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AT&T Claims 40% of iPhone Sales Made to Business Customers

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Apr 12, 2001
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ZDNet reports on comments made by AT&T Business Solutions CEO Ron Spears revealing that 40% of the company's iPhone sales are to business customers, dispelling the notion that businesses are not willing to adopt the popular smartphone over security fears and an unwillingness to make changes to their existing IT infrastructure and policies to accommodate the device. According to Spears:
Four out of 10 sales of the iPhone are made to enterprise users. When the iPhone came out, what most people heard in the first year from '07 to '08 was oh my God, it's not BlackBerry secure. This is not going to work on the enterprise space.

At the end of the day, it's just software. That's all it is.
Click to expand...
Spears notes that Apple had solved about 80% of the iPhone's enterprise security issues with the iPhone 3G, and by the time the iPhone 3GS was released last year it was seen as offering adequate security for corporate settings.

According to Spears, many businesses are seeing the iPhone as a computing devices, allowing them to forgo some laptop purchases and move to the more portable iPhone as an all-in-one device. The iPad is likely to see similar traction as it begins to make inroads into the enterprise community.

Article Link: AT&T Claims 40% of iPhone Sales Made to Business Customers
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2010/05/27/atandt-claims-40-of-iphone-sales-made-to-business-customers/
Rodimus Prime

Rodimus Prime

macrumors G4
Oct 9, 2006
10,136
4
Question is how are they counting it. People who have an iPhone and connect it to a work account. I only count it is company are the one paying for the phones
 
wrldwzrd89

wrldwzrd89

macrumors G5
Jun 6, 2003
12,110
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Solon, OH
Rodimus Prime said:
Question is how are they counting it. People who have an iPhone and connect it to a work account. I only count it is company are the one paying for the phones
Click to expand...
I doubt AT&T has access to data on who's connecting iPhones to work PCs anyway.

That said, assuming it's being counted by companies paying for the phones, and that this trend will continue, if not grow, this can only help Apple do better in the business world.
 
blizaine

blizaine

macrumors 6502
Sep 17, 2003
355
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They are probably only counting people who order the iPhones through their AT&T business account. My company has 50+ iPhones.
 
Rodimus Prime

Rodimus Prime

macrumors G4
Oct 9, 2006
10,136
4
wrldwzrd89 said:
I doubt AT&T has access to data on who's connecting iPhones to work PCs anyway.

That said, assuming it's being counted by companies paying for the phones, and that this trend will continue, if not grow, this can only help Apple do better in the business world.
Click to expand...


It is not hard. They really only have to look at who is using exchanged on their network that is not Gmails and that is it.
 
D

danielwsmithee

macrumors 65816
Mar 12, 2005
1,135
410
Enterprise

They have to be counting by the number of users who buy the Enterprise data account. I connect my iPhone to my companies exchange server. I pay the personal account rate. AT&T doesn't know that. The Enterprise plan allows a company to perform remote maintenance/wipe etc too.

So yes 40% of all iPhones are purchased by companies for their employees.
 
C

cvaldes

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Dec 14, 2006
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somewhere else
blizaine said:
They are probably only counting people who order the iPhones through their AT&T business account. My company has 50+ iPhones.
Click to expand...
This is probably how they're counting it.

An enterprise user wouldn't sign up for a regular consumer account when his/her company gets a preferential business rate.
 
C

cvaldes

macrumors 68040
Dec 14, 2006
3,237
0
somewhere else
Rodimus Prime said:
It is not hard. They really only have to look at who is using exchanged on their network that is not Gmails and that is it.
Click to expand...
Bad logic. The iPhone's Mail client connects to POP3 and IMAP accounts of all types. No company is forced to use Microsoft Exchange for their mail services.

Look, they are counting by the number of users on the business plan, not by the type of mail server any given phone is using.
 
rjohnstone

rjohnstone

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Dec 28, 2007
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danielwsmithee said:
They have to be counting by the number of users who buy the Enterprise data account. I connect my iPhone to my companies exchange server. I pay the personal account rate. AT&T doesn't know that. The Enterprise plan allows a company to perform remote maintenance/wipe etc too.

So yes 40% of all iPhones are purchased by companies for their employees.
Click to expand...
What on earth are you talking about?
There is no Enterprise Data account for the iPhone.
AT&T has no clue how the phones are being used.
They are simply counting the number of phones purchased under FAN agreements.
My personal phone and my work phone are purchased under the same FAN agreement and contract terms.
AT&T has no way of knowing which is my personal phone and which is my business phone.
 
