Analysts have been looking at the iPhone specifications, network and virtual keyboard. Others, however, see some dire times for Sprint in the face of the iPhone strategic onslaught by AT&T, according to Bloomberg News on Wednesday.

Bear Sterns analyst Michael McCormack predicted that AT&T could lure as many as 1.1 million customers from Sprint by next year. Another analyst, Christopher Larsen, with Credit Suisse said, "Sprint is the one that gets hurt the most, stock price- wise and operationally." He rated Sprint "neutral" and AT&T "outperform."

Another factor hurting Sprint is that it is trading at 25 times estimated 2007 earnings, substantially higher than AT&T and Verizon. The iPhone "could be the difference between, ’Wow, that’s a really good quarter,’ and ’Oh boy, you guys have problems,’ " Mr. Larsen said.

In addition Sprint is more vulnerable than Verizon because Verizon owns home phone lines and Sprint does not. What’s worse, "Customers of Sprint also tend to be younger and technology-savvy, making them the perfect iPhone converts," said John Hodulik, a UBS AG analyst in New York.

The upshot is that competitors to the Apple/AT&T partnership may point out superior networks, nifty smartphones connected to corporate servers, and the ability to acquire music wirelessly. Those are all the notions being taught to the competition’s sales people. But when it comes to the ability of the iPhone to lure customers away, damage the competition, and make real money with a desirable product, some analysts aren’t so sure Sprint will come away unscathed.