Or they might be anticipating an iPhone release on Verizon, in which case about half their iPhone customers would jump ship, and would probably be happy to spen

Or they might be anticipating an iPhone release on Verizon, in which case about half their iPhone customers would jump ship, and would probably be happy to spend $175 to do so. Edit: the article says the change doesn't apply to existing contracts, so this theory probably doesn't make sense. Edit 2: Then again, maybe ATT will have a brief exclusive on the 4G iPhone, and they want to lock those new contracts in before the phone hits Verizon. Ok, I'm going with that.