Well look at what the carrier with “America’s largest 4G network” is saying about its lack of iPhone: it hurts. While T-Mobile has been bombarding everyone with its new and misleading 4G ads, and seeing positive reviews with the G2 and myTouch 4G, Deutsche Telekom says that it’s still having a hard time getting ahead without the Apple iPhone.
Deutsche Telekom CEO Rene Obermann says, “”Consumers like T-Mobile but they also want to have the iPhone.” Obermann adds that T-Mobile USA won’t be getting the iPhone any time soon, either. I guess that rules out the rumor that the iPhone/iPod connector we saw earlier signaled the iPhone’s arrival.
The Wall Street Journal reports:
The U.S. used to be a cash cow for Deutsche Telekom, but it has struggled there since 2008 and has been forced to invest more to keep existing customers and attract new ones. In the third quarter it cost $87 to keep an existing subscriber, up sharply from from $58 a year earlier. On average it paid out $134 to acquire a new customer, up from $116.
Well, I guess that explains the carrier’s aggressive 4G marketing campaign.
While Deutsche Telekom used to be Apple’s exclusive partner in Europe for the iPhone, it can’t sell the popular smartphone in the U.S. The device doesn’t support T-Mobile’s 3G (or “4G” HSPA+) network bands, and rumors of future variants of the Apple smartphone point towards CDMA radios for Verizon.
If or when the iPhone finally hits Verizon, it double Apple’s smartphone market share in the U.S.:
Judging by Apple’s experience in other markets, adding Verizon could double iPhone’s U.S. smartphone market share. In France, for instance, iPhone’s market share tripled from 3% to 11% between the first and third quarters of 2009, after Apple went from one carrier to three, says Strategy Analytics. The firm’s global wireless practice director, Neil Mawston, says markets like the U.K. have shown a similar pattern.
T-Mobile USA’s outlook is even more bleak if it’s considering the lack of the iOS device as an obstacle or hurdle to real success.
[Via: WSJ]