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Did AT&T provide cheap iPad data rates to keep iPhone exclusivity?
In a country seemingly obsessed with the question "When is Verizon going to get the iPhone?," it's surprising that AT&T's exclusive iPhone deal with Apple has lasted this long. A post in Computerworld today quotes Wall Street analyst Brian Marshall of BroadPoint AmTech, who believes that AT&T squeezed another 6 months of exclusive iPhone rights out of Apple by agreeing to provide iPad users with 3G data plans at 50% of their normal cost. Marshall and many other analysts expected AT&T's iPhone monopoly to end this summer, but now agree that it will be at least the first quarter of 2011 before Verizon gets a chance to sell the hot Apple smartphone. Many sources had told Marshall that Verizon would land the iPad data plan deal, something that of course did not happen. AT&T offered no-contract, cut-rate deals on data plans for the iPad, and that unprecedented step got Marshall thinking about an AT&T / Apple deal. AT&T and Apple have not replied to requests for comments on the alleged deal. [via MacRumors]
Estimates emerge of Apple's Q1 iPhone, Mac sales
Apple typically reports their 1st quarter financial results in late January, so we'll have to wait a few more weeks for the official word. However, the analysts have begun to share their estimates and the numbers are very impressive. Brian Marshall at Broadpoint.AmTech has estimated that Apple sold 3.3 million Macs during the last quarter, according to MacNN. Here's a little perspective: Apple's all-time sales record for Macs, set during the previous quarter, is 3.05 million. That record was a 17 percent jump from the 2.6 million it sold in the same quarter a year ago. Marshall also suggests that laptop sales could be up as much as 19 percent year-over-year at 865,000 units. Meanwhile, Philip Elmer-DeWitt has begun gathering estimates of iPhone sales and posting them at Brainstorm Tech. They range from 11.30 units sold (Brian Marshall at Broadpoint AmTech) to 8.17 units (Mark Moskowitz, J.P. Morgan). The interesting thing is that the low estimate, 8.17 million iPhones sold, would represent a 10.8% increase from the last September's record of 7.37 million if true. Despite would could have been a rocky year for Apple -- Steve Jobs was out for serious health reasons and a lousy US economy -- they did very well. Are you optimistic for 2010 or waiting for the other shoe to drop?
