In the first full quarter of dueling iPhone carriers in the U.S., the incumbent came out on top. Verizon reported earnings on Friday and said it had activated 2.3 million iPhones during the quarter, while AT&T (NYSE: T) said earlier this week that it had activated 3.6 million iPhones.
It’s a little unfair to compare them directly since AT&T also sells the iPhone 3GS at an attractive $49 price, but many in the mobile industry had wondered how much pent-up demand there was for a Verizon iPhone after years of suffering by iPhone owners on the AT&T network. Verizon sold 2.2 million iPhones in the weeks between its February launch and the end of its first quarter in March, implying that demand for the phone settled down after the initial fever pitch if the company then sold 2.3 million units over three months.
Bloomberg noted that Verizon CFO Fran Shammo–last seen claiming the iPhone 5 would be a “global device”–said Verizon had expected the iPhone 5 this summer, as opposed to the more widely held belief at this point that the device will arrive around the launch of iOS 5 and iCloud in the fall. Perhaps at that point Verizon would be able to offer a discounted iPhone 4 in hopes of closing the gap with AT&T, as Shammo told Bloomberg that he didn’t think the company would be able to achieve its goal of getting half of its customers on smartphones until the first quarter of next year.
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