iPhone on other U.S. carriers within the next year?

Piper Jaffray's sr. research analyst, Gene Munster, is making some bold predictions about Apple. After all, the company is not only a main street darling, but is well loved on Wall Street as well. Amongst 14 "unanswered questions" relating to the Cupertino firm is the remaining life of its exclusivity deal with AT&T over the iconic touchscreen device. What the Wall Street stock picker found was that the iPhone has a dramatically higher market share in France where they have a multi-carrier arrangement, than in the rest of the world. In the land of berets and the Eiffel Tower, Apple has a commanding 40% share while on the rest of the planet it is about 15%. Munster says that this is the result of having to sell more units to keep two pipelines full vs. only one pipeline that needs tending to with the exclusivity model. That's a valid argument. But there are others who simply feel that Apple is just going to jump ship to Verizon.

 

Verizon's President, Denny Strigle, has been making nice to the iPhone verbally while his firm strives to get its 4G network functional by early 2010. AT&T, where the iPhone currently hangs its shingle, has been in talks with Apple to extend the exclusivity period through 2011. While many U.S. cellphone users love the iPhone, a recent poll showed that the one complaint owners of the phone have is with the AT&T network.

source: AppleInsider