I was going to post this in this thread, but then thought it could make for some decent discussion... or at the very least someone could come in and say 'you're an idiot b/c you don't know anything, here's the real deal...' 
I have a bit of a theory that is pure speculation... I wonder at times if the fact that 80% (I think that's an official number?) of the world's wireless carriers use GSM scares Verizon a bit, and that's one reason they've poured so much into their CDMA being the best, and now their LTE being by far the biggest. I also wonder if that's factored in to AT&T's apparent (at least previously) complacency in the marketplace. The world is becoming so much more connected and "globalized", and (correct me if I'm wrong) when you're overseas, you can pretty much travel from country to country without much hassle and continued wireless service. (again, I could be wrong about that) The US companies, at least the two big ones, have to see that as something that will come to a head in the future, I would think anyway. Add to that things like Google basically not officially (though supposedly not forgetting about) supporting their CDMA Nexus phones b/c of binaries in some config files for the CDMA network, and it makes one (maybe I'm the only 'one'
) wonder if CDMA is going to eventually be a crutch, holding back Verizon. Maybe this is not an issue... maybe it's something that could be an issue, but technology will surpass this well before it becomes a problem... who knows. Maybe it's not a problem at all b/c most people won't be affected by this and I'm overthinking how globalized we are. Regardless, the whole field and wireless industry, business dynamics, etc., fascinates me and so I thought I'd pour some thoughts out here for discussion.
Keep in mind I know just enough to be dangerous, and not enough about anything honestly. I could be overlooking some factors that I'm completely ignorant about, but that's one reason I posted, to learn more as well...
I have a bit of a theory that is pure speculation... I wonder at times if the fact that 80% (I think that's an official number?) of the world's wireless carriers use GSM scares Verizon a bit, and that's one reason they've poured so much into their CDMA being the best, and now their LTE being by far the biggest. I also wonder if that's factored in to AT&T's apparent (at least previously) complacency in the marketplace. The world is becoming so much more connected and "globalized", and (correct me if I'm wrong) when you're overseas, you can pretty much travel from country to country without much hassle and continued wireless service. (again, I could be wrong about that) The US companies, at least the two big ones, have to see that as something that will come to a head in the future, I would think anyway. Add to that things like Google basically not officially (though supposedly not forgetting about) supporting their CDMA Nexus phones b/c of binaries in some config files for the CDMA network, and it makes one (maybe I'm the only 'one'
) wonder if CDMA is going to eventually be a crutch, holding back Verizon. Maybe this is not an issue... maybe it's something that could be an issue, but technology will surpass this well before it becomes a problem... who knows. Maybe it's not a problem at all b/c most people won't be affected by this and I'm overthinking how globalized we are. Regardless, the whole field and wireless industry, business dynamics, etc., fascinates me and so I thought I'd pour some thoughts out here for discussion. Keep in mind I know just enough to be dangerous, and not enough about anything honestly. I could be overlooking some factors that I'm completely ignorant about, but that's one reason I posted, to learn more as well...