Is AT&T paying Apple $18 per iPhone per month?
Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster believes Apple is taking $18 per month for each iPhone subscriber under its deal with AT&T. Apple confirmed it reached a revenue deal with AT&T, but never revealed what it is. Munster, who once thought Apple was receiving $3 per subscriber has changed his mind based on information gleaned from Apple's most recent financial report.
Apple's accounts describe $118 million in iPhone and iPhone-related revenue during the quarter. Apple has previously confirmed plans to account for iPhone sales across a two-year period.
Munster took the 1.4 million iPhones Apple's sold so far, took away the 250,000 units Apple said it believes were bought to unlock from AT&T's network, and calculates that 1.15 million revenue-generating iPhones contributed to Apple's quarter. If these estimates are correct, AT&T will pay Apple $432 per iPhone subscriber across the two-year life of the contract.
That's a lot of cash...and a lot of cash lost if Apple doesn't try to lock them back down. You can do the math.