iPhone and AT&T Exclusivity in the US
When the iPhone premiered, Apple and AT&T simply said that AT&T was the exclusive US carrier of the iPhone, and it was a “multiyear” agreement. They’ve never said anything else publicly, but people speculated quite a bit.
Somehow, due I believe to one report in USA Today that had no source or attribution, a five-year number was being thrown around a lot.
Now, today, USA Today has published an interview with CEO of AT&T Randall Stephenson. And again, while Stephenson does not comment on his contract with Apple, now USA Today says this:
In exchange for its payout, AT&T got a year extension, into 2010, on its exclusive distribution deal with Apple, people familiar with the matter say. Sources asked to not be named because the terms are confidential.
Under the original iPhone contract, Apple had the right to offer the device to other carriers beginning in 2009. If Apple exercised that clause, AT&T would have lost one of its biggest points of leverage with customers — exclusive access to the iPhone.
So, here we are a year later, and USA Today is now saying that the original exclusivity period was really just two years, and now has been extended to three years total. Hmm, two years - that’s exactly what I speculated over a year ago.
