Like the Meineke ads of old, T-Mobile is not going to pay a lot for this iPhone. FierceWireless reports that T-Mobile COO Jim Alling told Morgan Stanley’s Technology, Media & Telecoms Conference this week that his company will only start selling the iPhone for use on its network if the price is right.
“Make no mistake about it: We would love to carry the iPhone,” he said. “However, we want the economies to be right for us.”
T-Mobile’s decision to hold firm on the iPhone stands in contrast to rival Sprint (S), which signed a $15.5 billion deal for the ability to sell Apple (AAPL) smartphones in 2011. Even so, Alling acknowledged that not having the iPhone has become a liability for T-Mobile and said that “we recognize that it has been a point of churn for us.”
T-Mobile is the only nationwide carrier in the United States that doesn’t offer the iPhone.
