Verizon profit doubles in Q3 as it activates 2m iPhones
updated 09:00 am EDT, Fri October 21, 2011
Verizon quiet on iPhone activations in Q3 2011
Verizon on Friday posted solid results for its summer quarter that also reflected the lull before the iPhone 4S. Its core revenue was up 5.4 percent to $27.9 billion, but its profit in earnings per share more than doubled, from 23 cents per share a year ago to 49 cents. It added during the fiscal results call that about two million iPhones were activated over the summer
The results showed a greater emphasis on smartphones as a whole. It sold 5.6 million smartphones, or about 60 percent of its entire regular subscription base and 39 percent of all its cellphone owners. "More than half" of its sales were of Android devices, Verizon said, although only about 1.4 million of those were is entire LTE device pool, suggesting there was more demand for 3G smartphones; some of the 1.4 million devices would also have been hotspots and modems.
Unlike AT&T and Sprint, Verizon wouldn't say how many iPhone 4S units it had sold on launch day, although it pointed to "strong demand." The carrier did, however, say that it was still "backlogged" after having sold out on its first day. The ratio of new to upgrade users was the same as before, as 20 percent of iPhone buyers were new to the network.
About 107.7 million total wireless subscribers are on the network versus AT&T's 100.4 million.
Verizon is known to have a particularly hot fall. The quarter will be its first with a genuinely new iPhone and will likely see it reach an all-time high for the devices in its short history working with Apple. It also plans to revive Motorola's most famous brand in the Droid RAZR, and it will have the most advanced version of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus.
