If a Verizon iPhone is announced Tuesday, as a weekend Wall Street Journal report suggests, the move could mean 9 million to 12 million more customers for Apple. However, if the carrier is able to do more than attract existing iPhone owners to switch from AT&T, the Cupertino, Calif. company could gain twice that figure, analysts predict.
Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster said AT&T sold 14.5 million iPhones in 2010, comprising 30 percent of iPhone sales. Verizon should add 5 percent to that figure, Munster said.
Verizon sales of iPhones could eventually top AT&T’s 17 million Apple handset subscribers, with 13 million of the devices sold by Verizon this year, according to Brian Marshall, an analyst with Gleacher & Company. With 93.2 million subscribers, Verizon has a slightly larger subscriber base than AT&T’s 92.8 million customers. IPhone users would comprise 13 percent of Verizon customers, while the Apple handset is 18 percent of AT&T’s users.
