iPhone 5 launch marks the end of AT&T as we know it. Mass exodus begins.

AT&T just sent me a twenty paragraph press release touting its 4G LTE network and went into detail about “compatible devices” but didn’t make a single mention of the iPhone 5. In the same week the iPhone 5 is set for the biggest launch in consumer technology history.

Despite owing the majority of its customers and revenue to the iPhone, AT&T continues to pretend it doesn’t exist. It’s some sort of bizarre attempt at revenge on Apple for taking away iPhone exclusivity, which brought AT&T’s industry leading growth to nearly zero as customers followed the iPhone to Verizon and Sprint…

AT&T has spent the past eighteen months promoting Android phones, Windows 7 Phones, anything it can get its hands on which doesn’t have an Apple logo. And yet the iPhone vastly outsells all other smartphones combined on AT&T despite the silent treatment.

When you consider that AT&T only offers LTE in about one tenth as many cities as Verizon, and turned out to have only been attempting to acquire T-Mobile for its customers and not the added network bandwidth, one has to wonder if the people running AT&T have simply given up.

All it had to do was continue to be mediocre and it might still have iPhone exclusivity, which would be propelling its growth in spades. Instead it abused the privilege and got dumped by Apple, and the millions of shared customers have gotten caught up in the divorce. AT&T can’t make up its mind whether it wants to make a point of showing off its new mistresses that no one is impressed by, or sulk in bed all day over the fact that it had lightning in a bottle with iPhone exclusivity and blew it in spectacular fashion.

The iPhone 5 could well mark the end of AT&T as we know it. It’s a matter of time before the people running the company are chased by the shareholders. And it might even be the end of the AT&T name, this time for good (remember when they were Cingular? mLife? SBC? they change names every time their reputation gets trashed irrevocably).

Leaders in the tech industry say they’re leaving AT&T as of the iPhone 5. Twitter trending topics suggest the iPhone 5 will spark a mass exodus from AT&T among mainstream users. I’m leaving AT&T as of the iPhone 5 as well. We gave the dunderheads the entire iPhone 4S era to get their act together before bailing. Instead it just got worse.

It’s not that any of us expect Verizon or Sprint to be any good. But at this point, simply being “not as head scratchingly suicidal as AT&T” is close enough.