“It’s almost time for telecommunications giant AT&T to deliver its third-quarter results to investors,” Dave Mock reports for The Motley Fool.
“The Apple iPhone continues to impress even AT&T’s management, as the recent launch of the iPhone 3G is surpassing expectations. CEO Randall Stephenson noted that ‘In the days following our exclusive U.S. launch of this new device, powered by the nation’s fastest 3G wireless network, customer response has been everything we had anticipated and more,'” Mock reports.
Mock reports, “The company believes the strong Apple brand behind the device will win out against more competition springing up from Research In Motion’s bold new Blackberry and the killer Instinct from Samsung and Spring Nextel.”
MacDailyNews Take:
• Orange suspends UK sales of BlackBerry Bold due to software quality issues – October 09, 2008
• RIM’s new BlackBerry Storm offers mechanical click screen, lacks Wi-Fi – October 08, 2008
• Apple iPhone means business; wins BlackBerry defectors – October 03, 2008
• Needham analyst warns: BlackBerry-maker RIM ‘has head in the sand’ – September 29, 2008
• BlackBerry-maker RIM surrounded by iPhone developers – even in company’s own backyard – September 08, 2008
• It’s here. The new BlackBerry Bold. Twice the price. Half the device. – August 21, 2008
• Telegraph-Journal reviews Samsung Instinct: Not in same league as Apple’s iPhone – August 11, 2008
• Washington Post reviews Samsung Instinct: ‘It only looks like an iPhone’ – July 06, 2008
• Canada’s Bell tries to take on Rogers and iPhone 3G with iPhone wannabe Samsung Instinct – July 03, 2008
• Mossberg reviews Samsung’s Instinct: ‘It’s no iPhone’ – June 12, 2008
• Samsung’s ‘Instinct’ is obviously to make Apple iPhone knockoffs – April 01, 2008
Mock continues, “While the iPhone is helping AT&T sign up plenty of customers, it’s not running away with the market; Verizon is keeping pace. But those high-value customers tend to be sticky (thanks to those AT&T contracts) and pay more to help boost the company’s average revenue per user (ARPU).”
“AT&T looks well-positioned to weather a more constrained consumer spending holiday season,” Mock writes. “The new iPhone has a cheap entry price, and the company is heavily pushing its bundled services to save consumers and businesses money.”
More in the full article here.