Archive for category Verizon

Verizon’s Droid Outsold Nexus One, iPhone in First 74 Days

Mar 16

Posted by John Hawkes in Android, Droid, News, Nexus One, Verizon | 8 Comments

Flurry.com, reporting on sales numbers for the Droid, iPhone, and Nexus One:

Inspecting the graph, it’s immediately clear that Nexus One sales continue to pale in comparison to iPhone 1G and Motorola Droid, with each besting Nexus One sales by roughly 8 times over the same time period.

At the same time, an interesting side-story is that the Motorola Droid edged out iPhone 1G over the first 74 days, coming in at just over one million sold through, by our calculations. This was surprising enough that we re-ran our estimates several times and still came up with the same results. Thinking about the differences associated with each launch (operator, year, etc.), we believe there are three underlying drivers of Droid worth keeping in mind compared to the other two handsets:

1. Consumer Perception & Demand: Motorola Droid launched over 2.5 years after the iPhone 1G. (Nov 2009 vs. July 2007). When the iPhone launched, consumers’ concept of a mobile computing device as we now understand it, was very different. Since then, Apple has spent millions of dollars training and educating consumers about capabilities of such a device, which was no small feat especially after its first foray into the handset business (Motorola ROKR E1 in 2005). Until the iPhone was introduced, most consumers, especially in the U.S. had thought of their phones as, well, just phones.

2. Relative Subscriber Bases: Droid launched on Verizon, a larger network with more subscribers than AT&T, especially when considering AT&T’s 2007 size (63.7 million at the time of iPhone launch) versus Verizon’s 2009 size (89 million at the end of Q3). Additionally, there was pent up demand among the Verizon subscriber base for an iPhone killer, which is exactly how Verizon positioned the Droid. Finally, Verizon backed the launch with advertising support of at least $100 million.

3. Holiday Season Sales: Droid benefited from launching on Nov 5 and having its first 74 days lifted by the holiday season, which is the highest selling period of the year for handsets. Neither iPhone 1G nor Nexus One’s first 74 days spanned a holiday period.

As Google and Apple continue to battle for the mobile marketplace, Google Nexus One may go down as a grand, failed experiment or one that ultimately helped Google learn something that will prove important in years to come. Apple’s more vertically integrated strategy vs. Google’s more open Android platform approach offer strengths and weaknesses that remind us of PC vs. Mac from the 1980’s. A key difference this time around is that Apple is enjoying much more 3rd party developer support, whose innovative applications push the limits of what the hardware can do. Ultimately, however, developers support hardware with the largest installed base first. For Android to make progress faster, from a sales perspective, it needs more Droids and fewer Nexus Ones going forward.

It’s a little early to called the Nexus One a “grand, failed” experiment, especially since most feel it’s a better phone than the Droid.

Link: Flurry “Day 74 Sales: Apple iPhone vs. Google Nexus One vs. Motorola Droid”

AT&T Wireless Bests Verizon In Download Speeds As Upgrades Begin to Pay Off

Feb 24

Posted by Alan in AT&T Wireless, News, Sprint, Verizon | 1 Comment

8 months after performing dismally in nationwide testing of the major US 3G networks by PC World and Novarum, Inc, AT&T Wireless has seemingly made true on its promise to upgrade its network to better compete with other major wireless carriers. In fact, according to PC World’s latest study, AT&T blew right past them.

In the study, which comprised 51,000 separate tests in 13 cities across the US, AT&T’s 3G network averaged download speeds of 1420 kbps, which gives them a hefty lead over second place finisher Verizon, which averaged 877 kbps. In third was T-Mobile with 868 kbps, and then Sprint with 795 kbps.

AT&T also dramatically improved the reliability of their network. The newest study had AT&T’s network providing a usable broadband connection 94% of the time, up from a last-place 68% reliability in the previous study.

Verizon, which previously had been commonly regarded to have the all-around best 3G network, saw its download performance decline by 8%. The number should be troublesome for Verizon, as according to PC World, only 15% of Verizon’s customer own smartphones, compared with AT&T’s 40 percent. The sheer number of iPhones on AT&T’s network has long been blamed for the company’s poor bandwidth performance.

Verizon responded to PC World by saying that the study’s numbers didn’t match Verizon’s own testing, and that it’s Verizon’s consistency, coverage, and reliability that sets their network apart.

The cities included in the testing were Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Denver, New Orleans, New York, Orlando, Phoenix, Portland, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, and Seattle.

In PC World’s smartphone testing, which utilized the iPhone, Droid, and other popular smartphones, AT&T took the download speed crown in 9 of the 13 cities. Baltimore had the highest average download speeds at 1686 kbps. Denver was the worst performer at 778 kbps.

AT&T’s upload performance for smartphones was even more impressive, winning in 12 of the 13 cities. Overall, AT&T averaged a 773 kbps upload speed, which is 330 kbps faster than second place finisher Verizon at 443 kbps.

Link: PC World “AT&T Roars Back in PCWorld’s Second 3G Wireless Performance Test”

Rumor: AT&T To Lose iPhone Exclusivity?

