A little known aspect of the tough as nails deal that apple cut with at&t for a lengthy US exclusive deal was that that apple got a not insubstantial piece of e

A little known aspect of the tough as nails deal that apple cut with at&t for a lengthy US exclusive deal was that that apple got a not insubstantial piece of every iphone subscriber's service fee from at&t. Not far below $10/mo/subscriber when the iphone first rolled out as I understand it. This is why AT&T has had a variety of fee recouping schemes on the iphone over the years. This is where all the verizon iphone rumors came from every year after the first year or two - the deal got renegotiated yearly after the first two and both parties were playing big time hardball, though I am under the impression the subsidy amount dropped dramatically by the end. I think they still have some obligations to pay on some subscribers that predate the loss of exclusivity.