western Union owned the Telegraph which was the only electronic communication system in existence at the time. Western Union's response to Alexander Graham Bell when offered his patent on the telephone for a price of $100,000. ""Mr. Bell, after careful consideration of your invention, while it is a very interesting novelty, we have come to the conclusion that it has no commercial possibilities? What use could this company make of an electrical toy?"

* In 1979, Perot employed some of his well-known business acumen and foresaw that Bill Gates was on his way to building Microsoft into a great company. So he offered to buy him out. Gates says Perot offered between $6 million and $15 million; Perot says that Gates wanted $40 million to $60 million. Perot decided that was too much money and turned Gates down.

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MacToddB said:

member since 11 Jun 2008 with 5 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Sat Jun 28, 2008 11:13 am

Steve Jobs IS ALREADY OLD... and still turning out cool stuff. The Verizon 'Can you hear me now' dude is getting old, and was never cool.

Steve has left a permanent impresson on Apple, and I'm sure 20, 30, even 50 years from now, people will be saying 'What would Steve do?'. I doubt in 10 years, Verizon employees, if they company is still around, will say "What would Ivan Seidenberg do?'

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fotodivr said:

member since 02 Sep 2004 with 5 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Sun Jun 29, 2008 3:24 am

Here in Australia, Greg Winn, the COO of Telstra (the wh ore of telecommunications here in OZ) commented about the iPhone when Steve Jobs announced it 18 months ago...

Dateline 17 February 2007:

"There's an old saying - stick to your knitting - and Apple is not a mobile phone manufacturer, that's not their knitting," Mr Winn told AAP.

"You can pretty much be assured that Nokia, Motorola, Samsung, Sony Ericsson and ZTE and others will be coming out with devices that have similar functionality"

_____

Flash ain't function - it's the software and the hardware, stupid!"

Oh, by the way, Winn is from the USA like the CEO of Telstra. Both meglomaniacs.

The CEO's announcement on 23 May 2008: (Before the WWDC announcement)

"We know what is coming we have seen the new device and it will be available on our network as soon as it is launched in the USA. By Xmas this phone will be capable of 42mbs which will make it faster than a lot of broadband offerings and the fastest iPhone on any network in the world", they said. "We believe that this will be a major driver for many peope to invest in a new smart phone it will will also create a big buzz as many vendors plan to launch new smart phones at the same time".

However, they don't get it until 22-23 July. 11-12 days after it is released to two other telcos here.

As a side note: Apple's Australian flagship store (the second largest in the world) is right across the street from Telstra's flagship postage stamp "full service" store in Sydney.

As for Verison, Seidenberg needs to learn how to knit!

Maybe buy a Zune or two...

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gslusher said:

member since 13 Nov 2002 with 2088 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Sun Jun 29, 2008 4:02 am

MacToddB wrote:
Steve Jobs IS ALREADY OLD... and still turning out cool stuff.

Old? Jobs? He's 53. That is NOT "old."

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Tiger said:

member since 17 Jun 2003 with 1013 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Sun Jun 29, 2008 7:53 am

This is easily summed up and dismissed.

Everybody has heard of Steve Jobs.

Ivan who? Name doesn't ring a bell.

Or a phone.

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A guest said: (hide)

Sun Jun 29, 2008 8:30 am

This guy needs to concentrate on fixing that "tin can and string" communications system he runs (and that I just dropped) and get off Jobs' back. Frankly, the dolt couldn't carry water for Jobs

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A guest said: (hide)

Sun Jun 29, 2008 8:41 am

To be fair, Journalists often bait the CEO's until they say something stupid.

vasic wrote:
Many prominent people have said stupid things that have become legendary for their myopic values. Some lovely moments from not-so-distant past:

Bill Gates: "640K is more memory than anyone will ever need"

Ken Olsen (CEO Of Digital): "There is no reason for any individual to have a computer in his home"

Ed Colligan (CEO of Palm, about iPhone): "We?ve learned and struggled for a few years here figuring out how to make a decent phone,? he said. ?PC guys are not going to just figure this out. They?re not going to just walk in."

There are many more people who are in high position, yet tend to blurt out things that come to bite them later. And journalists love to pounce on those old statements. It will be fun to watch how this one plays out.

Quote this post ↓

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