iPhone Activations on Verizon

Yoni Heisler, writing for Network World:

All told, Verizon activated 6.2 million iPhones, with nearly half of them being the iPhone 5. Put differently, the iPhone accounted for 63.2% of all of Verizon’s smartphone sales this past quarter. That figure represents the highest proportion of iPhones sold in any previous quarter. […]

Last quarter, Verizon activated 3.1 million iPhones, which accounted for approximately 46% of their total smartphone activations. […] During the holiday quarter of 2011, Verizon activated 7.7 million smartphones, 4.2 million of which where iPhones. That translates to the iPhone accounting for 54% of all smartphone sales on Verizon for the quarter.

Year-over-year, Verizon smartphone activations were up 27 percent; iPhone activations were up 48 percent. iPhones outsold Android phones about 2 to 1. This, on the carrier that owns and promotes the “Droid” brand.

On their analyst conference call, Verizon said “about half” their iPhone activations for the quarter were for the iPhone 5. I’m betting the “free” (with contract) iPhone 4 played a big part in that — this is the first quarter Verizon has been able to offer a “free” iPhone, because the 3GS was GSM-only. Which in turn is a good reminder that Apple already has a low-cost iPhone — the two-year-old iPhone 4.

★ Tuesday, 22 January 2013