I agree with you, and thaumaturgy below — it’s clear that they signed a 5-year agreement. But as Engadget notes in your first reference, contracts can be cancel

I agree with you, and thaumaturgy below — it’s clear that they signed a 5-year agreement. But as Engadget notes in your first reference, contracts can be canceled, amended, and breached in many ways, and the two companies have had a number of chances to renegotiate over the last three years, including when: - Apple adopted subsidized pricing soon after the first iPhone was released (to sell it at $399/8GB instead of $599) - AT&T’s serviced proved spotty and unreliable for many at times - the iPad was introduced with an optional AT&T 3G data plan So it’s hard to know if the agreement is still in place, or if it means enough to prevent Apple from pursuing the large Verizon customer base.