Verizon Wireless Earnings Driven By iPhone 4, HTC Thunderbolt, and Other Smartphones

Verizon Wireless had a good first quarter, with a large chunk of their growth driven by iPhone 4 sales. This is no surprise given how many people wanted the phone but didn’t want AT&T’s network behind it. However, some are reading into the spread between the number of iPhone 4 activations (2.2 million) and the number of HTC Thunderbolt activations (260,000), looking for a fight. Could the iPhone 4 be more popular than one other phone? That must mean… it’s more popular than one other phone.

First thing to note is that these numbers are from the first quarter. The iPhone 4 went on sale in early February. The HTC Thunderbolt had only been out for two weeks when the quarter ended. Add to this that the Thunderbolt, described by Verizon as a “premium phone”, costs $50 than most new units with a 2-year contract or some other discount from full retail. Plus, it’s not as if Android lovers don’t have plenty of choices on Verizon. The Samsung Continuum, Motorola Droid X and Droid 2 are all strong phones. I’d be interested in seeing the numbers on Android phones overall. Lastly, the Thunderbolt is a great phone, but is everyone really sold on the need for 4G speeds? We are, obviously, but what about consumers? Do you need lightning fast downloads of your text-based email in the background at all times? Add to this that 4G isn’t in all markets yet, so there’s one less reason to scoop up the phone.

The statistic I found most interesting was this: “32 percent of Verizon’s wireless customer base had smartphones.” 46.2 percent of AT&T’s customers have smartphones; smartphone users account for 24.3 percent of T-Mobile subscribers. It will be interesting to see how many smartphone customers Verizon gains over the next year and how they break down via OS.

via Between the Lines: ZDNet