Steve Jobs: Multi-Carrier US iPhone Might Be an Advantage

During yesterday’s All Things D conference, Apple’s CEO was questioned about AT&T’s network performance. Steve Jobs said that the operator was doing "pretty good" in improving its network, but admitted that the exclusive US wireless carrier of the iPhone "could do better." However, any carrier faced with having to support the iPhone would run into the same problems, Jobs said.

The Wall Street Journal’s Walt Mossberg asked Jobs about AT&T, whose network continues to face criticism, to which Jobs replied, "They’re doing pretty good in some ways and in others they could do better. We meet with them once a quarter. Remember, they deal with way more data traffic than anyone else. And they’re having trouble. But they have the fastest 3G network and they’re improving. I wish they were improving faster….I’m convinced that any other network, had you put the iPhone on it, would have had the same problems."

The CEO continued to stress on the matter, saying, "We found a way to sell the phone that we wanted to sell and to define it the way we wanted to define it. We were able to change the rules of the game, and that’s what got us excited about the phone business….AT&T took a big leap on us and decided they were going to trust us to do the right thing with the phone. And that’s worked out quite well for both of us."

Mossberg then pressed Jobs to say whether there would be advantages to having other carriers in the U.S., to which Apple’s CEO responded rather vaguely, saying, "There might be." The WSJ’s Mossberg was eager to get more details out of Jobs, rephrasing the question into a more direct one: would the iPhone become available on other domestic carriers in the near future? Jobs said, "You know I can't comment on that."