VIDEO INTERVIEW: AT&T Mobility CEO Glenn Lurie confessed the US operator “got nervous” about the prospect of working exclusively with Apple on the development and launch of the iPhone back in 2007.

Lurie, who was discussing the origins of AT&T’s unique three year partnership with Apple to sell the iPhone, revealed the company did have concerns when first talking to the Cupertino-based giant a decade ago, given that “they’d never built a device, and the wireless industry was new to them”.

“Apple were very demanding because they really did want to change the industry, they wanted a different activation process, they wanted to own the OS and we had to sit back and soul search. At the time we had to question whether it really was the right deal for us,” Lurie told Mobile World Live.

“It turned out to be incredible in the end, and it really has changed the world,” he added.

Lurie also hailed Apple’s influence for “opening the eyes” to what a mobile device can do, including development of the app space and, more recently, the industry’s move to IoT.

“I believe things like the App Store really made people think bigger, and other manfacturers began to think about how their devices could get better through wireless connectivity.”

To watch the full interview, click here.