iPhone Carriers

Deutsche Telekom has begun accepting pre-orders for a device they don't even know exists yet. Without any knowledge of a release date, name, or hardware specifications the German carrier started handing out golden tickets for the next generation Apple handset.

A spokesman for the carrier told Bloomberg that customers can visit Deutsche Telekom stores to receive their ticket. The strict first-come, first-served system allows one pass per customer and is not being advertised. This is the first time that Deutsche Telekom will not be the exclusive carrier during a new iPhone launch in Germany. Other German carriers began offering the iPhone last October.

With data-hungry Android devices taking over and the iPhone 5 due for release in the next month or two, AT&T is getting serious about usage tiers. iPhone owners who currently enjoy an unlimited data plan may think they have carte blanche to single-handedly dominate their local cell tower's data connection, however starting October 1st AT&T will be watching.

The wireless carrier plans to slow down transfer rates on the mobile devices of the top five percent of unlimited data users every month. Here's how it works: if you transfer enough data on your mobile device that you fall within the top five percent of users AT&T will throttle your speeds until the start of your next billing cycle. Of course, this won't happen immediately.

We've heard it all before, Apple is adding T-Mobile and Sprint to its roster of iPhone carriers, but Piper Jaffray analyst Chris Larsen and analyst Shing Yin of Citadel Securities believe 2011 is the year Apple will actually make the move.

Most analysts seem to agree that if Apple wants to compete with the growing Android Market, they will have to make their products more accessible. The days of Apple exclusivity are over, and Larsen's crystal ball says the iPhone being offered by all four national carriers will increase Apple's market share by 30 percent.

"While we remain uncertain regarding the next-generation iPhone's specs and features, we believe the most noteworthy change could be the device's ability to run on more networks, specifically Sprint and T-Mobile in the U.S.," Larsen wrote in his analyst report.