Apple Inc (AAPL)

[roni]

Carrier Fees

Apple has said it will receive a cut of the $60 to $220 in monthly fees San Antonio-based AT&T charges iPhone owners as part of a required two-year contract.

Sanford C. Bernstein's Toni Sacconaghi, the top-ranked computer analyst according to Institutional Investor magazine, calculates AT&T's payout at $15 a month per user.

AT&T and three European wireless carriers due to sell the iPhone in November may pay a combined $715 million to Apple next year, based on an estimated 7 million iPhones sold. Those fees will account for more than a third of Apple's total iPhone sales in 2008, Sacconaghi said.

Apple rose $5.21 to a record $161.45 at 4 p.m. New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market trading. The shares have gained 89 percent since Jobs announced the iPhone Jan. 9.

The company advised users with the now-broken, hacked phones to buy a new one, Sacconaghi said. ``This may deter folks from unlocking in the future.''

At least three groups claimed in August to have programs that alter the iPhone to work on networks belonging to companies such as T-Mobile USA Inc. and Vodafone Group Plc. A New Jersey teenager, George Hotz, posted the first guide on how to hack the phone on his Web site. The process involves soldering the circuitry and modifying the software.

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