In the UK the iPhone is now selling on at least three of the big four carriers. (I think the missing one is T-Mobile.)
You can even get an iPhone on Tesco Mobile, which is a bit like seeing a WalMart branded one! (Tesco is an MVNO for one of the big networks.)
For the US market I suspect that the reason they don't sell on other networks is because Apple doesn't want to make a non-GSM version and no other GSM carrier is big enough to be worth losing AT&Ts full marketing support.
In many non-US countries, iPhone is available on multiple carriers. My understanding (though I don't have numbers readily available) is that it's quite successful in many of them.
It amazes me that so few people understand that the carrier subsidy is such a huge part of the iPhone's success. Apple has pulled in obscene profits by making the carriers pay huge subsidies to keep the iPhone's price competitive. And the carriers turn around and amortize that cost over the rest of their customer base. So, the customers that don't own iPhones are the ones really getting screwed because they're paying the same higher rates but not getting the same hardware subsidy.
Apple still works with the carriers quite a bit. For example, you can't turn on tethering unless the carrier allows it (often requiring you to pay more money), and most iPhones sold in the US are locked to a single carriers.
But who can blame them? Of the $650 cost of a new iPhone, the user only pays $200, while the carrier pays $450. Apple knows where their bread is buttered.
Anybody know if data is available to break down his conclusion by country? I think this would be important in proving his point - in USA, as he says, iPhones are sold by carriers in order to sell their premium plans. However, in Europe and countries such as China, most iPhones are sold unlocked and separate from carrier plans.
If the trends across both types of countries differ, then his conclusion should be correct. If the ASP trends are the same even without carrier participation in the sale, then his conclusion doesn't hold up.
1) Get a darn good smartphone
2) Offer phone & network that *doesn't suck*
1 - is out there already. 2 - The carriers are basically shooting themselves in the foot! Apple carries AT&T. All the others flounder because they don't have Apple to carry them.
Do you mind sharing which carrier you have now? I've been looking at switching to one of the lower cost carriers, but haven't seen one that supports the iPhone.
What percentage of the 32% of people that bought a smart phone in that period had the option of buying an iPhone on their preferred carrier? How many people just go to their carrier's retail store and buy the phone they like best? Until the iPhone came out, that was how I bought my phones!
Wasn't the iPhone in USA exclusive to one carrier for, like, a decade? Meanwhile in the rest of the world carriers never really had any power over how we used our devices or what was on them.
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