From the highways to magazines, you just about can’t go anywhere these days without seeing an advertisement for AT&T or Verizon. Even if the ad is not the mobile phone carrier directly, you are sure to see to ads for the iPhone or the new Droid that are exclusive to AT&T and Verizon respectively. So which mobile carrier is better or is there even a difference. They both claim to dominate the marketplace and both claim no other company compares to their service.

What is clear is that iPhones exclusivity with AT&T has helped keep that mobile company competitive. In full disclosure I personally have several mobile phones including the iPhone. I switched our company to AT&T more than 2 years ago because the iPhone was going to them exclusively.

Between all my phones, I love my iPhone the best. Yes, it isn’t the greatest business phone but as far as Smartphones go, it has been hard to beat. That is until Droid came along. Do I think Droid is going to unseat iPhone as the best selling Smartphone? The short answer is no, but I do believe that the iPhone will need to make changes to its distribution model to ensure they keep the market share they enjoy today.

The latest mobile spat is that AT&T is suing Verizon over some of its advertisement slogans that take direct aim at AT&T. In my opinion, the Verizon ads, including the Droid ads, are by far some of the best we have seen in the mobile industry. I equate them to the famous TV ads of MAC vs. PC, with Verizon being the MAC in this case.

What Verizon states in their ads regarding AT&Ts inferior 3G coverage area is 100% fact from my own experience. As an AT&T customer I am constantly frustrated by dropped calls and spotty coverage areas. Although we are based in Las Vegas, I am frequently on the east coast, primarily Boston, Washington DC and New York City. As luck has it I am usually in the company of someone with a Verizon phone who enjoys the fact that I am always saying "can you hear me" which was a slogan made famous by Verizon. AT&T is frustrated that Verizon has taken the iPhone slogan of "there’s an ap for that" and twisted it to say "there's a map for that" that shows how inferior AT&T’s coverage is compared to Verizon. AT&T has had the slogan "More Bars in More Places" for years. In my opinion the more appropriate slogan should be "More DROPPED calls, in more places."

AT&T claims that twice as many people choose AT&T Smartphones over Verizon. The reality is that consumers choose iPhone, not AT&T. I can assure you that when iPhone opens up Verizon, and it looks like they will this year, not only myself and company will be switching, but I bet millions of users make the switch to Verizon. If AT&T is going to stay competitive in the mobile phone war, they better find a way to keep their exclusivity with the iPhone. Here’s an idea, why doesn’t AT&T just concentrate on getting their coverage area expanded to rival Verizon so that they don’t have to rely on Apple to keep them relevant. AT&T’s jump to sue Verizon only proves that they are scared of Droid and without the iPhone might become irrelevant in the mobile phone industry.