Vodafone: iPhone not stealing Verizon users
updated 01:15 pm EDT, Wed September 19, 2007
Vodafone on iPhone impact
One of the parent owners of Verizon Wireless, Vodafone, claims that the Apple iPhone has caused little to no drain of Verizon's subscriber base, despite fears to the contrary. Vodafone CEO Arun Sarin notes that in the aftermath of the June 29th launch of the iPhone, it did in fact see enough subscribers switch to AT&T that Verizon's porting ratios went negative, instead of growing; but within a month, he tells Reuters, they had returned to normal. A similar cycle is said to have happened when Apple cut the price of the iPhone from $599 to $399.
"Porting ratios go negative then two weeks later were back to normal again," Sarin comments. Vodafone's figures do not, however, make any reference to how many new cellular subscribers the iPhone may have lured in AT&T's direction. Partly to deter this, Verizon launched a brief counter-iPhone campaign in June, with special deals and extended store hours.
Vodafone, meanwhile, appears to be deliberately avoiding the iPhone in Europe, complaining that the lack of 3G makes the device irrelevant in countries used to high-speed broadband. If it did have 3G, Sarin says, it could increase the popularity of data services. "When a[n] HSDPA iPhone is available we would be interested in talking to Apple," he states.
best
09/19, 01:23pm reply
in the US Verizon has the best network. I'm not surprised.
BelugaShark
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Joined: Aug 2007
Misleading...
09/19, 01:34pm reply
So they are saying that their total subscribed base went down after the iPhone launch, and then recovered-- and the same pattern repeated with the price drop.
Call me crazy, but that means they did lose people to AT&T. It's just that there was only a short period where the number of people leaving outnumbered the number of people coming in, and after that they went back to overall growth. That's still a decline in sales for a while, and certainly fewer sales than they would have been getting otherwise.
njfuzzy
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Joined: Apr 2001
verizon
09/19, 02:03pm reply
wait till i get my paycheck.
bubye
Herod
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Joined: Jun 2007
Vodafone, verizon
09/19, 02:48pm reply
They sound very much like the record labels and movie studios in the US. Holding on to, and trying desperately to preserve, the old business model.
Vodafone may be big in Europe; Verizon may have good network in the US. They will, however, both lose because of the iPhone. Apple will single-handedly bring them down. Everything is pointing to a robust growth for iPhone, and therefore, Verizon's (and Vodafone's) competitors (AT&T and T-Mobile, respectively). With AT&T in the US signing new users with two out of five people who buy an iPhone, it is obviouis that the growth is at the expense of the others, including Verizon.
Enjoy your ride while you can, Verizon!
vasic
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Joined: May 2005
-1
09/19, 02:51pm reply
I left Verizon after ~4 years (horrible customer service) for the iPhone.
milhouse
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Joined: Jan 2001
-1 more
09/19, 02:57pm reply
I left Verizon too. They asked and I told them I wanted an iPhone. They asked what I liked about it so I explained all the things I liked. They didn't have a response (especially for the better web browsing) so they just thanked me and said they hoped I'd come back. I told them "Sure, just get the iPhone and I would rather be on your network."
simdude
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-1
09/19, 03:05pm reply
I left them too.
fnevitt
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re: I left them too.
09/19, 03:10pm reply
Dittos.
mgpalma
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Joined: Sep 2000
Delayed results...
09/19, 03:15pm reply
I bought an iPhone and went to AT&T, but I haven't cancelled my Verizon contract, yet... I'm hoping to get rid of it to someone else or ride out the remainder of the contract. I just don't want to give them a freaking contract severance fee.
I think Verizon could have their growth slowed for a little while if there's people like me out there.
schwie
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Joined: Aug 2006
I'm with AT&T - but...
09/19, 03:18pm reply
I have 2 friends that had just bought RAZRs with Verizon in September 2006 and Feb this year - they'd been on Verizon for a while - so no contract issues_
BUT as soon as the iPhone came out - they jumped ship and couldn't buy an iPhone fast enough_
-2 more !
UberFu
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Joined: Oct 2002