Here's why:
- Contracts. AT&T seems to know Apple customers as well as Apple does. By giving customers like me the opportunity to buy a new iPhone 4 for the "new contract" price, they now have a bizillion customers locked into a two year contract with a $300+ early-out fee. We couldn't leave even if we wanted to. Did they see the Verizon deal coming? Sure they did!
- Good Service. Having been a long-time (15 years) Verizon customer, I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of AT&T's service in my area (Houston). In fact, I have better coverage than I did with Verizon. While the consensus among tech journalists is, "AT&T sucks!", most of them are in San Francisco or New York. From experience, I can tell you that in both those cities AT&T does suck. In my opinion, AT&T got a bad rap from influential journalists convinced they are the center of the universe.
- Reality. Poll after independent poll of current iPhone users all say the same thing. AT&T will lose 20% of its iPhone customers at worst. Given the terms of most people's contracts, that number will probably be lower. Let's face it, all cell providers go one step short of making you sign over your first-born and AT&T is no different. While it has become fashionable to curse AT&T, the reality is they're no better or worse than any other. Many people swearing never-ending despise of AT&T will just keep on keepin' on.