According to documents released from a California class action lawsuit, it has been confirmed that AT&T has iPhone exclusivity until the year 2012. While this was the initial agreement reached between Apple and the company back in 2007 when the first iPhone launched, there has been no word on whether the terms were ever renegotiated. This means a couple of things, including the fact that we most likely won’t be seeing that Verizon iPhone we were hoping for this summer.

Well, we’ve certainly heard this rumor time and time again. This time around, it goes as follows: a man who has recently visited his local Verizon store was inquiring about the iPhone as he wants one but is holding out for the Verizon network to get it. The Verizon employee eventually “… got this excited look on their face and with boldness the employee declared ‘we’re getting one’ of the iPhone.”

AT&T, the company we all know and love hate, has stated in their quarterly earnings call that they plan to beef up their network quite heavily this year. Beyond what they already spend to upkeep their network, they plan to spend an additional $2 billion or so (for an expected total of $18-19B in 2010) simply to make their network stronger. We should all thank Verizon for being so blunt in pointing it out to AT&T; maybe that’s what they needed.

At their January 27th event, Apple announced what the networking aspects of the iPad are going to be. Basically, thanks to a “breakthrough” deal with (everyone sigh with me now…) AT&T, Apple is able to offer two different prepaid accounts for the iPad. The good thing, obviously, is that no contract is required. Furthermore, 250MB of data a month will only cost $14.99, while unlimited is just $29.99, and there is also free use at any of AT&T’s wifi hotspots. Furthermore, it can just be activated straight on the iPad as you want it with no hassle required at cellular network stores.

A lucky few already have MMS on the iPhone, but the rest of us have been waiting for a while now as other carriers have managed to push it out on their network. As per the AT&T announcement a while back, this Friday, September 25th will be the official date that this feature is released via a software update. That is coming up quickly, and AT&T has released some information on their Facebook page.

According to an analyst, China Unicom—the largest cell phone carrier in terms of subscribers—will announce a deal with Apple to sell the iPhone in China today. This the latest in a series of clues that points to the iPhone making its way to the most populous country on the planet. A spokeswoman from China Unicom stated that the iPhone would be a topic of discussion when the company has a media briefing to discuss its performance in the first half of the year, though the woman did not confirm that the iPhone would definitely be coming to China.

Apple is again trying to stop the jailbreaking of the iPhone despite launching their own App Store to compete with the abilities that jailbroken phones offer. While they at first said it was simply illegal, they are now attempting to show that it could bring down the cellular network. In their response to a possible DMCA exemption for jailbreaking iPhones, Apple has given numerous reasons as to how allowing jailbroken iPhones could destroy a network.

Although Japan has legally had the iPhone for only about a month, their carrier, Softbank, is already cutting the prices on their data plans. Softbank’s site has the number in yen, so I will translate for you. The iPhone 3G data rates were currently at ¥7,280, or $67.47/month, but they have now been reduced all more »

Remember when the iPhone 3G’s price differential (highly subsidized vs. monthly revenue) compared to the first gen had everyone up in roars of glee? Well, that apparently came with some smart deal making on AT&T’s part. AppleInsider reports that, as part of this deal, AT&T was able to claim their exclusivity on the iPhone until more »

There is a lot of speculation about the details of the suspected 3G iPhone release at Apple’s WWDC keynote. However, there has been little material evidence on which to rely, until now; a reliable source has leaked details of the 3G iPhone’s firmware. The new firmware, which has possibly been used by carrier partners who more »