AT&T Likely to Keep iPhone Exclusivity Says Analyst, Verizon May Get Subsidized Tablet?

Looks like the AT&T and Apple marriage might not end in a divorce. According to consultant iSuppli, AT&T will continue to be the exclusive carrier of the iPhone after their contract expires sometime in mid-2010. This news comes from a new report by iSuppli claiming that AT&T is working non-stop to make improvements on their network. While AT&T does their part to keep the iPhone on their network, Apple may be working with other carriers to introduce new products.

During the Apple iPod event a few days ago, Steve Jobs mentioned Apple was working on new products. One of those new products could possible be the heavily rumored Apple Tablet. If Apple does indeed come out with a tablet, and all signs to be pointing that way, they may hook up with Verizon Wireless to offer a subsidized tablet, similar to the subsidized iPhone on AT&T. While it may sound like it’s in direct competition with AT&T and the iPhone, it may not be such a bad thing for AT&T.

AT&T has had to deal with a lot since getting exclusive rights to the iPhone. They’ve been criticized for their lack of infrastructure to handle the data of the iPhone. If an Apple tablet were to be introduced under the Verizon network, many might jump over to use the Verizon service thus giving AT&T some breathing room. The core iPhone users, the ones that don’t mind the AT&T service and love its features, will continue to stay on AT&T. Most of the service problems seem to be in big cities, not so much in smaller cities, although many rural parts of the country have ben complaining about the lack of AT&T 3G coverage.

So, if AT&T is hard at work building a better infrastructure, then I say let them continue to have the iPhone, especially if Apple is willing to offer an alternative on other networks. This could be a win-in situation for all involved. AT&T gets to keep iPhone exclusivity, Verizon gets an Apple product on their network, Apple branches out with their product line and the consumers will hopefully get better service on their iPhone and can now choose to go with Verizon and the tablet.

(Via BusinessWeek)