As we reported it earlier, Apple and AT&T are discussing about their current exclusive partnership and its potential extension for the coming years. The current one runs till 2010 and while AT&T would like to extend it further, Apple might be tempted to offer its iPhone to a larger number of customers in USA. When asked about Apple's position regarding its partnership with AT&T during yesterday second fiscal quarter conference call, Apple interim chief Tim Cook responded that AT&T remains the "best wireless provider in the U.S.," and is a perfect partner for Cupertino. He even made it clear: "We're very happy with the relationship we have and do not have a plan to change it.". figures reported by AT&T earlier might also explain why the carrier is so eager to maintain this partnership: since its official launch in July 2008, AT&T has activated about 6 million iPhones, and during the first quarter 40% of those activation came from new customers.
During the same conference call, Tim Cook unveiled that Apple plans to release "one phone for the entire world", this could contradict the recent rumors indicating that the forthcoming iPhone would come as 2 models: one EDGE (GSM), one 3G and one dedicated to the chinese market, compatible with the TD-SCDMA format.
