AT&T CEO: Threat from Verizon, Sprint iPhone 5 ‘Overblown’

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AT&T is downplaying the impact of both Verizon and Sprint getting the iPhone 5. CEO Randall Stephenson told analysts the effect on the original U.S. iPhone carrier is “always overblown.” Instead, Stephenson said he was “very confident that we’ll do well” against the two CDMA carriers.


Speaking at a Goldman Sachs conference, Stephenson said the iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS are AT&T’s top-selling handsets. “I think we’ll do very well with” the iPhone 5, he said. The GSM carrier is also not relying totally on the iPhone for its sales — 40 percent of smartphones AT&T sells are now either Android or BlackBerry.

AT&T still has options unavailable to CDMA iPhones, Sephenson contends. He believes the GSM iPhone from AT&T is the only truly global iPhone, although Verizon has said the iPhone 5 will be dual-mode permitting its subscribers to roam freely with the addition of a SIM card and special plan. Stephenson also pointed to his carrier’s HSPA+ network as providing “much faster network capability” the rivals’ iPhones that likely will be 3G-only.

But Stephenson also sees a third platform appearing, giving carriers a choice beyond either Apple or Android. He described Microsoft Windows Phone as a “significant and meaningful player,” while also calling embattled RIM as still “viable.”

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