Is the iPhone Good for AT&T, or not?
There’s no question that the iPhone hype is as high as any product in the last decade. Everybody knows what it is, even if they’re not Apple fanboys, gadget aficionados, and mobile phone connoisseurs. And everybody knows the product is from Apple and AT&T.
So while Apple’s reputation continues to skyrocket to the stratosphere, the universal sore spot on the product is AT&T’s Edge network necessity. It’s the one thing that is truly holding the phone back.
But Apple’s not taking any heat for that, it’s solely on AT&T’s shoulders. So in the long run, will AT&T’s reputation will be hurt by iPhone exclusivity, or will it not matter? No doubt they will make a ton of money, but everyone is going to loathe network service. Will everyone forgive and forget, or will all the subscribers bail on AT&T as soon as a real 3G version is available? I think so.