Hold on a sec. I’m not AT&T fanboi, but think about what made possible many of these scenarios: the iPhone. And who was the exclusive carrier for the first few years? Yep, AT&T. Remember when you didn’t want to have them as the carrier, but, damn, the iPhone was so innovative that you swallowed your pride and ponied up?
So if you squint a bit, AT&T was part of what made this possible, just in a derivative - and ultimately diminished - manner.