Although Verizon gained much of the attention over the iPhone 4, AT&T apparently added more subscribers enticed by a previous-generation Apple handset. Verizon gained less than 500,000 new customers during most of the second quarter while AT&T signed-up more than 800,000 new iPhone users, according to a Friday report.
In the two months of the three-month period the iPhone 4 was available throught Verizon, the carrier attracted 2.2 million iPhone devices. AT&T, however, experienced a record 3.6 million iPhone activation during the quarter — a 33 percent increase over the same period in 2010. The lack of any run-away success for Verizon runs counter to previous polls suggesting the carrier could siphon-off 26 percent of AT&T customers.
A factor in AT&T’s favor may have been price. The carrier heavily-promoted the $49 iPhone 3GS versus Verizon’s $199 16GB iPhone 4. Only recently has Verizon begun responding with ads highlighting the added features available with the latest iPhone.
Additionally, while much discussion centered on the advantage of a CDMA-based iPhone, Verizon’s network reportedly has slower 3G network speeds than AT&T, perhaps countering complaints of oft-dropped calls from AT&T users.
Thursday, Verizon told reporters it believes the upcoming iPhone 5 will be a “global device” able to operate on either a CDMA or GSM network.
Ed Sutherland is a veteran technology journalist who first heard of Apple when they grew on trees, Yahoo was run out of a Stanford dorm and Google was an unknown upstart. Since then, Sutherland has covered the whole technology landscape, concentrating on tracking the trends and figuring out the finances of large (and small) technology companies.
2 responses to “Report: AT&T Gained More iPhone Customers than Verizon”
Why O Why do we have to play “mine is bigger than yours” games such as this. AT&T are the champions of this game. If you are the best (Apple?) you need not play the game. Just keep innovating and delivering the best…