AT&T is reportedly negotiating to extend its contract with Apple as the exclusive carrier for the iPhone.
(Credit: CNET)AT&T has found the golden goose in its iPhone partnership with Apple and it wants to keep it alive.
The original deal had AT&T as the exclusive carrier of the iPhone until 2008, at which time Apple would be allowed to start selling the wildly popular smartphone on other carriers. But the companies met last August and decided to extend that partnership through the end of this year.
Now, AT&T wants to extend that deal a bit further--say another two years. AT&T's chief executive is talking with Apple to keep that deal alive until 2011, according to a report Tuesday evening in The Wall Street Journal.
But that shouldn't be a big surprise to anyone. Apple has sold more than 17 million iPhones since its debut less than two years ago, and the carrier added 4.3 million iPhone subscribers in the second half of 2008--40 percent of whom were new to AT&T.
Certainly, Apple is making out pretty well with its AT&T partnership; the carrier reportedly offered Apple a $300 subsidy on each iPhone sold. But if AT&T was willing to go that far, Apple stands to clean up by negotiating contracts with other carriers.
At the same time, it seems that the Apple-AT&T arrangement is showing signs of strain on both sides. Last month, AT&T announced plans to sell iPhone 3Gs without a two-year contract for $599 and $699, a move that Apple quickly duplicated at its own stores.
Apple representatives did not immediately return calls for comment.
Will this have a fairy tale ending for AT&T? Stay tuned.
Apple developers have been having a tough time renewing their iPhone development licenses, according to reports. For them, the company had some good news Friday: the licensing for all developers has been extended to July 11--one year after the opening of the iTunes App Store.
Additionally, Apple announced that licensing renewals will begin in May, a full 60 days prior to the developer program expiration date. Developers got the news in an e-mail.
The message sent to developers is shown below:
Recently, according to CNET News' Tom Krazit, there has been astounding growth in the iTunes App Store, and the growth continues at a fast pace with more than 25,000 applications listed. The growth has been so great that Apple has had trouble keeping up with it, leaving a few kinks in the App Store to figure out.
Now, developers can rest easy because Apple has finally managed to work out the kinks and keep its developers happy--none of their licenses will expire abruptly after all.
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