Finding a Carrier Was the Thing

Apple saw a way to break this cycle; what it desperately needed was a way into the carrier’s club. Building an iPhone was one thing, but whose network would they use? What carrier in their right mind would let a brand-new cell phone manufacturer upset its entire industry? Who would allow an upstart like Apple to dictate terms?

Engineering the iPhone hardware was difficult enough, but convincing a carrier to give Apple the control it needed over the design of the iPhone would be even harder. After months of secret meetings with ATandT executives, Jobs somehow managed to achieve the unthinkable: Apple would have total control over the hardware and software design of the iPhone, in exchange for five years of exclusive iPhone sales for ATandT.