This is what Apple claims, but what I heard back at AT&T was Apple demanded full payment for every sold device up front from AT&T, meanwhile every other vendor was providing multi-year financing.
AT&T had much worse commissions for selling iPhones than new lines for a reason. Meanwhile, Verizon, Sprint & T-Mobile played the long game and waited to sign volume commits and financing terms with Apple.
The carrier specific iPad financing promos where they sell you a tablet well below cost (even factoring in the 2 year data plan cost) is a situation created by these minimum volume commits.
AT&T had much worse commissions for selling iPhones than new lines for a reason. Meanwhile, Verizon, Sprint & T-Mobile played the long game and waited to sign volume commits and financing terms with Apple.
The carrier specific iPad financing promos where they sell you a tablet well below cost (even factoring in the 2 year data plan cost) is a situation created by these minimum volume commits.