Katie Marsal
Analyst Gene Munster with Piper Jaffray polled a small sample of 216 mobile phone users about their phones and carriers. He found that the results showed encouraging news for Apple and the iPhone.
In particular, his sampling found that many Verizon customers are waiting for the iPhone 5, as the iPhone 4 only went on sale to Verizon customers in February, a full 8 months after the handset was first sold to AT&T customers.
Of Verizon subscribers who do not have an iPhone but plan to buy an iPhone next, 74 percent are specifically waiting for Apple's anticipated "iPhone 5." For comparison, just 53 percent of AT&T customers who plan to buy an iPhone said they are waiting for the fifth-generation model.
"This pent up demand for the next iPhone at Verizon may drive numbers higher than the 3.8 (million) units we are modeling Apple to sell through Verizon in the Sept. quarter," Munster wrote. "And our overall iPhone unit estimate of 22.0m in the Sept. quarter may prove to be conservative."
In the last quarter, AT&T activated 1.3 million more iPhones than rival Verizon. AT&T remains the only U.S. carrier where customers can buy the entry-level iPhone 3GS, which is sold for $49 with a new two-year service contract.
The numbers also show a near-perfect retention rate among iPhone customers, with 94 percent of current iPhone customers indicating they expect to buy another Apple handset. Among Android users, only 47 percent expect to buy another Android device, while nearly as many — 42 percent — said they will switch to an iPhone.
In addition, the survey also found that among Verizon subscribers that do not already have an iPhone, 55 percent expect their next handset to be made by Apple. Based on this, Munster believes that iPhone share of the smartphone market is poised to grow dramatically.
"Of those surveyed, 29% already have iPhones and 64% expect their next phone to be an iPhone, 17% have an Android device and 17% also indicated their next phone to be an Android," he wrote.
Piper Jaffray's survey of 216 mobile phone users came from respondents found during workdays in downtown Minneapolis. The poll was conducted over the course of a week in a variety of public places, including on the street, in food courts, and near the entrance of a baseball stadium on game day.
Charles Martin
Christine McKee
Malcolm Owen
49 Comments
This makes sense. Everyone thought that there would be a new model in June so many delayed their purchase, when that did not happen most decide to wait for the new phone since they had already waited this long....
Since the rumors seem to be point to the fact that the new iPhone will not be 4G, I will probably wait and get a new Android phone. ( I live in a good 4G city with Verizon ). I would like to get an iPhone, but it is still missing a few key features that I use regularly. I love the Chome to phone app on android, I love to highlight text or a link in a browser and send it to my phone so I can paste it into an application like Notes. It is very handy for phone numbers, addresses, etc.... I also like to being able to download driver & firmware files to my phone and transfer them to a customer's computer via USB. In my opinion not being able to download non-standard files and mount the phone as a USB drive is the biggest limitation of the iPhone in my work. Also the voice navigation and voice commands in Android are hard to beat...
I just did a small survey myself to see how the results match up. I find that 50% of those surveyed don't expect to get a smartphone at all, while another 50% plan to get a Galaxy II when it becomes available. None of those surveyed planned to get an iPhone.
The survey was done in different areas of Central Florida, with one of the two respondents working in the office and the other a customer in the company's parking lot.
I plan on buying the new model and selling it right away to the crazies who are slow and miss the first round of sales Then, once it is jailbroken, I will buy again...
From the pie charts it looks like the iPhone is eating up Blackberry buyers not Anroid buyers. 17% had an Android in the survey and 17% said they were getting another Android, so they're pretty much going to stay loyal with Android.
This makes sense. Everyone thought that there would be a new model in June so many delayed their purchase, when that did not happen most decide to wait for the new phone since they had already waited this long....
Since the rumors seem to be point to the fact that the new iPhone will not be 4G, I will probably wait and get a new Android phone. ( I live in a good 4G city with Verizon ). I would like to get an iPhone, but it is still missing a few key features that I use regularly. I love the Chome to phone app on android, I love to highlight text or a link in a browser and send it to my phone so I can paste it into an application like Notes. It is very handy for phone numbers, addresses, etc.... I also like to being able to download driver & firmware files to my phone and transfer them to a customer's computer via USB. In my opinion not being able to download non-standard files and mount the phone as a USB drive is the biggest limitation of the iPhone in my work. Also the voice navigation and voice commands in Android are hard to beat...
Everyone has such a hard on for 4g. Every 4g user I know says the battery life is just awful right now. Coupled with the extra charges for 4g, just don't get why people care at this point. Give me solid and universal 3g speed (which we don't have especially on AT&T) over an immature 4g any day.
In any case, you sound like an Android user or should be one.