Ever since Steve Jobs announced that the iPhone, the ultimate gadget on the mobile market, would be offered by AT&T as an exclusive deal many analysts and experts have wondered what the deal behind curtains is.  

Now, Gene Munster, a Piper Jaffray analyst, shed some light on this matter. According to one of his reports, quoted by AppleInsider.com, AT&T pays a fee to Apple for each iPhone.

"While we do not know the exact details of the agreement, we conservatively estimate that AT&T gives Apple $3 per month (over the life of the 24 month contract) for every iPhone customer already with AT&T and $11 per month for every new subscriber," lead analyst Gene Munster wrote as reported by AppleInsider.com

Paying a fee for each phone, doesn’t sound like a good business for AT&T, but Munster explained that an in-house survey of 253 iPhone users fond that 52 percent are ditching their previous carrier in order to migrate to AT&T.

As you may know AT&T offers three service plans for iPhone with prices ranging from $60 to $100 a month. All three plans will offer unlimited use of the device's internet and e-mail services, Visual Voicemail, 200 SMS text messages, unlimited mobile-to-mobile and rollover minutes. The cheapest plan offers 450 anytime minutes along with 5,000 nights and weekend minutes. The second one which costs $79.99 guarantees 900 anytime minutes and unlimited nights and weekends. The top-level $99 plan means 1350 anytime minutes and unlimited nights and weekends. The minimum period is two years of service.

So, after all, paying $3 or $11 for a customer who will pay $60 per month for two years isn’t such a bad business for AT&T. As for Apple it means just another stream of revenues.

But Munster cautioned that Piper Jaffray is not aware of the specific details of any agreement between the two companies, and his report is based on estimations.

Let’s remember for a moment that according to an earlier report issued by iSuppli, Apple is generating a margin of 55% on each iPhone sold.

After a teardown analysis, iSuppli concluded that the production of the 8 GB version of iPhone costs around $265.83. Apple sells the phone for $600.

That leaves a profit margin of more than 55 per cent, but does not include costs such as royalties or logistics.

According to some media reports, Apple sold already close to 1 million units and Munster is modeling for Apple to sell 3.2 million phones in 2007, 12.4 million in 2008, and 45.0 million in 2009."