“Verizon says the iPhone wave has already crested,” Scott Moritz reports for TheStreet.com.
MacDailyNews Take: Verizon’s obviously got their crystal ball up and running. It’s very early make such a proclamation. Too early, in fact.
Moritz continues, “On an earnings conference call with analysts Monday, Verizon executives said that by the first weeks of July, Verizon saw negative so-called porting rates — meaning more Verizon customers were switching to AT&T than vice versa. But as the month progressed, Verizon said it has seen a shift back to what it calls normal switching rates. ‘We are now seeing two Verizon Wireless customers in for every one we lose,’ says COO Denny Strigl.”
“Industry observers note that AT&T’s iPhone storm hasn’t fully passed. The holiday season will probably be an active time for expensive phone gifts, and the iPhone is likely to be on a few wish lists,” Moritz reports.
Full article here.
HA! let’s see how many “negative-porting” goes on as people’s contracts run out. If your contract runs out in a few months you’re obviously not going to switch and pay the penalty! We’ll see Verizon.
Well, I for one am going to switch sooner or later if the iPhone market doesn’t open up. I am just waiting for the dust to settle and hopefully ATT improve their coverage in my area and then I am gone.
Doesnt ANYONE understand everyone cannot and is not willing to just “Switch” did anyone hear of EARLY TERMINATION FEES???
I am sure that there will be plenty of switchers over time as their contracts expire. This particular article doesnt have any real purpose.
This is the same thing as saying, the RUSH at Apple and AT&T stores is over no longer will 100 people at a time go into a store to buy the iPhone at the same time. how about a big DUH!!
Unless coverage with AT&T is lousy in your area, switching to a phone crippling, nickel-dimeing, Voracious account is not a good switch. I may be speaking from my own experience, but at least here in Houston AT&T has been very reliable as far as coverage. Not only that, but I have also been able to sync my phone to may Mac via bluetooth and iSync from day one. Something that I believe is not doable with Voracious.
I like the spin. Of course the surge of defections that occurred on the iPhone intro can’t be sustained over a long period. So Verizon attempts to use the fact that they aren’t as an affirmation that they are “just fine” and the iPhone isn’t posing a threat. The question really is this: as the contracts of Verizon customers expire, how many of those customers that would have normally re-up with Verizon will instead move to AT&T for the iPhone. We need a lot more time to know the answer to that question.
I have both Verizon and AT&T (iPhone) currently. But when the Verizon contract runs out, that will be the end of Verizon for me and my wife, when her contract runs out. They will continue to see defections. Just because the negative proting rates have gone back to normal doesn’t mean that it is due to the iPhone.
“Oh, never mind, 911 dispatch. The bleeding from my neck has slowed from a powerful spurt to a…..(falling sound).”
MW:around, as in “Can you hear me now? Anyone? Is there anyone around?”
Poppycock and balderdash.
I am saying goodbye to Verizon in Dec. I have had very good service from them over the last 20 months but they have no iPhone. Their loss.
All Verizon wanted or needed was this headline MDN and every other site just gave them. The iPod took many months to get off the ground towards real popularity…how can anyone predict anything until they are seen every day on the streets?
iPhone aside it irritates me that (mostly “big”) companies put so much effort into getting new customers and aren’t concerned by how many they lose as long as the numbers show overall growth. You ring up a lot of companies as an existing customer and they couldn’t care less, ring them pretending to be new and they’ll offer you the world. The stupid thing is that if they offered me half what they offered new customers I’d probably be happy and stick with them. As is I switch services/products regularly.
HAHA…Is this guy for real? How long has the Iphone been out? A little early for him to start celebrating. I have a feeling that around the November to December time frame the defections to AT&T will pick up rather quickly. Just a hunch.
@TowerTone!
That was hilarious!
Come December (Verizon contract expires), it’s “Hello, iPhone”
i said goodbye to ATT just last week (after a one week test run with a a blackberry).
they’re EDGE data network sucks ballz.
so I went back to Sprint and got back on high speed EVDO.
I coulda went to Verizon which has a similar 3G network, but I don’t see myself ever going with the evil empire of the cell phone industry.
He’s not celebrating. He is doing PR. Or damage control. Or spin. If he didn’t he wouldn’t be doing his job. Verizon (as well as Nokia, and all other competing players) must try and spin this as much as possible in their favour, or at least reduce damage.
It is actually more amusing than it is annoying to watch these guys squirm with their seemingly confident talk about the damage being negligible and their business not getting affected by the iPhone at all. We all know what will happen when next quarterly numbers come out for AT&T and Apple.
Maybe the two coming in are from Sprint, T-Mobile, and Alltel and the one going out is to AT&T…
Maybe it will be like when the major phone companies (wired) were fighting to get back their lost customers with coupons, rebates and offers of free service for several months, etc.
A friend of mine switched local carriers then switched back, and swithced back again, and by the time all of the switching was done, he had over 6 months of free service with offers and rebates.
Obviously, they have slowed… The initial sales surge was powered in part by six months worth of expiring contract, rolled into one weekend’s worth of iPhone sales. Assuming that most contracts are for two years, Apple (and AT&T) can enjoy the 70-75% of the remaining (potential) defections at an ongoing steady rate for the next 17-18 months.
Defections have not slowed, they have reached the “steady state.”
I’m definitely not an AT&T fan by any stretch, but Verizon makes AT&T look damn good by comparison. To say that Verizon sucks more than any other provider is a major understatement.
And if the iPhone is ‘only’ competing in the smartphone segment, then it must be even worse news for Verizon because they obviously compare iPhone to its entire installed base of phione users.
Oh dear.
Balderdash and poppycock.
the future is the upcoming spectrum auction. I’d like to see the software industry (Google, Apple, Intel, Microsoft, Ebay/Skype etc.) buy up all the spectrum and totally disrupt the current state of affairs in the US mobile space.
I think the phone companies only care about getting your 2 year subscription. You’re locked in after that.
I’ve had no problems with Verizon. I have another year on my current phone. The most annoying thing about the phone is the poor interface.
Next time around I may get the iPhone, but I’m not a big user at this point so it may not be worth it. I could be a good candidate for a smaller, cheaper iPhone.
I just want a cheap reliable slim phone for little cost each month!!!
Apple bring on the iPhone Nano!!