Research Group Says 400,000 Customers Stayed With T-Mobile Thanks To The iPhone
As we look forward to T-Mobile’s first financial report as a joint entity with MetroPCS, a new report highlights just how much of an impact the arrival of the iPhone has had on the carrier.
According to Consumer Intelligence Research Partners LLC., the addition of the iPhone to T-Mobile’s lineup may have prevented between 300,000 and 400,000 customers from leaving. They estimate this number based on a survey of phone activations that occurred between April and June of this year, about 75 of which were T-Mobile. How they arrived at the 300,000 – 400,000 number is something I’ve yet to figure, but I wouldn’t doubt that the iPhone’s arrival prevented a good number of customers from defecting to the competition.
Prior to the iPhone’s official launch on the network, more than 2 million customers were using unlocked iPhone devices showing a clear interest in the device and T-Mobile’s network.
If the iPhone is helping T-Mobile keep customers, it could mean fewer subscribers for the competition. AT&T mentioned T-Mobile’s iPhone as a new source of competition when it added just 551,000 net subscribers in the second quarter, a view analysts also believe affected Verizon’s numbers in the second quarter as well.
In just three days we’ll find out exactly what kind of impact the iPhone had on T-Mobile’s quarterly earnings.