Details of Apple's iPhone Revenue Sharing with AT&T?

[MacRumors]

TheStreet claims to have financial details about the widely rumored revenue sharing between Apple and AT&T. AT&T has been rumored to give Apple a piece of the iPhone's monthly revenue as part of the agreement. This revenue sharing demand was listed as one of the reasons Verizon rejected the iPhone.

TheStreet claims that according to "people close to the companies", Apple receives between a $150-$200 bounty per iPhone plus $9 a month over the life of the 2 year contract.

This figure is significantly higher than analyst guesses previously published.

TheStreet's track record with Apple rumors has been remarkably poor, with previous claims including:

- AT&T/Cingular to Give Away 18 Months of iPhone Service
- Steve Jobs to Take a Leave of Absence

Neither of which have come true.

Article Link

[NemoMac]

So does Apple get their loot even if you cancel the iPhone EDGE data plan? I guess it probably wouldn't be data-plan specific.

[chr1s60]

If this is true then Apple should have some pretty big earnings for this past quarter and the upcoming quarter.

This is probably why Verizon rejected the iPhone, but they didn't look at the big picture. Look at the large percentage of iPhone users that came from other companies or are simply new buyers. Even giving however many dollars per subscriber AT&T is still going to make big money off this deal because of all the new monthly subscriptions. Even though they won't admit it, I think Verizon wishes they would have taken this deal now.

[megfilmworks]

I think, if this is true, it shows just how big a player Apple was even before the iPhone.
EMI, Universal, ATT etc, all struggle with their Apple negotiations. These are corps that are used to telling everyone else what to do.

[megfilmworks]

Originally Posted by chr1s60

If this is true then Apple should have some pretty big earnings for this past quarter and the upcoming quarter.

This is probably why Verizon rejected the iPhone, but they didn't look at the big picture. Look at the large percentage of iPhone users that came from other companies or are simply new buyers. Even giving however many dollars per subscriber AT&T is still going to make big money off this deal because of all the new monthly subscriptions. Even though they won't admit it, I think Verizon wishes they would have taken this deal now.

We assume Verizon rejected the offer....I think it could have been Apple that rejected the deal....just look at Europe, where cell service is very big biz

[distortedloop]

One only need look at the man who started TheStreet.com to understand why it is not a very accurate predictor. Jim Cramer may have been an fantastic hedge fund manager (I say may have been because despite his claims of phenomenal success year after year, no outside party has been able to substantiate that claim), but he's got no crystal ball these days.

Cramer's performance with his public portfolio (Action Alerts Plus) is pathetic, and one website that compares Cramer's stock picks to a monkey's, the monkey has a better rate of return.

Always consider the source.

[twoodcc]

considering the source, i doubt this is true.

[fastbite]

Originally Posted by twoodcc

considering the source, i doubt this is true.

Yes the source may de dodgy at best -- best still they feel like believable numbers.

[pacohaas]

Originally Posted by Macrumors

Details of Apple's iPhone Revenue Sharing with AT&T?

What kind of question is that? Is the answer yes?

[waterskier2007]

it seems to me that apple should get more than 150-200 per iphone sale. that seems low

[Yankees 4 Life]

Originally Posted by waterskier2007

it seems to me that apple should get more than 150-200 per iphone sale. that seems low

hey this is saying they get an additional 150-200 on top of the 250 in profit. Thats too good to be true.