Consumers who want to buy an iPhone but dislike the idea of it being on AT&T’s network are about to get another choice, if the latest reports are to be believed.
Verizon Wireless is expected to announce today that it, at long last, will be selling Apple’s signature smartphone. The move would mark the first time since the iPhone debuted in 2007 that it would be available on a U.S. carrier other than AT&T. That simple change could have far-ranging implications for the companies involved, for the industry and for consumers.
Verizon’s embrace of the iPhone is likely to be a boon to both the carrier and Apple. Verizon is the largest wireless company in the United States, with some 93 million subscribers. That represents a huge new potential market for the iPhone, one that Apple’s never been able to sell to before.
Meanwhile, the iPhone is the best-selling individual smartphone by far, despite being limited to just one carrier. Having the device on its network is sure to allow Verizon to retain customers it might have lost to AT&T and to lure customers both from AT&T and from Sprint, T-Mobile and the other carriers that still won’t have the iPhone.
Gene Munster, a financial analyst who covers Apple for PiperJaffray, estimated that by adding Verizon, Apple’s likely to sell 20 million iPhones in the United State this year, including 9 million through Verizon. Had Apple stuck with just AT&T, it would sell just 17.5 million this year, Munster forecast.
But if Verizon and Apple are the winners in such a deal, other companies are certain to be losers, most notably AT&T.
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Contact Troy Wolverton at 408-920-5021 or twolverton@mercurynews.com. Follow him on online at www.mercurynews.com/troy-wolverton or on Twitter at http://twitter.com/troywolv.
