AT&T extends exclusivity with Apple, no Verizon iPhone until 2011?

Take this one with the largest grain of salt that you can find…the latest rumor on the status of the Verizon Wireless iPhone suggests that the phone may not come to fruition until 2011. As we all know, AT&T is offering data plans for the iPad on a non-contract basis at the lowly price of $15 for 250MB of data and $30 for unlimited data. According to analyst Brian Marshall of BroadPoint AmTech, AT&T would not have agreed to such a drastic price reduction, and no-contract plans, without receiving something big from Apple in return. That “big something”, he hypothesizes, is an extension of the iPhone exclusivity agreement that AT&T currently has enjoyed with Apple in the U.S. Under this quid pro quo agreement, AT&T’s exclusivity would be extended until the end of 2010, effectively shuttering any plans to launch the iPhone on Big Red in 2010.