Apr
29
Written by:
Editor
4/29/2009 7:18 AM
Apple Inc appears to be playing the top two U.S. mobile operators AT&T Inc and Verizon Wireless against each other as it shops for the next distributor for its popular iPhone.Whether one or both operators sign a deal, analysts are in no doubt that Apple wins in the end .Apple has an exclusive and very lucrative deal with AT&T -- believed to run into 2010 -- to carry the iPhone on its Global Service Mobile (GSM) network. Research firm iSuppli estimates that Apple earns a profit margin of more than 50 percent for iPhone.But Lowell McAdam, the head of Verizon Wireless, recently spoke with Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs and senior Apple executives about wireless devices, said a spokesperson for Verizon Wireless, a joint venture between Verizon Communications Inc and Vodafone Group Plc.The spokesperson declined to discuss what devices the executives discussed, or when they might hit the market, but several media outlets have reported that Apple is talking with Verizon about carrying an iPhone on its network.
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