Remember all the questions and concerns about how AT&T would cope after the iPhone became available at Verizon Wireless? Well, despite losing its exclusivity, AT&T Wednesday morning announced it activated 3.6 million iPhones during the first quarter of 2011 – a 33 percent jump from the same time in 2010. Compared to the last financial quarter in 2010, that 3.6 million iPhones is down slightly from 4.1 million.
But what about subscribers? Certainly, given the option, AT&T iPhone users would switch to Verizon, right? Not really. The carrier said 23 percent of its iPhone activations were from new subscribers. In other words, the vast majority of AT&T customers who owned an iPhone didn’t budge.
And this wave of tablets we’ve been reading about? Well, according to the carrier, demand was more like a wading pool – 322,000 tablets for the first quarter.
[Business Insider, All Things Digital]
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.
12 responses to “Report: AT&T iPhone Customers Jump 33 Percent Despite Verizon”
Oh this is rich. Okay I have a question-did they ask of the new subscribers, how many of them are owners of the iPhone 4? The reason their activation numbers are so good is because the majority of people are buying iPhone 3GS for only $50. So the real question is this, if Verizon were able to carry the iPhone 3GS for $50 and have limited data, would we see a different number. Right now, AT&T has a pretty good gimmick, but once the iPhone 5 and 6 come out, we might see that number reduced because now Verizon and AT&T will be on a level playing field. With Apple cranking out the number of iPhone 4’s by this time in 2012, the iPhone 4 will probably be $50 and then let’s check these figures again. Also if Verizon stays with it’s unlimited plan (which seems unlikely) then there might be a good reason for AT&T to panick.
Well I bet a big part of this is people like me who just got AT&T service where they purchased Alltel. there were a few people in my area that had iphones because they had family in an AT&T service area but most of us waited.
and we do not have Verizon in our area
I didn’t switch…and probably won’t. Until the Verizon iPhone can do phone calls and access data, it’s a no-brainer. There’s no real savings as far as overall cost, I get unlimited data as I’m grandfathered in and coverage is great where I live. Now…if Sprint ever got the iPhone…with their data plans…I’d probably move in a heartbeat!!!
Apparently the 14 people who didn’t like AT&T complained so much it looked like a problem when it actually wasn’t.
Wow, I thought AT&T would have been on the brink of bankruptcy by now, all that crappy service by absolutely everyone and all.