Jan 25

Posted by Tim Barribeau in AT&T Wireless, News, Sprint, Verizon | 1 Comment

Among the rumors swirling around this week’s Apple Tablet event are reports that AT&T may lose their stranglehold on the American iPhone market. HotHardware is reporting that they’ve talked to an AT&T insider who claims Ma Bell is losing iPhone exclusivity. They report that this will be announced during Wednesday’s Apple media event, though they didn’t say which company (or companies) would be picking up the slack.

Apparently, AT&T may not be “losing” exclusivity so much as gladly getting rid of it. The sources say the company isn’t fighting to retain the iPhone due to the network stress the popular phone has caused and the resulting complaints about AT&T’s network it has created. AT&T may be picking up a number of other smartphone devices in order to compensate for losing iPhone customers when exclusivity ends.

Startup Says AT&T Wireless Has Fastest 3G Network

Dec 8

Posted by Alan in AT&T Wireless, News, Verizon | No Comments

att_logo

Root Wireless, a start-up company chaired by former AT&T Wireless exec Scott Anderson, has conducted a study of 7 major US cities and found that AT&T Wireless has the fastest wireless network in several major US cities. According to Network World:

Root Wireless conducted the study by testing out 3G connectivity in Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, New York, Seattle, San Francisco and Washington, D.C., and it found that AT&T’s average 3G downlink speed beat out Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile in all seven markets.

Overall, AT&T’s average 3G data speeds ranged from a low of 246Kbps in New York and a high of 428Kbps in Dallas. Verizon, meanwhile, had average 3G speeds ranging from 195Kbps in Seattle to 259Kbps in Chicago. The study also found that both carriers had comparably low rates of 3G connectivity failure, as each carrier’s connection failure averaged between 1% and 3% for all seven cities. Sprint fared poorly in this particular category, as the carrier experienced data connection failures of 11% or higher in all seven markets.

AT&T Wireless has been under a barrage of criticism lately, including a Consumer Reports study that said it has the lowest customer satisfaction rate of all 4 major network carries and a PC World study that concluded its network was slower than Verizon and had the least reliable network. It also has been under a marketing attack by Verizon through a series of television ads:

Root Wireless, the company that conducted the survey, describes itself as

“…a team of wireless industry veterans with the vision to provide accurate and timely data on wireless network and consumer phone performance. We deliver a full spectrum of solutions via the Root Coverage wireless intelligence system. Root Coverage provides robust reporting on the many different Key Performance Indicators including signal strength, data speed and network latency. Objective data on network performance is displayed in a new and friendly way. Now publishers and retailers can give the power of choice to consumers to make informed decisions about their wireless carrier and phone purchases.”

An example of their services can be found at CNET, where a online tool lets you view wireless network strength from major networks in your area.

Verizon Targets iPhone, Markets Droid to Men, In New Ad

Dec 3

Posted by John Hawkes in News, Verizon, iPhone Videos | 6 Comments

In a new commercial titled “Pretty,” Verizon draws the iPhone (or a close facsimile thereof) directly into its crosshairs while apparently trying to market its Droid phone only to men. The ad begins by feminizing the iPhone, with a voiceover asking:

Should a mobile phone be pretty? Should it be a tiara-wearing, clueless, beauty pageant queen?

The male-centric approach is usually reserved for beer and erectile dysfunction commercials, but Verizon is taking a gamble that it’s mostly men who are looking for an alternative smartphone to the iPhone. It’s risky, as the ad insults nearly half of their potential audience. The question is, does the ad appeal to some male urge to own masculine things? Maybe not, since most men call their cars and boats a “she,” and are hardwired to like curves and round corners—the Droid has a boxy, angular design.

Verizon Pretty iPhone

The ad is likely a response to Apple’s recent commercial that stressed a particular limitation of Verizon’s network—the inability to do voice and data at the same—as a feature of the iPhone:

Depending how well the Droid sells, this marketing fight could get pretty ugly before it’s over. And we can probably forget about the iPhone being on Verizon anytime soon.

AT&T CEO Hints at Losing iPhone Exclusivity

Oct 25

Posted by Tim Barribeau in AT&T Wireless, Verizon | No Comments

Sexy de la Vega

Ralph de la Vega with mustache

During the earnings conference call for AT&T’s quarterly finance report, Mobility CEO Ralph de la Vega acknowledged that AT&T’s exclusive control over the iPhone could one day end, but downplayed the effects it would have on the company. When asked about AT&T’s plans if exclusivity were lost, de la Vega said:

“In terms of the iPhone, the iPhone continues to be a good source of new gross additions for us but when you look at the gross additions for the third quarter, the iPhone made up about a third of our total gross additions, so still two-thirds of our gross additions in the quarter are driven by the great portfolio of devices we have in our company and we have a legacy for continuing to have a great portfolio of products…We know that’s going to continue after the iPhone is no longer exclusive to us and we think that we will be able to continue that growth with the iPhone and with other products that we think will be very attractive to customers and I am very confident that we will continue to drive growth as you’ve seen us.

