AT&T iPhone Exclusivity to Expire in June 2010?
Fortune reports on comments last Friday from Broadpoint AmTech analyst Brian Marshall that have been receiving a fair amount of attention today. The primary item of interest has been Marshall's claim that AT&T's exclusive agreement to distribute the iPhone in the U.S. will expire in June 2010, opening the door for other carriers to begin offering the device. Marshall's comments specifically point to Verizon as a carrier with which Apple would likely look to partner, with rumors of revised iPhone hardware capable of running on Verizon's network suggesting that a late 2010 launch could be possible.
AT&T's exclusivity window has been the subject of much discussion since the iPhone's introduction in mid-2007, with initial reports of the window extending until 2012. Other reports have claimed that the original exclusivity agreement had extended only 2009 but had subsequently been extended until 2010 as part of negotiations surrounding handset subsidies from AT&T. More recently, AT&T has been said to be seeking a further extension of exclusivity into 2011.
One of the questions raised in the move from exclusive to non-exclusive distribution models has been the effect on subsidies paid to Apple by wireless carriers such as AT&T. Marshall pegs the current subsidy paid by AT&T at approximately $450, and includes a shift to a "conservative" subsidy of $300 once other U.S. carriers come onboard. The drop in subsidy, however, would be much more than offset by increased sales volume under a multiple-carrier arrangement, according to Marshall. For its part, Apple has stated several times over the past six weeks that it has in fact been able to maintain subsidy levels in formerly-exclusive markets that have recently expanded to include multiple carriers.
The full video of Marshall's interview on Bloomberg Television is available online.
Top Stories
Serif today announced across-the-board updates for its popular suite of Affinity creative apps, including Affinity Photo, Affinity Designer, and the Apple award-winning Affinity Publisher for Mac, all of which were among the first professional creative suites to be optimized for Apple's new M1 chip.
"After another year which saw record numbers of people switching to Affinity, it's exciting to...
We've seen a lot of teasers about the Beats Studio Buds over the past month since they first showed up in Apple's beta software updates, and today they're finally official. The Beats Studio Buds are available to order today in red, white, and black ahead of a June 24 ship date, and they're priced at $149.99.
The Studio Buds are the first Beats-branded earbuds to truly compete with AirPods...
As is tradition, Apple executives Craig Federighi and Greg Joswiak joined Daring Fireball's John Gruber in an episode of The Talk Show to discuss several announcements that Apple made over this weeks WWDC, including iPadOS 15, macOS Monterey, and a large focus around privacy.
Federighi kicks off the conversation discussing the common architecture, now thanks to Apple silicon, across all of...
YouTube is planning to stop supporting its YouTube app on the third-generation Apple TV models, where YouTube has long been available as a channel option.
A 9to5Mac reader received a message about the upcoming app discontinuation, which is set to take place in March.Starting early March, the YouTube app will no longer be available on Apple TV (3rd generation). You can still watch YouTube on...
Adobe this week reminded customers that its Photoshop Sketch and Illustrator Draw apps will no longer be available for download on iOS and Android starting July 19. Adobe plans to stop supporting the apps for existing users on January 10, 2022.
In a support document, Adobe said users can easily migrate to its Fresco app, which combines many Photoshop Sketch and Illustrator Draw drawing and...
Tesla CEO Elon Musk reportedly once demanded that he be made Apple CEO in a brief discussion of a potential acquisition with Apple's current CEO, Tim Cook. The claim comes in a new book titled "Power Play: Tesla, Elon Musk and the Bet of the Century," as reviewed by The Los Angeles Times.
According to the book, during a 2016 phone call between Musk and Cook that touched on the possibility of ...
Apple last week discontinued the original HomePod, marking just over three years on the market for the full-size smart speaker. If you're looking to purchase the larger HomePod before it's completely gone, there are still some options online today.
The biggest retailer with remaining stock on the HomePod is Apple itself, which has the White HomePod for $299.00 on its website. Space Gray is...
Apple this morning announced a digital-only event that will be held on Tuesday, September 14, and if you view the event webpage on an iPhone, you can tap on the logo to open up Apple's Safari AR viewer and you'll see the three-dimensional logo move in real-time in the real world.
Just open up the event site on an iPhone or iPad and tap right on the logo to open up the AR version. The...
Apple today announced the iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, and the iPhone 11 Max, all-new models that boast improved cameras, and specifically, a dramatic new Night Mode photo feature.
Last year, Google introduced its impressive Night Sight camera mode, a software-based feature that allows users to take detailed pictures in dark environments using Google Pixel smartphones. Apple's new Night...
The iPhone 13 will feature low earth orbit (LEO) satellite communication connectivity to allow users to make calls and send messages in areas without 4G or 5G coverage, according to the reliable analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.
In a note to investors, seen by MacRumors, Kuo explained that the iPhone 13 lineup will feature hardware that is able to connect to LEO satellites. If enabled with the relevant...
