Apple iPhone 5 Fans are Rabid but in a Good Way | Jeff Kagan Tech Analyst

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Jeff Kagan

Tech Analyst

     

Over the last four years, year after year, the Apple iPhone has always been successful. The first year or two it blew people away. The next year or two the newness was gone, but expectations were still high, and they kept selling strong.

Now the fifth version of the Apple iPhone is being introduced and it leads us to wonder whether this will be as exciting as in the past.

Will the Apple iPhone be a big and successful and industry reshaping as previous versions? Will the lines be as long waiting for the Apple stores to open to be first to buy an iPhone?

In short, yes. I think this version of the Apple iPhone will be as hot and exciting as last year. It’s not new, but it is still exciting.

Apple fans are rabid, but in a good way. They will be lined up the night before to be first in line.

The big winner here will be Apple. Carriers like AT&T Mobility, Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel have ponied up billions of dollars to be in the iPhone game. All that dough goes straight to Apples bank account.

So even before Apple sells one iPhone they have already earned billions of dollars. The power of the super brand.

The next big question is which will carrier sell more iPhones? This is the first iPhone introduction where AT&T is not the only carrier. This time AT&T, Verizon and Sprint will be competing.

That means this time the customer won’t have to choose the network based on the device. Instead they can choose the network first then they can buy the device.

This will be a true test of the power of each network and their brand.

I think we will see Verizon and Sprint sell plenty of iPhones. The question is will AT&T sell fewer than last year?

The question is, in the past have customers switched to AT&T to get an iPhone, or have they stuck with their preferred network.

We don’t have the answer yet. It’s probably a mix.

I don’t expect AT&T sales to decrease; however I don’t think they will increase as much as usual either.

On one hand when a customer switches to AT&T to get an iPhone they may stay with AT&T.

On the other hand if that customer was unhappy with the performance of AT&T with the iPhone they may leave now.

Then again AT&T service may have improved during the last several months, since Verizon started selling the iPhone. Now with Sprint also in the mix it takes more pressure off AT&T performance.

Bottom line we’ll just have to wait and see. It will be several months before we know.

Good luck to AT&T, Verizon and Sprint as they line up for the race to begin. Of course Apple already won the race, but whose counting.

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These comments may be quoted in news stories.

Please attribute to Jeff Kagan, Tech Analyst with www.jeffKAGAN.com

If you would like to discuss, call me at 770-579-5810 or send an email to jeff@JeffKAGAN.com

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