World of Apple

During its fiscal Q209 results AT&T credited the iPhone once again with driving revenue for the company, currently the iPhone makes up just under half of AT&T’s total revenue.

During the quarter AT&T activated 2.4 million iPhone subscribers, 34 percent of them were new to AT&T. According to AT&T’s figures this makes the iPhone responsible for more than 60 percent of carriers 1.4 million subscriber increase in the quarter.

The release of the iPhone 3GS dented AT&T’s bottom line slightly with the carrier subsiding each device by up to $400. ”Increased operating expenses in the second quarter of 2009, in part, reflect volume-based acquisition costs associated with the success of the iPhone 3GS launch,” read AT&T’s report, ”AT&T’s iPhone customer characteristics are attractive, with ARPUs significantly higher than and churn rates well below the company’s postpaid averages; as a result, robust iPhone demand drives strong recurring revenues and substantial long-term value.”

In related news AT&T CEO Randal Stephenson said during the Fortune: Brainstorm tech conference that, “There will be a day when [we] are not exclusive with the iPhone”. Stephenson failed to comment on Apple and AT&Ts relationship.

According to a report published last week a specially built iPhone could make its way to China in September. The report credits Foxconn (Hon Hai) as helping piece together a deal between Apple and Chinese carrier China Unicom.

According to Beijing regulations mobile devices can’t feature WiFi, an issue which dates back many years. The device which is said to be in tests by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and codenamed “model 90″ is expected to be available sometime in September.

This week there have been numerous reports that suggest O2 in the UK is coming to the end of its exclusive agreement to sell the iPhone. Neither of the two reports match up in there details which does cast doubt upon the rumours.

The first report from Mobile Today states that both T-Mobile and Orange in the UK are in talks with Apple to begin selling the iPhone 3G. The deal would mean that O2 remains the exclusive seller of the iPhone 3GS. Mobile Today reports that the move will come into play in early September. Also of interest Mobile Today writes at the end of its report that Apple and O2’s two year exclusive agreement is due to end in September.

Another report this week from The Guardian rumours that T-Mobile will “snatch iPhone from O2″, the report contains no mention of Orange or a differentiation between the iPhone 3G and 3GS. If true it would mean that O2 has come to the end of an exclusive agreement with Apple in the UK.

A message on O2 UK’s website states that the exclusive partner to Apple in the UK has run dry of all iPhone 3GS stock.

The message appeared towards the end of last week and states that stock is expected to return “at the end of this week.”

A similar message has also appeared on Fido’s website, the Canadian carrier states that stock will be available in the “coming weeks.”

Apple retail stores in both Canada and UK appear to have healthy stock of the iPhone 3GS.

AT&T is considering lower cost plans for the iPhone and other smartphones by setting a cap on the amount of data used in a given month.

The comments come direct from AT&T’s CEO, Ralph de la Vega who said at the Reuters Global Technology Summit last week that he could see AT&T capping data in return for lower costs.

“Right now we continue to study what is the best thing that is available, not just from an iPhone point of view, but what you can do to stimulate additional demand,” de la Vega said at the Technology Summit.

The remarks come not long after reports that AT&T is looking into offering a $20 per month iPhone plan that would give iPhone owners $10 a month in savings but see a data cap put in place.

On Tuesday evening a strange message was posted on the official Twitter stream for Telecom New Zealand. The “tweet” which was in response to a customers enquiry about the upcoming iPhone launch read: “We are in negotiations with Apple… we are very focused on the 3rd gen iPhone.. we will keep u updated.”

The message initially created some doubt but a report in New Zealand’s National Business Review added further credence with a quote from Telecom NZ’s chief of retail Alan Gourdie saying that the carrier was in “discussions – deep discussions – with Apple”.

Vodafone currently sells the iPhone in New Zealand but this news suggests Apple is looking to expand beyond a single carrier in the country.

Adding to previous rumours that Verizon and Apple were in talks over the iPhone, USA Today is reporting that Apple is giving consideration to a Verizon iPhone in 2010.

The rumours which come from “people familiar with the situation” state that discussions between Apple and Verizon began several months ago and have continued despite Apple CEO Steve Jobs being on medical leave.

The issue with Verizon is the use of a CDMA network which is not compatible with the current GSM based iPhone. It was only last week that COO of Apple, Tim Cook was dismissing rumours of a Verizon based CDMA phone.

Well from a technology point of view as you know, Verizon is on CDMA and we’ve shown from the beginning of the iPhone to focus on one phone for the whole of the world and when you do that, you really go down the GSM root, because CDMA is – doesn’t really have a life to it after a point in time.

USA Today goes onto speculate that any deal between Apple and Verizon would not stop Apple operating with AT&T.

AT&T the official carrier of the iPhone in North America announced today along with its fiscal first quarter results that it had activated more than 1.6 million iPhones during the quarter.

The company which also reported a “1.2 million net gain in total wireless subscribers to reach 78.2 million” said that of the 1.6 million iPhone 3G activations 40-percent of those customers were new to the company.

Randall Stephenson, AT&T chairman and chief executive officer said in a statement; “I am particularly pleased with the success of our iPhone 3G initiative, which has driven strong high-end customer growth and delivered financial benefits ahead of our original outlook. Business and consumer expectations for mobility are on the rise, wireless innovation is flourishing and the opportunities ahead are substantial. AT&T is strongly positioned to lead in the next generation of wireless growth.”

Apple will announce its fiscal second quarter 2009 results later on today.

According to an article in the Wall Street Journal earlier this week AT&T’s exclusive deal with Apple to carry the iPhone in America will come to an end in 2010. The reports adds that AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson is in discussions with Apple to seek an extension until 2011.

When the iPhone was first announced in January 2007 it was unknown how long AT&Ts exclusivity would last with many speculating that a 5-year deal was most likely.

Also in a related story the Wall Street Journal reports today on comments made by Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg.

Mr. Seidenberg also addressed the notion of Apple Inc.’s iPhone ever coming to the Verizon Wireless network, saying it is more likely that Apple would be willing to work with the carrier under the fourth-generation, or 4G, network, which follows the same technology standard as AT&T Inc.’s 4G plans. He said Apple never seriously considered making a CDMA version of the iPhone because it didn’t have as wide a distribution opportunity.

Despite what seemed like unstoppable progress, even to the point where iPhone models began appearing on the Chinese carriers website, reports today suggest that talks between Apple and China Unicom have come to a halt.

Talks between China Unicom and Apple to introduce iPhone into China came to a halt as Apple was said to have asked the Chinese telecoms carrier to stand costs of building Apple special stores in this country after China Unicom agreed on a profit-sharing plan proposed by Apple.

The article goes onto state that when China Unicom executives were asked about the issue they stated that talks were ongoing but had no specific details.