AT&T CEO Implies iPhone Exclusivity Will End

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Posted October 22, 2009 at 7:45pm by iClarified

AT&T Mobility CEO Ralph de la Vega has implied that the company's iPhone exclusivity will come to an end.

De la Vega was asked by analysts during a conference call what AT&T plans to do if their iPhone exclusivity ends as rumored. He responded saying, “We have a legacy of having a great portfolio…that will continue after the iPhone is no longer exclusive to us. “We think we will continue after the iPhone…to drive [results]….”

“Even if we lose exclusivity [of the iPhone], we will be the only carrier with HSPA 7.2 [a network specification being deployed at AT&T] and [new devices] will work on our network faster,” de la Vega said. “I feel as strongly as ever [about] the capability of devices in our lineup and [am] super-excited about the deals with e-readers and personal navigation devices. “

Many believed that Apple was negotiating to bring the iPhone to Verizon; however, with Verizon's new campaign attacking Apple this seems less likely.

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AT&T CEO Implies iPhone Exclusivity Will End

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stitso - October 22, 2009 at 11:08pm

Yeah.. I am taking a business, and the guy is saying the iPhone is hurting their reputation, and it probably is device, I mean its Apple, they have NO experience with cell phones, the iPhone even works shitty on T-Mobile.

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iDUH - October 23, 2009 at 9:04am

Did you think that the shitty might be T-Mobile?

Awayze - October 23, 2009 at 2:51pm

iPhone works shitty over here on O2 in UKm loses signal where as other O2 phones are still getting it!!

iPhone fanman - October 22, 2009 at 10:24pm

cant wait for the rights to end, that way everyone who came over to AT&T for the iPhone can go back to where they came from and to stop clogging the network.

samK - October 22, 2009 at 8:00pm

let's go t-mobile! or even better, let's go factory unlock! with high end phones costing an arm, i honestly do not mind paying that much for an iphone. done that from the beginning anyways so wth. iphone's insane popularity is enough to back up the price.

techferret - October 22, 2009 at 8:33pm

Same here...and I'm thinking about the rumored Project Dark from T-Mobile USA with cheaper plans for people who buy their phone at full cost and bring them over to their company, maybe T-Mobile USA is positioning themselves to be Apple's next darling....hmm

samK - October 22, 2009 at 9:02pm

wow that sounds REALLY good. i actually got a friend that had an iphone through at&t and the plan was just overwhelming so he switched over to blackberry. then i sold him my old iphone 3g for cheap and he came right back to t-mobile =]. it's hard to resist an iphone with all the apps so i can't wait to hear what apple's plans are.

Whatuzzles - October 22, 2009 at 7:57pm

So is AT&T going to keep the iPhones even if apple goes with another carrier? And would I have to unlock my phone to work on AT&T if the iPhone went to a different carrier?

Lane Jasper - October 23, 2009 at 11:39pm

I think they would still carry and support it. They wouldn't turn all existing customers away I doubt. If it did become available to another network it seems logical to me they would have to be able to unlock of provision it for their network say Tmobile or vzw etc. It wouldn't be wise for a new carrier to make people buy new ones for their network if they already had one they bought used. But this does raise a great question...if a CDMA carrier got it, there would HAVE TO be a new model that supports it, as the current iPhones are all GSM. Great point!! Anyone?? Cheers Faslane

Lane Jasper - October 23, 2009 at 11:43pm

PS. I don't think Att would unlock it, because like I said. I'm sure they'd certainly keep all current customers, otherwise they'd lose billions!! And we are talking ATT here. It's more the issue of would the new carrier unlock an existing iPhone or make you buy a new one (which if CDMA) would be the case. Different hardware radio etc. Faslane