Sprint, Verizon seeing high iPhone sales, says analyst
updated 01:35 pm EDT, Tue November 1, 2011
iPhone trend may be reversing Sprint decline
Both Sprint and Verizon are seeing strong iPhone sales, says Sterne Agee analyst Shaw Wu, citing checks. Sprint has allegedly begun reversing a tide of subscriber loss to AT&T and Verizon, which was caused by simply not having the iPhone as an option until October 14th. The carrier may also be attracting people thanks to offering the only unlimited iPhone data plans in the US.
With Verizon, Wu says he is "hearing strong traction" in which Android and BlackBerry users are switching to the iPhone, helped by many contracts coming up for renewal. Japanese carrier KDDI is also said to be experiencing "strong momentum," having become just the second official Japanese iPhone partner last month.
Industry and supply chain sources also reportedly indicate that sales are doing well across all three models, including the 4, 4S and 3GS. Shopper bias is said to remain with the highest-end model, the 4S. "Talking to industry sources, what's driving the 4S is better than expected reception of its new Siri software," says Wu. The analyst is holding to a forecast of 26 million iPhones in the December quarter, which would be a 60 percent jump year-over-year.
