Apple Extends Exclusivity Contract With AT&T Until 2010?
We’ve had our fair share of gripes and complaints about AT&T here at TiPb but we don’t give them enough credit for trusting Apple and letting them go wild with the iPhone. Sure, they may be out to squeeze every dollar from their customers, but few carriers would even imagine giving Apple the freedom to create the. best. gadget. ever.
Plus, AT&T is well aware of the attention and added dollars they get by having an exclusivity agreement for the iPhone, so it comes to no surprise to us that one of those old, reputable, print companies is reporting that AT&T has added another year of exclusivity (until 2010 now). If AT&T were to lose the iPhone now, it’d be a complete disaster since the iPhone is starting to entrench itself in the market.
So I guess since AT&T will never give up on the iPhone, it’s on Apple to make every customers dream come true and deliver a fully unlocked iPhone. Maybe then, carriers will begin to lower their prices and the power will come back to the consumers.
August 1st, 2008 at 8:59 pm
OK this ins not the best device out there ever. come on, it has a kool interface, yes. but no mms unless you pay the bis data plan? does not qualify for insurance, yet i understand that if it reported to apple as a lost/stolen product it cant be activated on another account. can’t personalize ring tones, warranty is through apple not ATT, does not do stereo blue tooth, wow, all those itunes and i have to used a wired head set or the phone speaker. the the glass screen breaks and that’s it. a dead phone, won’t work. No html support. Due to the 3g chipset batter life is now shorter, forcing you to buy a car charger, or have a charger at home, the office, car. they gave it a plastic back side. i will stick with htc the only bennefit it did was make other manufacturers stand up and hear as to what people want, and how many sheeple are brain washed to buying this thing.
August 23rd, 2008 at 12:05 pm
Well said. I agree.
February 6th, 2009 at 2:25 pm
A fully unlocked phone is not the only thing needed; a CDMA version of the phone is needed! Locked or unlocked, GSM phones will not operate on CDMA networks.
February 20th, 2009 at 12:01 am
Just like all other electronic gadgets from memory chips to computer and TV, prices will eventually go down as demands saturate. Being said so, it may take as short as months or long as years, and accessories will be better designed, etc. Phone is just a phone, but Apple (and its partners) will definitely continue to improve from 3G to better b/c it’s their bread and butter.
While it may have problems, as a new user, I find it worth every penny of the hardware even though I’ve been getting only free phones in the past (and was still not satisfied). In additions, at&t does a great job of data speed, at least in my locale, with ~3-5MB/sec data speed (yes upload too!!!). That is equivalent or better than Comcast cable or my speed at work!!!
Activation is simple. Applications are intuitive and very cheap (0.99-$6/ea). You will have so much fun using it, and for me, very productive. That’s why I like it, a fast “mini computer” with high speed Internet. Once you own it, you won’t want to give it up… until 4G!
March 9th, 2009 at 11:24 pm
Buy a blackberry they are better!
March 23rd, 2009 at 1:48 pm
I will get one as soon as they are not tied to AT&T and available on Sprint.
April 5th, 2009 at 8:11 pm
Iphone Kicks all other PHones A** Bottom Line… Who cares everything has to mature with time and thats what Apple is doing.. So id advise you to get with the program and ditch your blackberry because its going to be like landline phones in 2020.. APPLE A DAY KEEPS EVERYTHING ELSE AWAY..
May 21st, 2009 at 11:56 am
At&t is the worst service I have ever had! I love my i-phone, but would give anything to switch servers and keep all my apps! I have two phones just because the reception is so bad on my i-phone that I can’t rely on it to have a conversation!!
May 22nd, 2009 at 1:00 pm
The iPhone like many apple products doesn’t necessarily have anything that other phones don’t have they just seem to do all the things they do just a little better. The web browser being the main thing for me seems to work just a little better being useable on almost all websites wnd the interface seems a bit more seamless. Apple also has a plethora of applications some extremely usefull and some less so. Anyone who doesnt give this phone the credit it is due is due is blind. It is currently rewriting the rules for smartphones and if it were available on every carrier almost everyone would have one. The thing is even affordable if you get it apon activation of your contract. AT&T is the problem with this phone. They have terrible service and a whole list of rules that make working with their company more difficult, expensive and inconvenient for their users. They expect things like a five hundred dollar deposit for people that can activate a phone with Verizon for free and they will not let you purchase an iPhone through an authorized dealer it has to be AT&T directly or the apple store. When they lose this contract they will be losing the only reason people use AT&T and the only reason they don’t have to lower their prices to where Sprint is now. Sprint seems to me to be the best value, atleaast in my market, they offer an un limited plan for $100 that actually is all inclusive and they roam on verizon towers so if Verizon has service, so will Sprint. The only thing I don’t like about sprint is their lack of the iPhone. Pleeeease Apple, sell that phone to all providers.
