Apart from the hoards of smartphone users wanting the iconic iPhone to come to the Verizon Wireless network there may well be another reason why the Verizon iPhone is a much needed device, especially when it comes to Verizon business.
According to an article over on 9to5 Mac, John Evans and by way of Asymco, analyst Horace Dediu seems to be claiming that the Big Red needs the iPhone more than they are letting on. The suggested reason behind the claim is that Android may not be doing so good on the largest carrier in the US.
Dediu bases his claim on data from Verizon monthly device sales records obtained by ITG Investment Research analyst Matthew Goodman which were leaked to the WSJ. Dediu does stipulate though that his surmises based on the data may not be that accurate.
So what are Dediu’s assumptions based on the data? Well firstly that Verizon has been growing slower than iPhone growth and states… “iPhone alone is nearly twice the volume of all of Verizon’s smartphone activations.”
Then there’s the point that Android and Windows Phone 7 dominate Verizon’s smartphone share, of which he states… “Verizon is facing the prospect of a single OS supplier who may or may not maintain alignment with Verizon’s core profit algorithm. If they diverge, Verizon’s bargaining power will be strictly limited.”
And lastly Dediu stays that “In an apples-to-apples comparison, in Q3 the iPhone at AT&T outsold Android at Verizon (remember, same addressable market) by a factor of 2.5. This is with a variety of devices and vendors thrown in the market. We hardly ever get to see this finely grained a comparison when looking at platforms.”
Yes well as far as it goes, my personal view is that we all know that the iPhone sells well but having it only on AT&T firstly isn’t making iPhone owner that happy and secondly it’s restricting growth of the iPhone in the US by not having the device on multiple carriers like it elsewhere.
Having said that, it’s quite a big assumption to presume that Verizon isn’t doing too well with their Android devices and as previous figures have show Android is quickly catching up with iOS in the US market.
But putting all that aside, does Verizon really need a CDMA iPhone? I think Verizon have done quite well without it so far and if the Verizon iPhone was needed so much by the Big Red wouldn’t have they been plaguing Apple to bring the device to their network before now?
Perhaps they have, I wouldn’t really profess to knowing the inner workings of carrier relationships with smartphone manufactures, but one thing does stand out with the Verizon iPhone, it would be good for Verizon, good for Apple and good for those waiting patiently for this much talked about device to finally surface.
So what do our readers think about all this, does Verizon need the Verizon iPhone simply because Android isn’t doing that well for the carrier, or do you think Android will eventually overshadow the iPhone and iOS anyway?