Why Apple Needs To Dump AT&T

As someone who has owned every single iPhone (generation-wise) that has come out in the past few years, I can tell you that Apple could have done a much better job when it comes to choosing a carrier for this hot gadget. Not giving consumers too many options is never a good idea, and Apple has done just that by making AT&T the exclusive service provider for iPhone. A lot of industry experts have been calling for Apple to dump AT&T for months. Whether it’s been service outages or dropped calls, AT&T hasn’t endear itself to iPhone owners in the past few months. But can Apple dictate terms to the wireless carriers as some believe it could?

Apple iPhone is too good of a gadget to have an exclusive carrier. That’s why the antitrust review of Apple – AT&T contract by the Congress has been interesting to watch. I don’t believe that Apple should drop AT&T completely. But there is no question that folks should have the option to get iPhone from other carriers if they want. There were talks a few months ago about Apple building a nano iPhone exclusively for Verizon but that hasn’t materialized yet. Add to that the fact that AT&T is trying very hard to extend its exclusive deal with Apple by another year, and we have got an interesting situation.

AT&T has been a good partner for Apple. It has helped the company bring iPhone to millions of homes. But Apple doesn’t owe AT&T any favors. The relationship has probably worked out better for AT&T than Apple (except if you count the fact that AT&T’s reputation has taken a big damage by all the negative talks about its service online and offline). Apple should not and probably will not dump AT&T anytime soon. But it’s never too late to bring other wireless carriers to the table. It’s not just good for business. Apple owe it to its customers!

Your take: will we ever see a Verizon iPhone?