In news that should shock absolutely no one, T-Mobile said in its earnings report that the lack of the iPhone 4S may make some customers defect to other carriers in the future.
The company actually had positive news out of its third-quarter earnings, as it added 126,000 net new customers, had 10.1 million customers using smartphones and now has 33.7 million customers. Still, with AT&T, Sprint and Verizon now offering the iPhone, the company is aware that it’s at a competitive disadvantage.
“Earnings improved as we continued to focus on making smartphones affordable to all Americans through our unlimited Value plans, improvements to our 4G network, and an expanding portfolio of 4G devices,” T-Mobile USA CEO Philipp Humm said in a statement. “Discipline on the cost side contributed to year-on- year margin improvement, while postpay churn, in particular related to the iPhone 4S launches by competitors, will continue to be an area of concern.”
We think that T-Mobile will get the iPhone eventually but with the AT&T acquisition faltering, you have to wonder what will happen with T-Mobile in the short term if it doesn’t land the iPhone. I believe its current crop of smartphones like the Amaze 4G are actually really, really good but the market is increasingly saying that it’s tough to compete if you don’t have the iPhone.
