Original AT&T iPhone exclusivity was a 5 year deal

As long-speculated, the original iPhone exclusivity agreement between Apple and AT&T was for a 5-year period running from 2007 to 2012. Confirmation of this comes by way of court documents from 2008, however, and 2 years is an eternity in corporate contract-dom.

In other words, anything from AT&T's service levels (or lack thereof in New York and San Francisco) to their deal for iPad 3G data plans could have led to renegotiations, extensions, or new contracts entirely since then.

So file this away under iPhone trivia unless and until a Verizon iPhone shows up... sometime.

[Engadget]

Rene Ritchie is one of the most respected Apple analysts in the business, reaching a combined audience of over 40 million readers a month. His YouTube channel, Vector, has over 90 thousand subscribers and 14 million views and his podcasts, including Debug, have been downloaded over 20 million times. He also regularly co-hosts MacBreak Weekly for the TWiT network and co-hosted CES Live! and Talk Mobile. Based in Montreal, Rene is a former director of product marketing, web developer, and graphic designer. He's authored several books and appeared on numerous television and radio segments to discuss Apple and the technology industry. When not working, he likes to cook, grapple, and spend time with his friends and family.