Apple & AT&T's Exclusive iPhone Deal May End in 2010
Munster said a non-exclusive deal would be far more lucrative for Apple because it opens up the device to a larger potential audience who will not or cannot switch to AT&T. The analyst said Apple went from an exclusive deal in France to a multi-carrier agreement and it now has a dramatically higher market share there than in markets where it is tied to one mobile operator.
"We expect Apple to add new iPhone carriers in the United States within the next year (likely with a new product launch next summer)," Munster wrote in a research note to clients.
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— Marin Perez, InformationWeek
Hooray, We're no longer captive of AT&T. (That said, AT&T did contribute big CAPEX and spectrum to the deal. So they needed to recover that.)
Apple grows market share, which is always a good thing.
iPhone App developers also benefit from a larger market.