AT&T has apparently extended its exclusive deal to be the American carrier of the iPhone for another year - until 2010. The extension has not been officially announced, but was stated in a interview with AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson.
Wonder why the smoking-hot 3G Apple iPhone only costs $199, less than half the price of the original? Here’s a two-word hint: Randall Stephenson.
Stephenson, became AT&T chairman and CEO a year ago, and is responsible for championing the idea to pay Apple roughly $300 per iPhone 3G handset to keep retail costs down.The subsidy, which replaces another arrangement that gave Apple a portion of iPhone service revenue, will dilute earnings through 2009, AT&T says.The upside is now the ordinary folk can afford to bye an iPhone at $199.00, the downside is iPhone customers fork out virtually double on rate plans than the average AT&T customer. It’s not hard to see why AT&T wants to extend the exclusivity is it?
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