The comparison to Apple is kind of a side-show to the real problems facing AT&T. AT&T is suffering tremendous negative consumer perception, and they don't have

The comparison to Apple is kind of a side-show to the real problems facing AT&T. AT&T is suffering tremendous negative consumer perception, and they don't have any significant prospects for future growth, so their stock goes mostly sideways despite the fact that their business is solidly entrenched by ironclad spectrum licenses and consumer lock-in service contracts. It's not that they're struggling. Their quarterly report shows quite the opposite: http://www.att.com/Investor/Growth_Profile/download/master_Q4_09.pdf http://www.att.com/Investor/Growth_Profile/download/master_Q... For the three month period ending 12/31/2009 they posted $13.8 billion in revenue and $3.4 billion in income for their wireless division. Not to shabby. The bottom line is this: they're raising prices because they can. Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile will happily follow suit once they've observed any potential customer-base attrition and are convinced that they can do the same without repercussion. In this context, the comparison to AAPL just seems silly.