I guess Motorola isn’t doing so bad after all. Apparently, the company’s Droid Razr Maxx was the top-selling device on the largest wireless provider in the United States, Verizon, topping the wildly popular iPhone. The best-selling phone in the US is under some pressure, according to analyst Anil Doradia.
Doradia writes, “our checks highlight initial signs of Apple’s momentum under pressure, particularly at Verizon, which we believe is from the operator aggressively marketing competing 4G devices,” referring to the volume of sales for the phone as of the June quarter, based on his “checks.”
The analyst continued with these thoughts down below:
Since Apple’s iPhone launch in North America, we believe this was the first quarter where the iPhone was not the best selling smartphone at a North American mobile operator (where it was available). While Apple continued to maintain its top position at AT&T and Sprint, Motorola’s Droid RAZR MAXX was the best selling smartphone at Verizon. Our checks also indicate that at this stage consumers are not pausing in front of the iPhone launch as it is not influencing their purchasing decisions (but we expect it to start impacting over the next couple of months). Despite the “increased competitive landscape from 4G devices (and the iPhone 4S is not 4G),” Doradia is “not worried” as the next iPhone model, a true 4G phone, “will be an important catalyst for the company,” he believes.
This shouldn’t come to anyone’s surprise, as Big Red tries to feverishly push phones that offer its LTE service down people’s throats. I know someone who’s grandfathered-in to Unlimited data, and was offered the Droid Razr Maxx in order to handle the heavy data this person uses. Of course, this takes much pressure off of VZ’s 3G network — the person I know consumes over 20 GB’s of data monthly. Yes, you heard right.
[via Barron’s]