BizJournals Portfolio
Jan 27 2010 11:32am EDT

AT&T to Get iPhone Competition Soon

AT&T Inc. will have plenty of company selling service to iPhone users in the second half of the year, if analyst Tim Horan at Oppenheimer & Co. is correct.

Horan wrote in a note to investors this week that he believes AT&T's exclusivity on Apple Inc.'s blockbuster product will end by midyear and all major providers will jump in.

Horan predicts T-Mobile USA Inc. will be the first with the phone over the summer, with Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel Corp. arriving in the fall, and Clearwire Corp. coming aboard in 2011.

That would bring an increase for iPhone sales in the U.S. to between 15 million and 25 million a year, Horan writes.

Some analysts expect Apple to announce the coming end of iPhone exclusivity in the U.S. on Wednesday, when the company is expected to unveil a new tablet computer.

On Monday, Apple reported a 50 percent jump in quarterly profit fueled in part by a doubling of iPhone sales to 8.7 million units.


Comments

If you are commenting using a Facebook account, your profile information may be displayed with your comment depending on your privacy settings. By leaving the 'Post to Facebook' box selected, your comment will be published to your Facebook profile in addition to the space below.


Connect With Portfolio.com

Come on, like us—you know you want to.

Follow us and if you're an innovative entrepreneur, we'll return the favor.

Today's top stories, conversation starters, and the back nine business bites.

spotlight on

People & Ideas

Whisky To-Go-Go

Now there's a company that let's you taste your knowledge of fine blended Scotches by mixing a whisky of your own. Read More