AT&T: 74% of Our New ‘Integrated’ Phones Are iPhones
9:23 am, October 22nd, 2009, Ed Sutherland
iPhones comprised nearly three out of every four new cell phones activated with 3G and a QWERTY keyboard, according to AT&T’s quarterly statement. The carrier said it activated 3.2 million iPhones during the quarter – up from 2.4 million iPhones last spring.
Overall, AT&T added 4.3 million “integrated devices” during the quarter out of a total of 81.6 million cell phone customers the carrier now claims. Although rival Verizon has yet to announce officially, the new AT&T numbers appear to narrow the gap to a 6.1 million advantage for Verizon. Verizon has recently launched an advertising salvo against the iPhone, promoting its Android 2.0-based ‘Droid’ expected to be introduced in early November.
Apple’s exclusive U.S. carrier also announced nearly 40 percent of those new iPhone customers are also new to AT&T, an increase from 33 percent reported earlier this year.
Although AT&T has complained the iPhone has been a drain on finances, the carrier reported data revenue grew 33.6 percent with wireless revenue jumping 10 percent to $12.4 billion. Additionally, AT&T announced profit margins rose to 38.5 percent from 33.5 percent and average revenue per person grew 3.8 percent.
[Via Gizmodo and Electronista]
Posted by Ed Sutherland in News | Comment on this article
it’s amazing that this one device has made me hate a company i once loved. dear apple, please never make a phone again, your current incarnation makes me cry at night, it’s one of the worst phones i’ve ever used. PALM, RIM, and NOKIA all have better phones, with more options than you. please take your heavy communistic hand off of the mobile market place, you’ve turned the #1 cell phone provider in the USA into the laughing stock of the mobile industry. I hate you apple, you make me want to throw my 3 macs out the window and install linux or windows on my pc. what happened to you, you lost your focus.
katiepea, on October 22nd, 2009 at 3:50 pm
@katiepea – your anger and argument is just plain dumb.
Don’t mix up the phone with the “mobile market place” – whatever that is. No other mobile device offers over 91,000 apps to choose from. And jailbreaks are possible, if you really have to go there.
As a phone, the iPhone may indeed not work well, but no one can still say whether this is Apple’s fault, or that of “the #1 cell phone provider” – the ones with the weak 3G network. Yes, I’ve heard that some say their iPhone works better as a phone when you turn off 3G data. Someone smarter than me can explain, because I don’t know.
Also, what ‘more options’ do you want? Different form factors? iPhone mini? More colors? Having a screen remain the size it is only helps the developers.
No one else in the US would play with Apple at the start except for AT&T, but I suspect this will change in the next year, as Apple has a couple of countries coming online with multiple carriers. I am sure they will be watching acceptance on the new carriers to make sure they get a good US deal.
One final thought, mobile is changing soon, as 3G is oooolllldddd. The next wave is LTE and Apple is rumored to be testing with Verizon as I type.
Sweet dreams.
joe, on October 22nd, 2009 at 9:36 pm
As soon as Verizon gets the iPhone, I’m leaving AT&T’s crappy network.
Craig, on December 16th, 2009 at 6:53 pm