Your post #48 is wrong. Original iPhone owners BOUGHT their iPhones outright and AT&T did not pay Apple any subsidy for them at all. AT&T and Apple renegotiated their agreement to make the iPhone a subsidized phone long before the Android phones were ever announced or released... at AT&T's request.
No.
You are wrong.
“Original iPhone owners BOUGHT their iPhones outright and AT&T did not pay Apple any subsidy for them at all”
Apple themselves confirmed they were getting payments from AT&T right here:
“Oppenheimer confirmed that Apple is receiving payments from AT&T related to the sale of iPhones, but he didn't want to discuss the specifics of the agreement between the two companies”
http://news.cnet.com/Apple-earnings-soar-as-iPhone-shipments-revealed/2100-1047_3-6198872.html?tag=mncol;txt
“Silicon Alley Insider spotted a research note from Piper Jaffray’s Gene Munster estimating that Apple is receiving $18 per month for each iPhone subscriber, under the revenue-sharing agreement between the two companies.
-snip-
That would mean that over the life of a two-year contract, AT&T will pay Apple $432 per iPhone subscriber"
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-9803657-37.html
The Good news is, smartphone companies are now happily using Android for free, and phone companies are watching superb Android phones like the HTC Incredible, HTC Desire and soon the HTC EVO 4G fly off the shelves, without them having to pay an arm and a leg to anyone, or give in to Apple's “it's my way or the high way” policy. Consumers win.