The time has come for AT&T (NYSE: T) to earn its iPhone customers.

After nearly four years of exclusivity, AT&T's monopoly on Apple's (Nasdaq: AAPL) iPhone is over. Verizon (NYSE: VZ) will begin rolling out a new version of Apple's iPhone 4 on its own network in a few weeks.

The Tuesday announcement was expected, but that doesn't mean Verizon didn't have a few surprises up its sleeve. Its CFO later revaeled that Apple's iPad tablet will also be coming soon to the Verizon network.

The real winners will be consumers, as AT&T and Verizon Wireless -- fierce competitors in the past -- will now have to top one another in terms of network performance, speed, and pricing to woo as many iPhone users as they can. This battle may result in leaner margins for the wireless carriers, but it could also result in greater adoption rates of big-ticket smartphones with lucrative data plans.

Briefly in the news
And now let's take a quick look at some of the other stories that shaped our week.

  • AMD (NYSE: AMD) reportedly gave its CEO the heave-ho, with reports suggesting the cause was that he wasn't making inroads for the chip in the booming mobile market.
  • You know what company is making a dent in mobile? NVIDIA (Nasdaq: NVDA). Its shares have roughly doubled over the past three months, and it's looking even better now after striking a $1.5 billion patent cross-licensing deal with Intel (Nasdaq: INTC).
  • Nissan North America became the latest automaker to send fresh leads to Sirius XM Radio (Nasdaq: SIRI), offering buyers of its certified used Nissan and Infiniti vehicles free trial subscriptions to satellite radio.

Until next week, I remain,

Rick Munarriz

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