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> The carrier thing was true, but they could have launched outside the US. Instead they found a carrier desperate enough.

The carrier the iPhone launched with in the US was AT&T. While they were neck in neck with Verizon at the time, AT&T had the technical majority of the market. How were they desperate?

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Actually, it was Cingular, which got purchased by ATT (I think)

Oh, it was Cingular at announcement and AT&T at launch. Interestingly,

> Cingular chief executive Stan Sigman signed a secretive deal with Apple in 2005 before seeing any designs or prototypes of the phone. Other carriers had been scared off by Apple's reputation for controlling every aspect of its products. But Cingular and AT&T leadership saw the partnership's promise.

Actually, it was the other way around. Cingular bought AT&T Wireless, which was _not_ part of the original AT&T at the time.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AT%26T_Wireless_Services

Yes this seems to be right, although in short order the resulting firm was once again branded AT&T.

Rumor I heard at the time is Apple went to Verizon first but Apple insisted no one see the phone until shortly before launch and Verizon balked.

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