“The U.S. cellular service provider market remains a two-horse race between AT&T and Verizon – with the former leading in terms of future demand and the latter in terms of customer satisfaction and fewest dropped calls,” ChangeWave reports. “These and other key findings arose from a March ChangeWave survey of 4,292 consumers.”
“When asked how likely they were to change service providers in the next 6 months, 13% of consumers said they were very or somewhat likely to switch,” ChangeWave reports.
“Among that group, only 9% of current AT&T customers said they’re likely to switch compared to 11% of Verizon customers – giving AT&T a slight edge in customer loyalty. But where do those consumers who are switching say they’re headed? A full third (33%) say they’ll go with AT&T – a huge 6-pt jump from December to the highest level since we began asking this question back in 2005. Verizon (24%; up 2-pts), while still competitive, continues to lag behind,” ChangeWave reports.
MacDailyNews Note: Apple’s original iPhone was unveiled by Apple CEO Steve Jobs on January 9, 2007. It debuted for sale on June 29, 2007.
“Note that dating back to the period just before the original Apple iPhone rollout, AT&T has managed to stay in first place in terms of future demand,” ChangeWave reports. “A coincidence? Not likely.”
ChangeWave reports, “But the big question going forward is how long can AT&T keep its exclusivity agreement with Apple and ride the iPhone’s coattails? While the current deal is set to expire next year, AT&T is in talks with Apple to extend it until 2011.”
“Rumors are that Apple is also in talks with Verizon about launching an iPhone-type line that will run on the Verizon network,” ChangeWave reports. “If the rumors prove true, AT&T has plenty to worry about.”
Read more in the full article, including how Verizon continues to lead the U.S. in customer satisfaction, here.
[Attribution: MacNN. Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Edward W.” for the heads up.]
