Last time a U.S. carrier other than AT&T launched the iPhone, we heard from various officials of the Dallas-based company that iPhone availability from the competition will not hurt business even if that priceless exclusivity is lost.
AT&T has been the only mobile operator carrying the iPhone in the USA for more than three years. But then Verizon launched the iPhone 4 in early 2011. At the time it was believed that the company would lose plenty of customers to Big Red because of all the problems the exclusive iPhone deal brought along. AT&T’s network wasn’t exactly the most reliable place to be for iPhone users, especially in congested metropolitan areas. And while AT&T continued to upgrade its network, consumers still complained about the network’s reliability in certain situations.
Nevertheless, AT&T stayed atop its iPhone game and continued to cash in on the iPhone 4 even after the Verizon iPhone was launched. Big Red sold more than four million iPhones in the first two quarters of the year, but AT&T still remained the number one iPhone carrier with more than 7 million iPhone sales during the same period, an increase year over year.
Now AT&T is sharing similar optimistic opinions on its iPhone-related future while assuming that Sprint would also launch the iPhone 5. Or better said, confirming it? Speaking at Goldman Sachs Communacopia conference today, AT&T CEO Randal Stephenson kind of hinted that Sprint will be selling the iPhone soon by saying that his company “would do very well” even when facing competition from a Sprint iPhone 5.
