“Two in five smartphones sold in the U.S. this spring were iPhones. But that may not be good enough for Verizon Wireless,” Paresh Dave reports for The Los Angeles Times.
“The company must sell $23.5 billion worth of iPhones this year to meet a commitment it made to Apple Inc. in 2010, according to an investment research firm’s analysis of SEC filings,” Dave reports. “Because of slower-than-expected sales, Verizon now must double its iPhone sales of last year. If it falls short, the company could be on the hook for as much as $14 billion, Moffett Research said in a report released this week.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: A quick visit to Verizon Wireless’ homepage shows a very strong Apple presence* – with iPad, iPhone, and related accessories prominently featured, so that is good news at least. Hopefully, this extends into Verizon Wireless stores and the staff is not steering customers towards dervative, inferior, and insecure knockoffs instead of real Apple iOS devices.
As Verizon works to provide their customers with the world’s best mobile devices in order to meet their contractual commitment, this is very bad news for all of the other devices stuck running also-ran mobile OSes in the U.S. 🙂
*This could possibly be because we’re visiting on Macs, so Verizon serves us Apple products upfront. If anybody would volunteer to fire up Winblows and hit http://www.verizonwireless.com/ for us and report back what they see in the comments below, we’d appreciate it since we just ate.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” for the heads up.]
I visited that page on my Windows XP workstation that I use for work . . . and saw NOTHING of iOS/iPhone/iPad. It was all DROID/Android etc. Guess Verizon better get on it and actually TRY selling the iPhone. 🙂
Droids on Chrome on PC
Droids on Safari for PC
Android city on my work Dell.
Checked the Verizon Wireless site with WinBlows 7 and did not see any Apple products. Just as expected!
Hmmm….I also went there via my Mac using Safari and saw the same thing: Android. Maybe it’s region based? Or just random.
Maybe because Verizon 3G ~ dial up?
I visited the page on my iPad with Atomic web browser using IE9 as my identifier. All I see is Droid Droid Droid.
When I go to verizonwireless.com on my Mac all I see are a bunch of free androids. Since Verizon and its reps get kick backs from android manufacturers what else would you expect.
Could anyone post screengrabs comparing? Many thanks
I took 2 screenshots, one of the initial website and another when I clicked on the phone link. Where do I send them?
Just android phones via mt iPad mini. Verizon’s own fault if they don’t at least try to sell the iPhone.
On Windows PC at my office, the Verizon webpage shows various Droid phones and Samsung phones. NO iPhone pictured or mentioned. That should not be a surprise since I know from friends who have been to a Verizon store that the sales people push Samsung phones and you have to ask for an iPhone. Garbage in, garbage out.(or substitute your own word for “garbage”.)
John
Windows 7 and all droid crap
You don’t suppose that payments from manufacturers running andoid would actually influence the behavior of an honorable US corporation in terms of serving it’s customers, do you? Or perhaps the kickbacks are even more than they would have to pay Apple.
What if android usage figures were artificially inflated not just by BOGO offers, but also by secret kickbacks to telcos?
HaHaHaHa. You said “honorable US corporation”
I often talk and use data at the same time so that is a deal killer for me with Verizon.
Also I changed my user agent to IE9 and still saw the same thing as going there with a Mac Safari user agent.
Yeah, I could never use Verizon for just that reason. If you can’t talk and use data at the same time why have a smart phone? I’m surprised that they have any customers. I don’t get it? Checking the site from a Mac Pro, it’s nothing but Droid City. Verizon is a retailer. They’re in business to make money. Clearly they’re aware that there are no iPhones displayed on this homepage. So it’s not an accident. It’s not an oversight. It’s a conscious decision on their part to prominently display Android phones only. They don’t manufacture or own Apple or any of the Android phone manufacturing companies. Like all companies, Verizon has to make a profit to stay in business. So this is a business decision on their part. It can’t be as simple as we don’t care if we sell any iPhones but it’s sure looks that way. They understand. And I’m certain that Apple understands why Verizon does what they do. Dunno?
Father Karras: “Dear Lord in Heaven, keep Verizon safe from the depredations of the blood sucking demon Apple.”
Verizon: “Eeeeeehhhhaaaaahh, this sow is mine. This pig is mine. Diabolical shenanigans. Aaaaaahhh…Get out of me you Devil!”
Father Karras: “I cast thee out unclean one, bloodsucker, oh demon of hell, go back from whence you came.”
Apple: “Father, I am the succubus, the incubus, the devil incarnate. I will suck every last drop of blood from Verizon before I depart for the gates of hell.”
Father Karras: “Begone demon! I cast you back in the name of Christ out of the body of Verizon!”
What the hell?
same here, win XP on firefox, I get droid first and when I click on cellphones, i get is android crap and apple is further down the list…
I believe I recall comments in various places in the past that Verizon sales morons were pushing lame cheap Android devices, if this the case, Verizon better re-train its staff to start promoting iPhones..
Win 7 on Chrome from Canada and its nothing but Android.
Just checked Verizon website. And, nope. Just stupid Androids.
Couldn’t happen to a nicer company.
I got this iPad mini with the GPS and the 4G.
Wanting to try the 4G wireless I decided to try for Verizon. Hands down they were the absolute worst company I’ve ever dealt with both face-to-face in the stores and on the one 800-number.
Couldn’t agree with you more.
I had the misfortune to have to call Verizon awhile back to set up a MiFi Jetpack.
What a miserable experience!
You’re on hold for an hour and when you finally reach a person, they’re a complete moron.
If you get transferred to enough people, you might find that singular gem who actually knows what they’re talking about – but you’ll never get that person again.
The little experience I had dealing with Verizon, was enough to make me never want to do it again.
This is hilarious. Verizon must be run by idiots. Push Android phones over iPhones, presumably because they make profit that way, then end up paying a huge penalty to Apple. Hope you made an extra $14 billion dollars pushing that cheap Android crap, you morons.
——RM
I am a Verizon customer as is everyone else in my family. We all have iPhones.
From their website, where in the past I had to hunt for any Apple products, to the actions of their store personnel, my impression is that Verizon has been actively doing everything they can to sell anything but iPhones.
If they had actually pushed iPhones over Droids there is no telling how much higher Apple’s sales figures would be. Verizon gets no sympathy from me.
When I got my iPhone 5 at Sprint, the salespeople were less than enthusiastic about my choice… Not just lukewarm, but literally said,”As long as you know what you’re getting into.”
No wonder Tim Cook wants to get more iPhones sold at Apple Stores. But since Apple Stores are only located in select areas (mine not one of them), I suggest he let local Apple Certified Resellers sell iPhones as well. They certainly get asked for and about them a lot.
On a Mac:
Safari – iPad
Chrome – Droid DNA
Multiple reloads – same thing every time.
I can see Verizon’s CEO playing golf 12 hours a day for the rest of his life now.
Of course he can play golf 12 hours a day for the rest of his life. He makes over $20 million/year. What does he care?
If Verizon is not going to even attempt trying to sell the iPhones and instead push customers to other models, then Apple should hold Verizon to paying up the $14 billion in commitments they agreeds upon.
i bet that would help Apple’s earnings in future quarters.