24/11/2009 ( Source: http://money.cnn.com )

AT&T to lose its iPhone exclusive in 2010

Analyst Brian Marshall has added his voice to the growing chorus predicting AT&T Mobility will lose its exclusive U.S. rights to Apple's iPhone next year, according to a report today on Fierce Wireless.

During an interview Friday with Bloomberg TV, Marshall, of Broadpoint AmTech, said that AT&T will lose its exclusive deal with Apple in June.

Marshall has been pushing heavily for Apple to begin selling the iPhone through Verizon Wireless, which has been floated for months as a possible partner. During the interview, Marshall also made a few other assertions. He said that Apple gets a $450 subsidy from AT&T for each iPhone it sells, but that after June the subsidy will drop to $300 for all carriers. However, he said expanding the number of carriers selling the iPhone would ultimately result in more sales and more revenues for Apple.

Marshall's analysis echoes comments made by Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster, who said earlier this year that Apple is slowly transitioning to a model in which multiple carriers sell the iPhone in each country. Indeed, the end of Orange's iPhone exclusivity in France--today three French carriers offer the device--has served to dramatically boost Apple's market share there, according to research from Bernstein.