June 27th, 2009 at 12:39 pm
good luck waiting for it to be on sprints network and they also have some of the worse coverage and data speed out there
July 9th, 2009 at 9:51 am
I’m with Alan on this one. As soon as I hear Sprint will offer the iPhone for sale, I’ll pull out my sleeping bag and spend the night before it’s launch on the sidewalk in front of my area Sprint store.
July 14th, 2009 at 9:19 pm
lets be honest without iphone, at&t is dead. So the only logical choice for apple is to make at&t lower the profit they gain and invest it into making their network as large as verizon say. Or of course if they dont do what apple says theyll unlock their phone and someone will destroy AT&T. Personally i believe that apple should buy sprint, then have sprint take over at&t or apple buys att and buys sprint. otherwise the iphone will never stay with att
July 15th, 2009 at 5:03 am
I strongly believe the only thing holding at&t, is the iphone. Without it, they have nothing. If Apple opens the iPhone to other providers, apple’s profits should greatly increase, that would be the smart thing for apple to do, but we shall see what the higher up’s in apple with their infinate knowledge will do.
July 19th, 2009 at 8:33 pm
My sister loves her iPhone. I love my iPod touch (it’s just like the iPhone but no phone in it). I hate my Blackberry Storm. It’s awful but a little faster since installing the recent software upgrade. I hate having to press the Storm screen to type. But I love Verizon and won’t switch carriers. If Verizon eventually gets the iPhone my prayers would be answered. I typed this from my iPod touch.
July 24th, 2009 at 5:37 pm
I can understand all the frustration. I used to be one of the haters myself. However, since I’ve got one for my wife, I can understand with all the addiction that people have. Please remember, most of you can say what IPhone doesn’t have, and you all have valid points. However, Apple did not make IPhone overnight with all features came from its crazy designer. They did years of research to understand what REGULAR people want (which cover 90% of the market). Regular people don’t care about HTML as long as they can browse website. They don’t care whether its bluetooth is stereo or not.
The point is that Apple marketing team has done a great job to understand what bigger market wants. Just like my wife, she’s not a techy person. First time she found I bought her an IPhone, she was so afraid to use it. She just needed 15 minutes (literally) to fall in love with it. Just as someone said above, it has a ‘kool’ interface (which indeed), and this is exactly what MOST people want.
July 24th, 2009 at 11:34 pm
I was an iphone hater until I was given one to play with for 15 minutes & liked it but held out for about 9 months longer until it was my girlfriends birthday. She hinted she wanted one & that was it so, I purchased 2 of them one for myself & one for the girlfriend & The truth is the iphone itself is a quite frankly one of the best interface products I have ever owned with great Apps & some really silly ones, but its being supported by the most expensive carrier with the worst service & least coverage I have ever had.
In truth I had had to cancel my contract & sell the phones after 6 months due to some of these reasons but since then I have not been able to find a phone that can even come close to the design & convenience of the iphone. Having searched for the last 5 months for a phone that can come even close I have just frustrated myself & given up on exchanging carriers & phones to match the iphone (it’s just not going to happen). I have settled on Verizon & willingly admit they have a great network & coverage just about everywhere even in the small Midwest town her parents are from (they are the only carrier that works there hence my reason for having to change carriers) but all their phones cant even come close & I have had 2 company blackberries & played with the Storm too its all lacking & the interface is just way off compared to the precession of the iphone.
I am one of those people that can say without a doubt I am waiting on the day that Verizon gets an iphone & I will get one immediately. The truth be told I did not like AT&T from previous experiences years earlier but I still had to try then again due to the iphone & I don’t think they would even be around if they did not lock into the iphone deal when they did. I have no brand Loyalty & just love a good product that works as its supposed to & the iphone does that period!
August 2nd, 2009 at 4:25 am
People at Apple are slow to understand to power of the iphone…they could become the standard device in the market but, stuck…with at&t???
August 10th, 2009 at 9:38 pm
i was in tmobile we were talking about the iphone and the girl that works there told us that att lost thir contract and that maybe next year tmobile would have iphones thats what she told us
August 14th, 2009 at 11:51 am
Apple is with att till the end, we are bringing in the most money for them. and we still have a LONG way to go till the contract is up, apple will never go to sprint! I HIGHLY dought sprint is going to go to sim cards in the neer future, and apple wont modify the phone to support their network, Lets just face it ppl sprint and tmoble will Never have the iphone. Im not saying that verison cant but it is a hugh maybe at least not till 2012 or later, Apple is greatly satisfied where their at and their not going anywhere. As for the coverage all I can say is will be way better…soon… Apple is the Best out there, way to go apple!! and att is the BEST!!!!
