We didn’t believe it would actually happen, but when the Verizon iPhone finally arrived, some of us thought that it would make a huge impact on the iPhone landscape in the U.S. Tens of thousands of users would flock from AT&T to Verizon’s more stable network, where dropped calls are a rare occurrence and data connectivity remains reliable whether you’re in between two skyscrapers or amongst forest trees. Even AT&T anticipated some kind of exodus, pumping ads that touted its network’s ability to accommodate simultaneous voice and data use.
It turned out that AT&T had nothing to worry about all along.
This morning, AT&T’s quarterly earnings report was released, and it hit another record in terms of iPhone activations. It saw 3.6 million activations during the quarter, with 21% of those from new activations.
Well, it seems that simultaneous voice and data is actually important to many users, amongst many other differences. Having the ability to access apps, web and email while on a call is a damn nice feature to have (even though I rarely ever use it because I rarely ever make or take phone calls). Additionally, AT&T iPhone users can sometimes see data speeds nearly twice as fast, if not more, than Verizon users. On average, Verizon users are seeing about 1.4Mbps down on good days, whereas some users on AT&T are seeing 2-3Mbps on average with peaks of 4Mbps and sometimes even 5Mbps.
Another reason why users didn’t flock to Verizon en masse is because of contract issues. Those who already had the iPhone 4 didn’t see the need to pay a hefty termination fee and fork over another $200-300 for a new phone. Even selling their current phones to offset the cost wouldn’t have been enough incentive, it seems.
The general consensus seems to be that the Verizon model of the Apple smartphone will continue to sell consistently and to sell pretty well, but if we expect it to surpass and even dwarf the GSM model, it will have to be the day when it launches with LTE. I’d grab one of those in a heartbeat.