It seems madness to think that AT&T is to extend its exclusive Apple iPhone deal because this means that the likes of Verizon Wireless will miss out on the action; which indeed means some consumers will miss out.
Steve Jobs come on think about it for a moment, exclusive deals are great but it is all about people here, one network carrier is not the be all and end all in business it is about getting more customers from different carriers.
Take the UK for example O2 have an exclusive deal with Apple and its iPhone, what about all those that are loyal in the UK with Orange, T-Mobile, Vodafone etc, well it goes the same for those in the United States, you have Verizon Wireless who would be happy to be aboard we are guessing.
The last news says that the AT&T exclusive deal could run up to 2011; we have to hand it to AT&T though because its sales will be astonishing with the all new 3.0 coming soon, so far to date Apple has sold more than 4.3 million iPhones in the second half of 2008.
Should Apple think about other network carriers?
Source
Apple may not have too much freedom to open the iphone to other carriers (in the US). Consider the following comment on AppleInsider:
No matter how successful AT&T may be in lengthening its time spent with the iPhone, the firm is likely to maintain an inherent technological basis for holding the device close until two years later. As the only major US carrier with 3G using the HSPA standard on the 850MHz band, the iPhone as-is only supports its service for full data. Adapting the phone to T-Mobile USA would most likely require adding the 1,700MHz band, while switching to Sprint or Verizon would, for now, need a complete overhaul that swaps in CDMA calling and 3G access using EVDO; either of these is expected to gradually phase out.
Eventually, AT&T and Verizon will share the same network format when they both move to 4G using the Long Term Evolution format, but neither expects to have any significant networks until 2010, rendering any truly multi-carrier US iPhone impractical until the possible new expiry date for the agreement between AT&T and Apple.