Apple using iPhone to play AT&T against Verizon?

* Apple in talks with Verizon on wireless devices

* AT&T expected to offer attractive terms to keep iPhone

* Analysts see Apple driving hard bargain for iPhone

By Sinead Carew and Gabriel Madway

NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO April 28 (Reuters) - Apple Inc (AAPL.O) appears to be playing the top two U.S. mobile operators AT&T Inc (T.N) and Verizon Wireless against each other as it shops for the next distributor for its popular iPhone.

Whether one or both operators sign a deal, analysts are in no doubt that Apple wins in the end.

Apple has an exclusive and very lucrative deal with AT&T -- believed to run into 2010 -- to carry the iPhone on its Global Service Mobile (GSM) network. Research firm iSuppli estimates that Apple earns a profit margin of more than 50 percent for iPhone.

But Lowell McAdam, the head of Verizon Wireless, recently spoke with Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs and senior Apple executives about wireless devices, said a spokesperson for Verizon Wireless, a joint venture between Verizon Communications Inc (VZ.N) and Vodafone Group Plc (VOD.L).