S

ski1ski1

macrumors regular
Nov 30, 2007
152
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AT&T has business agreements with thousands of corporations, government agencies and educational institutions to offer wireless products & services to their employees and students at a significant discount. Any of the company's employees or school's students can then get this special discount through AT&T. When you order a phone/service using this discount, it's actually through AT&T's business division. I bet they count anyone using these discounts as business accounts. Many of these people are using their phone for personal purposes, but sign up this way to get the business/school discount. AT&T's statement is very misleading.
 
S

ski1ski1

macrumors regular
Nov 30, 2007
152
0
danielwsmithee said:
They have to be counting by the number of users who buy the Enterprise data account.
Click to expand...

Highly doubtful. You can be a business customer and have no need for a enterprise data account for various reasons. Such as the company might be running Lotus Notes instead of Exchange. It is not a requirement for a business customer to have a enterprise data account.
 
Rodimus Prime

Rodimus Prime

macrumors G4
Oct 9, 2006
10,136
4
ski1ski1 said:
AT&T has business agreements with thousands of corporations, government agencies and educational institutions to offer wireless products & services to their employees and students at a significant discount. Any of the company's employees or school's students can then get this special discount through AT&T. When you order a phone/service using this discount, it's actually through AT&T's business division. I bet they count anyone using these discounts as business accounts. Many of these people are using their phone for personal purposes, but sign up this way to get the business/school discount. AT&T's statement is very misleading.
Click to expand...

see that statement I can believe. The 40% are bought by companies I find hard to believe
 
rjohnstone

rjohnstone

macrumors 68040
Dec 28, 2007
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goldstmarc2 said:
Wrong.


Wrong.


Where do you get this crap from? Do you do ANY research at all? Fail.
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I manage all the phones for my department... where do you get your crap from?
The only phones that use and Enterprise Data plan are our Black Berry devices.
All of our iPhone's use a standard data plan.
 
topmounter

topmounter

macrumors 68030
Jun 18, 2009
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Most of my workmates use iPhones now... sure, we still have our BlackBerry users, but they're limited to that niche of die-hard CrackBerry users that do nothing but pound out emails (or whatever it is they're pounding out) 24x7.
 
Darth.Titan

Darth.Titan

macrumors 68030
Oct 31, 2007
2,905
753
Austin, TX
goldstmarc2 said:
Wrong.



Wrong.


Wrong.


Where do you get this crap from? Do you do ANY research at all? Fail.
Click to expand...

I know you're new here and all, but around here "Wrong" unaccompanied by any facts or corroborating evidence is not considered an acceptable rebuttal.

Got anything to back up your monosyllabic comebacks?
 
Avarix

Avarix

macrumors newbie
Mar 27, 2007
9
2
Abington, PA
Anyone who receives a discount from there employer flags them as a business customer. That 40% number means little to actual enterprise use.
 
M

mdatwood

macrumors 6502a
Mar 14, 2010
914
889
East Coast, USA
They are probably using iPhones bought with FAN accounts and I hope filtering out entities like schools who grant students FAN accounts.

And yeah, users don't need any special data account to use the iPhone with their Exchange server. ATT has no idea how the phone is really used once it's purchased unless they are doing a lot of traffic snooping which would a) be impractical and b) not something they would want people to know.
 
fjfjfjfj

fjfjfjfj

macrumors 6502
Mar 20, 2009
327
140
New York, NY
ski1ski1 said:
AT&T has business agreements with thousands of corporations, government agencies and educational institutions to offer wireless products & services to their employees and students at a significant discount. Any of the company's employees or school's students can then get this special discount through AT&T. When you order a phone/service using this discount, it's actually through AT&T's business division. I bet they count anyone using these discounts as business accounts. Many of these people are using their phone for personal purposes, but sign up this way to get the business/school discount. AT&T's statement is very misleading.
Click to expand...

Agree 100%, there is no possible way that 40% of iPhone sales are to businesses for business use. I travel extensively for my job and have NEVER come across one person who has a corporate issue iPhone. I'm not saying they don't exist, it's just not 40%. What they must be counting, as you point out, are the individuals who buy through ATT business in order to get the discount ATT may have in place with your particular employer. I know I do and when I log onto my ATT account online, I am taken to the ATT business site...doesn't mean my iPhone is for business. I have to lug around a Blackberry for that.
 
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