Verizon received a huge boost from the iPhone 4 during the second quarter, activating 2.3 million units, adding 1.3 million new postpaid customers and raking in $3.6 billion in revenue for the quarter. Ever since the Verizon iPhone 4 launched, the carrier has activated 4.5 million total units, which is a pretty strong showing considering the anticipation for an upcoming successor to the Apple smartphone. AT&T, by contrast, sold 3.6 million iPhones in the same quarter, which combines both the iPhone 4 and 3GS models.
Additionally, Lowell McAdam is taking current-CEO Ivan Seidenberg’s position, according to ZDNet:
Verizon Chairman Ivan Seidenberg, who is handing the CEO role over to McAdam in a planned succession Aug. 1, said that Verizon Wireless expected to gain retail postpaid share throughout 2011. Indeed, Verizon reported its best quarter since the 2008 economic downturn and McAdam has a nice set-up to succeed. Seidenberg will remain chairman.
Speaking on Verizon’s earnings conference call, McAdam said he understood his obligation as CEO was to serve customers and shareholders. He also noted that Verizon can be “a global solutions and networking company” that spans wireless and wired connections and enterprise services.
The nation’s largest carrier looks to be moving toward a pretty dominant future. It has a healthy and admirable portfolio of smartphones, and it has the fastest 4G network in the U.S. Verizon has also expanded its 4G LTE network to 28 additional cities this week, bringing the total number of covered markets over 100 nationwide.
AT&T, meanwhile, has yet to launch its own 4G LTE, and is instead calling its slower HSPA+ network “4G.” However, we are expecting AT&T’s LTE network to launch soon, perhaps late this summer, and it just might rival Verizon’s blazing fast 4G solution.
If there were any doubts about whether consumers would be interested in buying a nearly-one-year-old smartphone from Verizon, those doubts were certainly squashed by Verizon’s earnings and numbers. And with an iPhone 5 on the horizon, it looks like there is no slowing its quarterly performance.