Can the iPhone Continue To Grow While Tied To AT&T?
Wednesday, April 15, 2009 at 10:18AM 
Several sites are reporting talks are underway to extend AT&T's exclusive carrier status for the iPhone in the U.S. through 2011. Previously it was thought it might be a five year deal to begin with. At any rate, there is a finite number of people who use AT&T, and a smaller number of those people want/can afford an iPhone. Will Apple be satisfied with that number of people, versus making the phone available to all, or at least more U.S. subscribers? It's not an easy thing to switch cell carriers. Sure the ability to keep your number makes things better, but the mobile-to-mobile, and "fave five" programs lock you into sticking with the network a majority of your friends and family use.
If Apple can keep the iPhone one step ahead of the competition, AT&T should continue to see slow, steady subscriber growth. That's great for AT&T, but it seems like it is hobbling Apple's ability to drastically increase the U.S. user base. What does Apple gain by sticking with a single carrier model? Announcing an end to the exclusive partnership would give other carriers time to get out of their own agreements with Blackberry, Samsung, etc. and throw their ad weight behind the iPhone. AT&T wouldn't dare stop carrying the iPhone as the customers brought to AT&T purely by the iPhone would be likely to jump ship again.
Reader Comments (1)
My short answer, no. I think anyone who was willing to switch carriers already has. They need to expand the availability, soon, before products like the upcoming pre take a chunk of smart phone market share away from apple...