Apple buddy AT&T has managed to secure their deal for the Apple iPhone 3G as exclusive US suppliers for another year until 2010 according to USA Today.
This exclusive year extension hasn’t been officially announced, but apparently has been cited in the context of an interview with Randall Stephenson, AT&T CEO.
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.
Stephenson, in the interview is quoted as saying things like: “The iPhone has repositioned AT&T as the premier wireless brand in the world.”
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?
I’m sorry, but no amount of high-tech gear, OS or marketing is going to get me to renew with AT&T/Cingular ever again. That bridge is crossed, burned and all but forgotten. I’m a Macboy since the beginning, and have faithfully updated my Apple gear from the lowly 128K Mac to my brand new MacBook Pro (still have the Mac Plus and 512c). And I love the Iphone and what it represents. But four years with Cingular has taught me a valuable lesson in customer non-service. I’ll continue to tether my Treo to the MacBook Pro until 2010 when I may reconsider the Iphone when it’s on another carrier.