To further soothe investors, de la Vega pointed to AT&T’s new 7.2 HSPA network as a selling point for the company, and hinted that, given a choice of multiple networks, iPhone users would still choose AT&T to take advantage of the network’s speed:

Keep in mind that even if we lose the iPhone exclusivity, we are probably going to be the only ones that have a speed of 7.2 that these phones can work on, so they will work on our network faster than on anybody else’s network.

While no details were given of when AT&T would (or could) lose exclusivity, many users would welcome the availability of the iPhone on other networks. AT&T has had difficulties in the recent past meeting the heavy data usage of iPhone users, as chronicled in numerous complaints on the Internet. Independent testing of wireless networks done by PC World recently showed AT&T lagging behind competitors in the areas of speed and reliability. There have also been complaints about AT&T’s slow deployment of MMS and the fact that they still haven’t activated tethering functionality, despite it being available for other smartphones on the network. With de la Vega hinting at introducing a cap to what is currently an unlimited data plan for the iPhone, investors and iPhone users both may be soon looking to put their money elsewhere.

Verizon Disses iPhone in “iDon’t, Droid Does” Commercial

Oct 18

Posted by Alan in Android, Apple iPhone, Google, Verizon | No Comments

The idea of the iPhone appearing on Verizon anytime soon may be dead. Verizon has released a commercial that more points out the iPhone’s “deficiences” than it does promote an upcoming Google Android-based phone called “Droid.”

The commercial begins with sunny, Apple-esque music thumping in the background and titles blinking on screen that take cheeky digs at the iPhone like “iDon’t have a real keyboard” and “iDon’t allow open development.” The commercial suddenly switches to a futuristic but static-filled theme and ends with the tagline “Droid Does.”

The ad is the second anti-iPhone commercial Verizon has released in the past month, the first being the “There’s a map for that” ad that took a shot a AT&T’s “inferior” network coverage once again using Apple-like music and pacing.

With giants like Verizon and Microsoft going after it, Apple may be affecting their bottom lines enough to justify a response. Or it may just be karma after years of Apple attacking the PC in its “Mac vs PC” ads.

Verizon Takes a Dig at Apple/AT&T in New Commercial

Oct 6

Posted by Alan in AT&T Wireless, Apple iPhone, Verizon | No Comments

The folks at Verizon are taking the iPhone and AT&T’s apparent inferior 3G coverage as an oppurtunity to poke some fun and maybe win some customers in their new commercial, which focuses on Verizon’s claim of “5x more 3G coverage.” The ad features Apple-esque background music and pacing as the narrator repeats the mocking phrase “There’s a map for that.”

AT&T Wireless 3G Network Lags Competitors in Speed, Reliability

Jul 1

Posted by Alan in AT&T Wireless, Apple iPhone, Sprint, Verizon | 4 Comments

iPhone users may have another reason to dislike AT&T. Noting a lack of independent testing for wireless 3G networks, computer magazine PC World decided to test the 3G networks of major carriers Verizon, Sprint, and AT&T Wireless. Their tests included three areas: download speed, upload speed, and reliability.

The results? Verizon’s 3G network provided the best download speeds with an average 951 kbps. AT&T and Sprint came in at a virtual tie for second by averaging 812 and 808 kbps, respectively. But here’s the kicker for iPhone users: AT&T came in a distant last place for reliability of connection. PC World’s testers were able to maintain an uninterrupted signal only 68% of the time. This is in stark contrast to 90.5% for Sprint and 89.9% for Verizon. Ouch.

Another interesting note from the article:

In our tests of AT&T’s networks in four cities (New York, San Diego, San Francisco and San Jose), the number of bars was not predictive of the service quality we saw; in the other nine cities in our study, the number of bars proved marginally useful in predicting how well our test experience would turn out.

So those little bars are lying to us, eh?

Link:

PC World “A Day in the Life of 3G”

USA Today: Apple and Verizon Talk Possible iPhone Deal for 2010

Apr 27

Posted by Alan in LTE, Verizon, iPhone 4G, iPhone Rumors | No Comments

USA Today is reporting that Apple and Verizon have been in talks since last year to bring the iPhone to the Verizon network. Just a few weeks ago, the Wall Street Journal reported that AT&T was trying to extend their exclusive US rights to carry the iPhone another year to 2011. Citing anonymous sources, USA Today writes:

The New York-based telecom [Verizon] entered into “high-level” discussions with Apple management a few months ago, when CEO Steve Jobs was overseeing day-to-day business, these sources say. They declined to be named because they aren’t authorized to speak publicly

This directly contradicts comments made by Apple COO Tim Cook last week during Apple’s quarterly earnings call, who hinted that Verizon’s CDMA network is a technological dead end and would add unwanted complication to Apple’s manufacturing process due to the need for a different type of radio hardware.

Well from a technology point of view as you know, Verizon is on CDMA and we’ve shown from the beginning of the iPhone to focus on one phone for the whole of the world and when you do that, you really go down the GSM root, because CDMA is – doesn’t really have a life to it after a point in time.

It’s more likely the two companies were discussing Verizon’s next generation wireless network, LTE, which will begin to be built out starting in 2010. An LTE network fits into Apple’s requirement of “one phone for the whole of the world”, but it’s not likely the network will offer extensive nationwide deployment until a few years from now.