AT&T Hoping to Keep its Hold on the iPhone Until 2011

AT&T's agreement that makes it the exclusive U.S. provider of the Apple iPhone reportedly expires next year, and not surprisingly this wireless carrier wants to extend it.

The two companies have always made it clear that this exclusivity agreement exists, but both have kept the details hush-hush. When it's supposed to expire hasn't been officially announced, but it will currently come to an end next year, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The iPhone has been a huge success for AT&T, and so it's not surprising that the WSJ is also reporting that this carrier wants to extend the exclusivity agreement.

Whether Apple feels the same way isn't covered, but there have been no public signs of dissatisfaction with AT&T.

Following Apple's Plan
There are a great many people who are interested in an iPhone but refuse to switch to AT&T, and this group keeps hoping that the exclusivity agreement between Apple and this carrier will come to an end.

A few of these people mistakenly think that Apple is somehow trapped in this agreement, and if it could just get out then the iPhone would soon be available from Verizon, Sprint, etc. The problem with this theory is that it has been Apple's strategy from the beginning that its smartphone be available from just one source in each country.

The company wanted unusual control over how this device is distributed and serviced, and in order to get that it had to give a wireless phone company unusually exclusive access. Also, limiting the number of carriers that offer a phone greatly simplifies the development and support processes.

Read a ReviewAT&T for at Least Another Year
Whether or not Apple and AT&T agree to extend their cooperation until 2011, AT&T will still be the exclusive provider of all iPhone models until next year.

This means that it will be the only mobile phone company that will offer the next-generation iPhone that is expected to debut this summer.