AT&T To Lose iPhone Exclusivity?

Apple is a cult and as such, can often apply the laws of magical realism to average products (iPad) but in the case of the iPhone, credit is due. So when Bloomberg News posted an article on Tuesday that the beloved touchscreen phone may really be coming to Verizon Wireless, I did a little dance. So did millions of others in this country. But, there is no official word from Verizon or Apple, which announced that it beat analyst expectations and unloaded a whopping 1.7 million iPhone 4 units in the first three days it was on sale. The company also revealed that the white version of the latest iPhone is harder to make than expected and will not be available until the second half of July.

Bloomberg News reported that AT&T will lose iPhone exclusivity and Verizon Wireless will supposedly get the iPhone, according to two unnamed sources. Verizon is reportedly in the process of building a new high-speed 4G network and will reveal a number of new products that will run on it at CES in January.

If this happens, one has to speculate what will happen to AT&T, which has received complaints for its less than stellar service, including dropped calls. If nothing else, this happening would mean all four carriers would be offering 4G phones by 2011, one of which is the new 4G Sprint phone, the Evo, an HTC phone that has already sold more than any other Sprint phone. Look out for our coverage of the new Samsung Android phones, launching this year on all carriers.

Disclosure: I own shares of Apple and AT&T. For the record, HTC is a Taiwanese company listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange.