Sam Oliver
The 7.6 million iPhones activated on AT&T represented 20.5 percent of the total 37 million iPhones Apple sold in its own record quarter, the results of which were announced on Tuesday. AT&T followed up Thursday with its quarterly earnings, in which consolidated revenues were up $1.1 billion to $32.5 billion.
The iPhone was dominant at AT&T, accounting for 80.8 percent of the 9.4 million smartphones sold through the carrier.In the previous quarter, the iPhone represented 56 percent of AT&T's smartphone activations with 2.7 million units.
The wireless carrier revealed that a majority of the 7.6 million iPhones it activated in the quarter were the iPhone 4S. That aligns with what Apple executives said on Tuesday, when they revealed the latest model of their smartphone was by far the best selling.
The 7.6 million iPhones activated on AT&T also easily bested the 4.2 million iPhones Verizon activated during the same three-month span. The iPhone accounted for 55 percent of smartphone sales at Verizon.
AT&T also said it was a strong quarter for its Android-based handsets, as Android smartphones also set a new record over the holidays. Specific sales figures for Android and other platforms weren't provided, but would remain among the remaining 1.8 million non-iPhone smartphones sold in the three-month period. Total smartphone sales were the best ever seen at AT&T, blowing past its previous quarterly record by 50 percent.
The nation's second-largest wireless carrier added a total of 2.5 million wireless subscribers in the quarter. That means most of the 7.6 million iPhones activated over the holidays were to existing AT&T subscribers.
AT&T saw 10 percent growth in wireless revenues, and 19.4 percent growth in wireless data revenues. It said that 82 percent of its postpaid sales were smartphones.
Computing devices, including the iPad and other tablets, reached 571,000. That was the company's best-ever quarter, and the carrier now has 5.1 million subscribers with those 3G-connected devices, up almost 70 percent from a year ago.
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62 Comments
1) Another 80% figure is how many more iPhones AT&T sold than did Verizon. AT&T and Verizon were on "equal" footing with the release of the iPhone 4S yet AT&T managed to sell 7.6 million iPhones compared to Verizon's 4.2 million iPhones. Granted, AT&T also has the iPhone 3GS to sell but there is no way that accounts for such a wide disparity. So what happened to everything jumping ship from AT&T as soon as Verizon gets the iPhone?
2) Why didn't AI report on AT&T's $6.7 billion loss for the quarter. I understand the $4 billion it had to pay T-Mobile USA but what about the $2.7 billion? Where did that come from?
On another note... Nokia announced that its smartphone sales plunged 7% with losses of over $1 billion.
The stock rose 2% because Nokia rewarded investors with less than expected losses. On the other hand, Apple blows all expectations out of the water... and is rewarded with a 6% gain the next day.
... and today... AAPL will probably lose 4% because investors were expecting 90% of smartphones sales at AT&T to be iPhones.
1) Another 80% figure is how many more iPhones AT&T sold than did Verizon. AT&T and Verizon were on "equal" footing with the release of the iPhone 4S yet AT&T managed to sell 7.6 million iPhones compared to Verizon's 4.2 million iPhones. Granted, AT&T also has the iPhone 3GS to sell but there is no way that accounts for such a wide disparity. So what happened to everything jumping ship from AT&T as soon as Verizon gets the iPhone?
2) Why didn't AI report on AT&T's $6.7 billion loss for the quarter. I understand the $4 billion it had to pay T-Mobile USA but what about the $2.7 billion? Where did that come from?
I am not intimately familiar with AT&T's P&L, but keep in mind that phone companies pay for the phones they sell up front and then recover the money over the life of the contract.
If AT&T bought 7.5 M iPhones from Apple at $650, and then sold them for $200 each (plus contract), that would mean a $4.9 B expense but $1.5 B in revenue - for a $3.4 B deficit. I don't, however, know if their accounting would count that as a loss or if they would actually consider it a pre-paid, accrued expense.
1) Another 80% figure is how many more iPhones AT&T sold than did Verizon. AT&T and Verizon were on "equal" footing with the release of the iPhone 4S yet AT&T managed to sell 7.6 million iPhones compared to Verizon's 4.2 million iPhones. Granted, AT&T also has the iPhone 3GS to sell but there is no way that accounts for such a wide disparity. So what happened to everything jumping ship from AT&T as soon as Verizon gets the iPhone?
2) Why didn't AI report on AT&T's $6.7 billion loss for the quarter. I understand the $4 billion it had to pay T-Mobile USA but what about the $2.7 billion? Where did that come from?
On the first point I know a few people that read up on the differences wanted the voice and data at the same time not there at the start with Verizon. This may have been one reason but it probably doesn't explain it all since few people understand enough about that not to have been fooled by Verizon's marketing.