Apple's iPhone grabs almost two-thirds of Verizon's 9.8M smartphone sales in Q4

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  • Reply 21 of 28
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    We have numerous anecdotal reports of AT&T and Verizon sales zombies actively trying to steer customers away from the iPhone. If these reports are anywhere near accurate it makes sales of the iPhone even more amazing. You have entire sales forces trying to sell the competition and the iPhone still is 66% of your business. That must be embarrassing for sales managers if the reports are true.
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  • Reply 22 of 28
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,771member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by lkrupp View Post



    We have numerous anecdotal reports of AT&T and Verizon sales zombies actively trying to steer customers away from the iPhone. If these reports are anywhere near accurate it makes sales of the iPhone even more amazing. You have entire sales forces trying to sell the competition and the iPhone still is 66% of your business. That must be embarrassing for sales managers if the reports are true.


    I've never seen any verification of it. I've also seen numerous comments that sales staff make higher commissions on Android phones than they do on iPhones, but again without anyone offering proof for that either.  Have you ever seen anything that shows either instance to be true other than an odd mention here and there that some particular salesman recommended some particular phone to some particular buyer and it wasn't an iPhone? Both could be true, but it would be nice if anyone claiming such would offer proof of it.

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  • Reply 23 of 28
    andysolandysol Posts: 2,506member
    iceltic wrote: »
    The interesting part is the high sales for the 4 & 4s, this could be for these reasons:
    1- lower price.
    2- there is a lot of people like the smaller form factor.
    3- the iphone 4 and 4s design are superior to the iphone5 and people like them more.
    Actually I know 3 people returned their 5 for 4s because they think they are a lot more " distinguished"

    Probably a combination of all the reasons.
    Who will bet the headline will be like " iPhone5 sales disappoint" and completely forget the 6.2 million figure

    So you know 3 people who returned their iPhone 5s and all 3 had the same exact reason? I call bull. Not to mention that anyone who has owned and used a 5, could not go back to a 4/4S unless they had to- more distinguished? Since when does slower, thicker, heavier, and more fragile mean "more distinguished" when we're talking about technology?

    The 4 is great but the 5 is on another level- and that's not subjective.
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  • Reply 24 of 28

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by genovelle View Post


    I fail to understand why non apple supporters live on a site called AppleInsider. I can promise there are no Apple Supporters hanging out in the Android Forum.  



     


    /s = sarcasm.


    Obviously the entire comment was bunk. Don't make promises you can't keep, there are trolls on both sides of the fence.

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  • Reply 25 of 28

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by lkrupp View Post



    We have numerous anecdotal reports of AT&T and Verizon sales zombies actively trying to steer customers away from the iPhone. If these reports are anywhere near accurate it makes sales of the iPhone even more amazing. You have entire sales forces trying to sell the competition and the iPhone still is 66% of your business. That must be embarrassing for sales managers if the reports are true.


     


    Very good point! And I can attest that this is indeed happening. I've only tested these iPhone carriers once (by walking in and asking if the iPhone was worth getting), and sure enough the Verizon sales clerk went off on the classic rant about how you are "pretty much just paying for the name" when you get an Apple iPhone. The other smartphones are a better value, and so on. I thought, after that experience, that Apple should loosen up their wallet and allow these sales people to make more commission because they'll have the world on Samsung smartphones before you know it. Well that was almost 2 years ago and I guess Apple didn't need my advice. It's mind-boggling to think how strong iPhone sales are despite the carriers' best efforts to steer customers toward more lucrative smartphones.

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  • Reply 26 of 28
    Just because the 4 & 4s are less expensive doesn't necessarily mean the profit margin would be that much lower. The components of the 4 & 4s should be cheaper for Apple to buy now, and all the R&D and retooling costs for the 4 & 4s have long since been incurred so they should be cheaper to build. I doubt there's a huge profit difference on Apple being paid (with carrier subsidies) aprox $600 for a 16gb iPhone 5 versus aprox $500 for a 4s or $400 for a 4.
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  • Reply 27 of 28
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    lkrupp wrote: »
    We have numerous anecdotal reports of AT&T and Verizon sales zombies actively trying to steer customers away from the iPhone. If these reports are anywhere near accurate it makes sales of the iPhone even more amazing. You have entire sales forces trying to sell the competition and the iPhone still is 66% of your business. That must be embarrassing for sales managers if the reports are true.

    I can't fault the carriers for wanting to push non-iPhones to customers. Apple is so dominate as it is that if a customer comes in not knowing what they want it makes perfect sense for the retailer in the short and long run. In the short run the carrier makes more money from other smartphones because the subsidization are so much higher with the iPhone. In the long run, if the only phone worth buying was from Apple then the carriers lose even more control over what Apple can and can't do, and what they can charge the retailer.
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