August 19th, 2009 at 1:23 pm
I currently have U.S. Cellular for service and love it! I switched to AT&T just so I could get the iPhone. Frankly, AT&T is terrible. I had dropped calls, I became a “minute counter” and I constantly had bad reception. I switched back to U.S. Cellular because they have the best service and cheapest price plans. I am hoping U.S. Cellular will pick up a contract with Apple. Then, U.S. Cellular would have it all.. best service and best phone!
September 2nd, 2009 at 3:06 pm
AT&T is horrible. I’ve had a ton of problems and when I called them to complain (at least a dozen times), they said they’d start a trouble ticket, even though they hadn’t received any reports of cell signal issues in my area. Believe it or not, they issued a trouble ticket for Los Angeles County. I have tons of dropped calls, bad reception, etc. AT&T has done NOTHING. I hate AT&T – they’re a big rip-off!!! btw – this is my 3rd iPhone. The first one had issues like overheating, playing iTunes on speaker by itself, etc. 2nd one developed the same issues and the last one I had to pay full price for because it was more than 1 year after my original purchase date. They won’t even give me a deal on upgrading to a new 3Gs.
September 2nd, 2009 at 4:54 pm
balls
September 9th, 2009 at 2:53 pm
The only other carrier that MIGHT ever carry the iPhone would be Verizon…but you folks REALLY need to be more “up to speed” on the launch of the 4G network.. ATT will more than likely launch their new 4G service in 2012. Not to mention, the iPhone has drasticly helped ATT in sales, but ATT(formerly Cingular) was always and still is only 2nd to Verizon in coverage and is actually LARGER in customer base if you include the international markets along with the USA. ATT has excellent service-hands down. If you dont have good service, then that’s because your local government is trying to nick and dime ATT and they dont want to put up a tower in your area! ATT was successful BEFORE the iPhone and will remain successful if they lose the contract with Apple. You are looking at a company that is huge in Phone(landline), DSL, Wireless, and they are partnered with DirecTV for television…trust me, ATT is here to stay and will continue to knock other companies out of the running no matter what the race! And for you “iPhone haters” out there, I mean, come on! Have you ever held one? Anyone who thinks the blackberry storm is better is out of their minds..that phone is a piece of junk! The touch screen is the worst! No other phone on the market can compare to the iPhone. If anyone is reading this and cant decide if they want to purchase and iPhone, stop kidding yourself and go get it! It’s so easy to use, it has no instruction manual!
September 21st, 2009 at 2:16 am
anyone got any comments for the G1, MyTouch, or the new moto CliQ
October 6th, 2009 at 8:53 am
Iphone haters can go on and on and on about how great theyre phones are compared to the iphone but in the end they still wish they owned an iphone. My phone can do this..but its not an iphone. well, my phone can do this..but its not an iphone.
October 8th, 2009 at 9:45 pm
I agree about AT&T. My company, which is huge, got their contract with them this year. Now half the workers cannot get service at home. We are stuck with them for another couple of years but after that, I’m sure they will not be our provider. I have T-Mobile and love it – service is great. My husband has the G1 and he loves it.
October 14th, 2009 at 9:04 pm
AT&T: Awful, terrible, horrible, disappointing, consistently poor service.
APPLE -LOVE THE PHONE!
October 26th, 2009 at 8:53 am
PEOPLE WHO HATE i-PHONES ARE TOOLS. i-PHONE IS THE GREATEST PHONE/HANDHELD COMPUTER EVER. THE BLACKBERRY IS FOR CORPRATE FAGOTS WHO HAVE NO STYLE OR INDIVUDUAL FLAVOR. YOU STAND IN THE LUNCH LINE LAUGHING AT HOW “RISKAY” IT IS YOU WORE A PINK BUTTON UP TO WORK. YOUR ALL TOOLS. GET AN i-PHONE YOU HATERS. ITS BETTER.
October 27th, 2009 at 1:20 am
I had Cingular for abt 6 years prior to At&t, loved Cingular, hate AT&T service. To say AT&T cellular service is horrible would be a gross understatement, coupled with the iPhone At&t service is an abysmal abomination. Love the iPhone, but it’s potential, reputation is diminished severely by such poor service as AT&T, can’t wait for that contract to expire; I sense a huge AT&T customer base flocking to verizon in throngs…countdown is on..!
October 29th, 2009 at 4:32 pm
When is the iphone’s contract up does anyone know the officially end date?
October 30th, 2009 at 7:52 pm
at jamie j. verizon does not use a sim card and uses evdo at&t both use the same type of towers they both use gsm and cdma if the iphone were to go to verizon or sprint they would have to change the cell radio in it and make it completely different and right now they have no reason to do that i think that apple is going to stay with at&t for quite a while even if people arent satisfied with their coverage