There was a lot of speculation floating around as to how the iPhone would impact Verizon. Could their network handle it? Will they sell out? Will people jump ship from AT&T to get it? What is a Verizon anyway? Would Jobs be at the announcement? Will they make really snarky commercials to promote it?
Well, we now know that their making a nice chunk of change from the iDevice based on their Q1 earnings: Verizon’s profits tripled in the wake of the Apple iPhone.
Yes, Verizon’s profits tripled, largely due to the introduction of the iPhone to their network. Tripled! That’s like taking $1 and then having $3! That’s a lot. Well, $3 isn’t a lot… it’s just $3. But if you’re Verizon, and you already have some nice profits quarter to quarter, and suddenly they triple, that’s a lot.
All joking aside, Verizon had a net income of $1.44 billion, with profits at $443 million. A nice Q1 report if you ask me. AT&T on the other hand, went out of business because everyone has Verizon now… No wait, that’s not right. AT&T on the other hand activated 3.6 million iPhones; still a nice number considering how many people already have iPhones. New subscribers for AT&T fell to 62,000, a 90% decrease, but it’s suspected this is due to an already saturated AT&T iPhone market. I think it’s because no one in their right mind would jump aboard the AT&T ship with Verizon offering iPhones as well, but that’s just me.
Truth be told, I like AT&T. I’ve had very minimal issues, if any, with their cell service or customer service for that matter. Now that they’re trying to buy T-Mobile, I’m kind of excited to see what it could do for the network. Even if it is a monopoly blah blah blah. In the end, since it’s nearly impossible for new players to enter the market, the good ol’ U.S. government will probably step in and regulate the industry, the same way they did for landline providers, cable companies, and even power companies. The amount of infrastructure needed to even stand a chance in the market pretty much guarantees no new players will emerge. It’s just a matter of time before Uncle Sam steps in. I’m not saying I want this to happen, it just seems inevitable.
Somehow this article turned into an opinion piece. Oh well! That’s the beauty of the Noisecast: You have no idea how this works, and neither do we!
Source: Wall Street Journal
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKw5mBh4rYs