Though Apple may be one of the companies that will 'bring it to you,' they will not be bringing all of those things to us, even if the iPad/iPhone is the hardware that some of those things are/will be running on.
You really think Apple made a 3+ year exclusivity contract with AT&T? Even in view of the explosive possibilities of the device? Hmm, it's possible, but it doesn't seem likely. It's probable that they are continuing to choose to do business with them for some reason or another.
Shows what I know. :P Why is everyone speculating that they might come out with a Verizon phone then? Surely this is basically a broken leg on the possibility of that happening until 2012?
There was speculation that because the original agreement did not include the iPad, Apple was under no obligation to give AT&T exclusivity on the iPad, and that they renegotiated the contract when the iPad was released. Such a renegotiation could have included an earlier end to exclusivity.
It will take another court case to confirm if that is true, since neither party comments on the terms of their agreement.
Because of the controls that were in place with the carriers at the time, and the fact that Apple didn't want to operate under those controls, it was not easy for Apple to find a company to work with. On top of that, there was no guarantee the iPhone would be a success, and it also required significant change to the software operating the cell towers, for things like visual voicemail. And also, Apple was asking for a lot of money.
ATT was supposedly not Apples first choice, but it was the one that accepted the conditions Apple bought to the table.
