If Apple could expand the iPhone to Verizon, I think this would be good for both Apple and iPhone owners (on both the AT&T and Verizon networks). Apple would get the expanded reach of people who are loyal to Verizon’s network and/or are tied to existing Verizon contracts. iPhone owners would get competition. Currently, since AT&T has exclusivity, they don’t have the competitive from iPhone customers to push them to improve their network or their pricing. If competition comes into the picture, AT&T will need to respond and drive benefit to the consumers. On top of that, having another network for the high bandwidth iPhone users may also alleviate some of the congestion that seems to be exist with all the iPhone data traffic on AT&T.
That said, Apple has confirmed that the initial AT&T/iPhone contract was a five year deal (signed in 2007 to end in 2012). I think AT&T will fight with everything they have to keep the exclusivity as long as possible.

The new iPhone 3G S sounds great. It’s not a huge update to the iPhone, but it packs a few very important things: More speed, more storage, more battery and a better camera that can do video. It’s a no-brainer to upgrade to it, just as many did from the original iPhone to the iPhone 3G last year, right? Wrong.

While current iPhone owners last year got to upgrade to the iPhone 3G for the fully subsidized $199 and $299 prices, the same will not be true this year. Instead, current iPhone 3G owners only 1 year into their 2 year contracts, will have to pay $399 and $499 to upgrade. The reason for this is simple: AT&T subsidizes the phone down to $199 based on a 2-year payment agreement with the customer. If you only paid one year of that contract, AT&T would have to eat those costs. So instead it’s putting that cost back into this new phone. It didn’t do that last year, because the original iPhone wasn’t subsidized. It makes sense, but here’s why that’s a bad idea.

There are no shortage of AT&T iPhone customers who are pissed off at the company. Not only is their service sketchy at best in many places (I have spotty service in San Francisco, but it was much worse when I was in NYC this past week), but they do things like delay the roll out of features that the rest of the world is getting because they have other providers. And they do things like block the Sling player app from streaming over 3G on just the iPhone, while it works fine on other phones. And they rip us off with text messages (as do other carriers, though AT&T was particularly bad when moving from the original iPhone to the iPhone 3G). The list goes on.

I can see that it could benefit many people if Apple would expand to Verizon. As has been said, those Verizon users who have been waiting and not wanting to leave Verizon would be able to have the phone they want... and for those of us on AT&T it would hopefully put up some competition.

I have a huge network of people on AT&T and get better coverage when I go to the country, so I have no desire to switch to Verizon. I would hope they would also keep service with AT&T. I was thinking of switching my entire family to iPhones, but haven't decided to part with my BlackBerry just yet. The cost of the iPhone for all of us combined is terrible! Some competition to bring the price down would be fabulous.

If rumors holds true come January 2011, that Apple's iPhone is considering moving into the Verizon network, this is definitely a move into the future because it will open up new market and avenue for this phenomenal device. There are many mobile users out there, that are holding up their plans of having an iPhone, until the exclusivity contract expires with AT&T.

As far as businesses is concerned, this would really be significant development in the telecommunications industry because companies tend to lean more on the reliability of coverage of Verizon such as more 3G coverage, less dropped calls, and with iPhone at the helm of Verizon, it would add up to the competitive advantage. "And many Verizon customers who have been waiting for the AT&T exclusivity contract to end have been biding their time unwilling to give up their service on Verizon for the iPhone."