Hasta La Gadget!

Have a moment of pity for AT&T. It’s a well-known fact that the iPhone completely norked their data network, with iPhone users sucking down megabytes in some major metros until AT&T’s pipes ran dry. How sharp was the data uptake? Take a gander at this chart from AT&T CTO John Donovan’s CTIA show keynote this morning. (Click on the graphic to see a larger version.)

Over the past two and a half years, demand for data on AT&T’s network has increased 18 times, he said. Donovan tried to avoid blaming the iPhone for all of the data traffic – he called out other “smart integrated devices” as well. But it would be interesting to see the same chart from the other three major carriers; I’d guess that the line isn’t quite as sharp.