According to Bloomberg press Apple Inc. might release the iPhone to all U.S. cell providers in the next 18 months. AT&T has been the only cell provider for the iPhone since it debuted in 2007. T-Mobile is supposed to get to iPhone this summer, then Verizon & Sprint Nextel Corp. in the fall. Clearwire Corp is also supposed to get the iPhone in 2011. Tim Horan a telecommunications analyst at Oppenheimer & Co. wrote, “We believe AT&T’s iPhone exclusivity arrangement with Apple will be expiring by mid-2010,” Horan also stated “For wireless carriers, customers are demanding the device and they need to remain competitive”. Customers who have smartphones usually spend more on their monthly cell service bill then the average cell phone user. Since smart phones usually demand more data usage for e-mail, mobile web browsing & third party applications. AT&T stated that its average monthly revenue per user was $61.23 in their third quarter. Verizon Wireless average monthly revenue was $51.04 & Sprint Nextel Corp was about $56 in the third quarter. The article also stated Apple Inc. declined to comment on the subject of the iPhone being released to other carriers.
I personally think this is what Apple Inc. should have done when iPhone first debut in 2007. A lot of customers don’t want to buy the Apple iPhone because of AT&T’s 3G network and the prices of AT&T’s service plans. Apple is having a conference this Wednesday, which a lot of sites are saying they may announce the rumored Apple Tablet & and update to the iPhone software. Another thing to consider is if Apple Inc. is willing to produce an iPhone that is capable of running on both CDMA & GSM frequencies, which they might have to in order to remain competitive with Google. But I guess we will just have to wait and see what happens over next 18 month’s. So tell me what do you think about the possibility of the iPhone coming to other carriers? In the comments section and the forums.
Source: Bloomberg
Friday, April 23, 2010 at 11:25AM 
