It’s the end of an era, says Piper Jaffrey mobile analyst Gene Munster: the era of iPhone exclusivity.  AT&T’s CEO Randall Stephenson is scrambling to extend ithe carrier's exclusive deal with Apple until at least 2011. However, Munster predicts the effort may be wasted: despite negotiations, their cozy courtship will end across the globe by next summer—if not before. Things are already moving that direction abroad: Apple has rolled out non-exclusive iPhone distribution in both China and France.

Fierce Mobile Content covered Munster’s mobile update. In the report Munster explained, “For various reasons [Apple] moved from an exclusive relationship with French wireless carrier Orange to a multi-carrier model..In France, the company now enjoys dramatically higher market share (in the 40 percent range vs. about 15 percent in ROW) than in countries with exclusive carrier agreements (such as AT&T in the U.S.).” 

What will the end of exclusivity spell for mobile consumers? For Apple? For AT&T? If the FCC has its way, and its probe of the wireless industry results in broader regulation, carrier exclusives may end well before next summer ushering in a whole new paradigm for mobile handset developers and carriers-- and giving consumers the power of choice in networks. Just last month the carrier revealed it “has nine million iPhone customers.” Yet customers consistently gripe about network problems. If AT&T loses its hold on iPhone, how much time does it need to find another goose to lay golden eggs?  Source: Fierce Mobile Content, more