Maybe it's time for Apple's brilliant CEO Steve Jobs to get rid of its exclusive partnerships and go mass market for its revolutionary mobile handset, iPhone. According to Bernstein Research analyst Toni Sacconaghi, about 1 million or 27% of total iPhones sold in the U.S. are "unlocked" so consumers can use it on other mobile operators.

Translated in dollars this means a revenue loss of $500 million for 2008, assuming iPhone reaches its sales target of 10 million units in the US. While AT&T and Apple acknowledge this problem, both parties declined to comment on this guesswork. Though I'm sure we can assume silence means yes.

Expect this rate to increase for there are still many mobile consumers who remain madly in love with this device.

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