The yet-to-be-released Verizon iPhone has killed the yet-to-be-announced Symbian^3 launch on AT&T.
The recently announced Verizon iPhone is already impacting the market, as AT&T has reportedly killed its yet-to-be-announced Symbian^3 launch. A version of the Nokia X7 was expected to be released in the first half of 2011. However, Pocketnow recently reported that AT&T has cancelled the X7. Sources have now told the WSJ that Nokia decided to pull it due to the lack of interest from AT&T.
According to the sources, AT&T wasn't prepared to subsidize and market the Nokia X7 at the level Nokia believed was required for the effort to pay off. The way we see it, the introduction of the Verizon iPhone on February 10 is the key reason for the cancellation. AT&T most likely plans to take further advantage of the Verizon iPhone buzz as soon as it hits store shelves - via its marketing budget this time around.
While many have predicted that the Verizon iPhone will make the AT&T iPhone redundant, we are among the ones that believe both carriers will succeed. Of course, that means AT&T will need to make some sacrifices, and the first one is clearly the Nokia X7. With the new BREW effort in the pipeline too, there's simply not room for AT&T to give Symbian^3 backing at this time. It's also a fact that Nokia has a number of key Symbian upgrades in the pipeline, which would be crucial for the Nokia X7 to receive in a timely fashion.
However, with a bunch of high-end Android smartphones that'll soon also require software upgrade resources, AT&T will soon have even more tasks to handle. T-Mobile today said that they're planning to step up as far as software upgrade schedules are concerned, meaning that AT&T will need to be well-prepared (Sprint and Verizon Wireless have already adjusted to the market needs for most high-end devices).
Meanwhile, the Verizon iPhone will soon be released with only one software upgrade to be received this year, and with no carrier resources required, namely the anticipated iOS 5 update that could make the iPhone more social. If you ask us, 2011 will indeed be yet another interesting year for smartphones. As far as Nokia and AT&T, it's difficult to predict what will happen next in that relationship. We'll simply just have to wait and see how things unfold.
