The roller coaster of iPhone on Verizon news


The past couple days have seen lots of iPhone carrier rumbling on the intertubes. First comes news from Engadget that AT&T and Apple had a five year agreement for iPhone exclusivity. The agreement dates back to 2007 from the original iPhone launch. That of course would keep the iPhone on AT&T until 2012. The news comes from court documents where Apple explains why customers shouldn't expect their phone to become unlocked after their contract expires.

The documents were from 2008, which a little interesting that they surface now. So, it seems established that Apple and AT&T had a five year agreement for exclusivity. That doesn't mean, however, that agreement still stands or hasn't be modified. At least one modification seems given since the introduction of the iPhone 3G. Originally AT&T offered no subsidy on its iPhone contracts and starting with the 3G it took on a hefty up-front payment to Apple for those 12-24 months of juicy data fees.

It's certainly reasonable anything could have altered that contract in the years. In fact, the five year deal is probably only relevant as a historical tidbit. If Apple wanted to get out of its contract with AT&T, assuming AT&T didn't want to budge, it could give the carrier a lucrative offer on that hefty subsidy, for example.

For those hoping for an iPhone on Verizon, that's the low dip of today's ride. The rebound comes in word that Verizon is planning an ad campaign for the upcoming new iPhone. CrunchGear reports that Landor Associates, Verizon apparent branding experts, is working on new ads for the next iPhone's launch. CrunchGear says the iPhone would land on Verizon by of summer, but doesn't spell out the reasoning of the timing.

Surely we will have more Verizon highs and lows before the iPhone is actually announced.