AT&T Buys T-Mobile: What Does It Mean For You?

AT&T officially acquired T-Mobile for $39 billion dollars today, and pending, federal approval, we will have a super cell phone war between CDMA Giant Verizon and GSM Giant AT&T. This is a bold, my-tower-is-bigger-than-yours move by AT&T, though, if you’ve dealt with their coverage, you know its not.

So how could it affect you? It depends what you think will happen.

First, as long as this deal goes through, more people will have iPhones. T-Mobile brings 46 million customers to AT&T. Yes, many are diehard fans of T-Mobile because of its low, family-friendly pricing structure and good customer service, but many of them will still ditch their current phone for an iPhone because Apple products send out Gama rays that make you momentarily forget about your student loans.

When you’re building an app and your resources are limited, you have to concentrate on developing it for the iPhone or Android. This is a tough choice and has a lot to do based on the developer, but you definitely want to be building for the big dog. If this leads to a massive influx of iPhones, this will make your life easier. If you think that’s going to happen, you want to shape up on those skills.

This may be especially true if Verizon buys Sprint. If Verizon has to be tempted to play “anything you can do I can do better” by acquiring Sprint, the third-leading network. Sprint runs on CDMA, so it would be a logical acquisition for Verizon and turn the cell phone market into a true dual superpower battle. It would also bring the iPhone to Sprint customers via Verizon.

If you’re a venture capitalist or investor, which platforms the app will debut on is a big issue you’ll want to pay attention to; if you’re in marketing, it impacts which platform you make the biggest push on; if you’re a young developer deciding where to specialize, it impacts your choice.

And if you’re a poor twenty-something trying to scrape by in the city, it means that you’re praying that T-Mobile customers don’t have to adopt AT&T’s pricing plan. Because you've already resorted to eating pasta with ketchup and hot sauce. And it's disgusting.

-Joe Lazauskas