Will it? Won’t it? What will AT&T do about it? It’s Spring time and the buzz of what Apple will do, and who it will do it to is in the air. The WSJ could only point to ‘the people who were briefed’ when they delivered their article on a much anticipated CDMA version of the iPhone, slated to be produced by Pegatron Technology Corp, a Taiwanese company who, of course, declined to comment. A CDMN handset would certainly help Verizion boost up the number of smartphone subscribers (about 23% of all smart-phone users) in comparison to AT&T which is holds about 43% of the total smartphone market.
If indeed the exclusive between AT&T and Apple is to fade, it will be a monumental task for AT&T to find something to take its place. In the Q4 of 2009 AT&T activated 3.1 million iPhones. Compare this to 2.7 million phones they activated that weren’t iPhones! Even though AT&T pays a reported $600 to Steve for each iPhone and despite AT&T towers being clogged worse than a restroom at Denny’s the attraction of having that shiny gaget in your showroom floor is mighty tempting. (Besides, let Sprint subscribers have a crack at it. They have the ‘now’ network that has no more than 12 people on it. Of course it’s going to be the fastest 4G network!)
If VZN and Apple come to terms, will VZN require iPhones to play within the confines of their restricted playground? Or will Apple be allowed to roam free. . .in their own restricted playground? Will AT&T freak out if they lose the exclusive which they’ve milked since 2007? Will they look to the iPad exclusive and milk data plans instead? So many questions. . .is there an app for that?