"Oh, and one more thing... we'll be offering these cool new iPhones in both GSM and CDMA versions, and we have deals in place with each of the major US mobile carriers, so we can offer you an iPhone for your existing Verizon Wireless, Sprint, or T Mobile account."
How might this happen, in light of Apple's famous Five-Year Contract with AT&T?
Two possible scenarios:
- The actual contract between Apple and AT&T might be very flimsy. Details as to what the contract contains are sketchy. It might be as weak as "we agree to do this deal exclusively with AT&T for five years, unless we opt out of it in June of 2008." Why would AT&T have gone for this? Because a real contract might not have been on offer, and this version at least allowed them announce a five-year exclusive deal. The announcement allowed them to convert a ton of Apple fan-boys/girls after the initial release—fan-boys/girls who might otherwise have waited around for a year or more to get a phone with their existing carrier, which would have been bad for both ATT and Apple
- Or say the contract with AT&T isn't flimsy. Apple could still get them to agree to nullify the first contract in exchange for their cutting AT&T in on a piece of every non-ATT iPhone sold in the US. There could even be a different cost structure for non-ATT phones (dovetails nicely with rumors of an AT&T subsidy).
Face it, Jobs needs a "one more thing" that'll catch even the most speculative fan-boy predictors by surprise. This would certainly do that, and simultaneously provide an announcement worthy of mainstream media attention, not to mention an avenue for increased iPhone sales volume, which is likely necessary to meet the goal of 10 million by end of 2008.
* Prediction = Wish
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