I'd be very curious to see the exact details of Apple and AT&T's agreement. Perhaps they can offer a phone on another network, or independent of any network, if it is an entirely new phone. Maybe this will be a CDMA phone.
Doubtful, but who knows.
While I think the current iPhone is close to perfect, you do have to consider that the market has been flooded with phones of all shapes, sizes, and colors for a long time. People are used to looking for the phone that they think is perfect for them.
Of course, that was all pre-iPhone so it was more of a "lesser of 200 evils" kind of search.
