Saturday, October 23, 2010

AT&T's Good News / Bad News

When is good news for AT&T also bad news?  When they finally start to catch up to Verizon, but it's all because of Apple's iPhone:

Verizon Draws Even With AT&T

AT&T should be jumping with joy; they are finally catching up to Verizon in the number of cell phone subscribers.  The problem is, almost all of AT&T's sales growth for the last few years has been thanks to Apple's iPhone.  And AT&T is about to lose iPhone exclusivity, after spending years doing everything it can to piss off iPhone users.

Verizon's less that thrilling summer shows that the Droid has been almost a total bust as a competitor for the iPhone.  And that's not good news for AT&T, because it means they are more dependent than ever on Apple.  Moreover, it means it's clearly critical that Verizon makes a deal with Apple to get the iPhone, and Apple will be able to demand the best terms.  Not good news for either company.