Regional Carrier Cites Prestige as Reason to Offer iPhone

[MacRumors]

GigaOM recently spoke with Pat Riordan, CEO of Wisconsin-based regional carrier Cellcom, about his company's decision to begin offering the iPhone this past April, with Riordan noting that the decision was made primarily for the prestige factor rather a specific attempt to increase the carrier's customer base. The move was essentially a defensive one given the popularity of the device with consumers who were starting to look to other carrier options before Cellcom announced the addition.

"Customers were telling us they were simply going to leave us because we didn't have the iPhone," Riordan said. "We know [our] sales had been falling between the end of the year and April, and we think not having the iPhone was the reason."

Riordan doesn't think that it will suddenly start raking in hundreds of thousands of new customers because of Apple, though it is giving Cellcom's current customers a lot of reasons to stay: 75 percent of its iPhone sales were upgrades.

Cellcom and Riordan declined to specify exact iPhone sales numbers, which would be relatively small compared to the major carriers, but Riordan notes that simply offering the iPhone has brought more customers into the carrier's stores, even if they end up purchasing something other than the iPhone.

The report notes that Alaska Communications announced sales of 11,000 iPhones to its customer base of 120,000 people during the second quarter of this year, while fellow Alaskan carrier GCI announced sales of 9,200 iPhones out of 141,000 customers, pointing to continued significant interest in the device.

Article Link: Regional Carrier Cites Prestige as Reason to Offer iPhone

 

[ixodes]

Vanity drives sales.

Nothing new here.

 

[Waxhead138]

Relevancy

This doesn't seem like "Relevant" news, but keep in mind one thing:

Practically all of us hate the Big Two, and the underlying "Whatcha gonna do about it" attitude that is evident in thier pricing models. In order for there to be a shred of competition, or at least an alternative, regional carriers need to survive. So if this helps them out, then great.

 

[aristotle]

LOL. It looks like T-Mobile is the last carrier in the US to not offer the iPhone.

I guess they now regret snubbing Steve so many years ago.

 

[chrmjenkins]

Vanity drives sales.

Nothing new here.

Or, you know, customer retention.

 

[chagla]

LOL. It looks like T-Mobile is the last carrier in the US to not offer the iPhone.

I guess they now regret snubbing Steve so many years ago.

no. it means Tmobile wasn't willing to pay Apple huge amount just for the privilege. just ask sprint. they paid a ton.

 

[JAT]

That's nice. Now the iPhone is clearly on "The Best" cell carrier in the USA! Good for Apple, they finally made it.

 

[Michaelgtrusa]

Then it's all about money.

 

[Chupa Chupa]

Vanity drives sales.

Nothing new here.

Vanity? Up until the Samsung Galaxy SIII there was not an Android phone that competed with the iPhone in terms of out of the box ease of use. Android has just caught up, but consumers at this point have a large collection of iOS apps so they are not likely to switch unless the iPhone totally jumps the shark. So it makes sense carrier want the phone that people want to buy.

 

[dontwalkhand]

no. it means Tmobile wasn't willing to pay Apple huge amount just for the privilege. just ask sprint. they paid a ton.

I dobut Cellcom or low-credit carrier Cricket paid a ton for their iPhones...

 

[Born Again]

Or, you know, customer retention.

Or you know people buying what's cool

 

[KPOM]

LOL. It looks like T-Mobile is the last carrier in the US to not offer the iPhone.

I guess they now regret snubbing Steve so many years ago.

US Cellular is being equally stubborn.

 

[Winni]

Vanity? Up until the Samsung Galaxy SIII there was not an Android phone that competed with the iPhone in terms of out of the box ease of use. Android has just caught up, but consumers at this point have a large collection of iOS apps so they are not likely to switch unless the iPhone totally jumps the shark. So it makes sense carrier want the phone that people want to buy.

Where have you been living for the last couple of years? The Galaxy S already kicked the iPhone's butt and the Galaxy S2 still is ahead even of the iPhone 4S which was released a long time after the S2.

Maybe Apple have started the smartphone race, but they've fallen far behind the pack and they have only been playing catch-up with the Android market for the last two years. Whatever they are going to introduce next week won't change that.

When you use a mobile device that has a REAL web browser like Firefox or Chrome, you will quickly notice that the entire app store concept is hopelessly overrated. Most of those apps were front-ends for web services, which means that most apps for mobile phones were just crutches to balance the crappy web browsers that those devices had in the beginning.

Most of the stuff that is now sold in the app stores are games. Now I'm a gamer, but I don't play on my mobile gadget - touch interfaces just suck for most games, period.

 

[MrNomNoms]

no. it means Tmobile wasn't willing to pay Apple huge amount just for the privilege. just ask sprint. they paid a ton.

It had nothing to do with that and everything to do with tmobile using funky frequencies that were non-industry standard. They're now finally refarming the frequencies so very soon there will be no reason at all for people not to jump onto Apple.com, purchase an iPhone off contract, grab a sim card from t-mobile and use it with their favourite compatible carrier.

 

[Winni]

Or you know people buying what's cool

I don't know about you, but buying what everybody else buys is not cool, it just makes you a member of a herd of consumer cattle.

 

[JayLenochiniMac]

Prestige used to be a real reason when the original iPhone debuted and can only be bought at full price.

Now anybody can buy it for $0 through $199.

 

[greytmom]

I don't know about you, but buying what everybody else buys is not cool, it just makes you a member of a herd of consumer cattle.

Refusing to buy what everyone buys JUST because everyone buys it is no better. Buy what works best for you.

 

[Will do good]

The power of the Apple brand, here in the US and international.

Keep up with quality and innovation, go Apple.

----------

I don't know about you, but buying what everybody else buys is not cool, it just makes you a member of a herd of consumer cattle.

Please point out to me where I can buy one of a kind phone that's quality and doesn't cost a fortune

 

[pk7]

Vanity drives sales.

Nothing new here.

Or you know people buying what's cool

Or, you know, customers' needs and wants

 

[Tiger8]

In other news the sky is blue...

People do this with every purchase they make, from a home to furniture to clothes to even cars (Is Acura really twice the car Honda is? pricetag says so, common sense says no, still its selling like hotcakes and a major revenue driver for Honda)

 

[LagunaSol]

Vanity drives sales.

Yes, of course. iPhone buyers = vain. Buyers of plastic Android devices from Korean conglomerate refrigerator manufacturers = smart.

We get it.

 

[slrandall]

Yes, of course. iPhone buyers = vain. Buyers of plastic Android devices from Korean conglomerate refrigerator manufacturers = smart.

We get it.

Eventually people are going to realize that value is subjective, and that just because I value an iPhone more than an Android phone doesn't make it objectively better. And what do I care which is objectively better, if that were even possible to determine? I want the phone that's best for me, not anyone else. Because I'm the one using my phone.

 

[JHankwitz]

Then it's all about money.

Like DUH! Everything is about money! You have a job for money. You went to school so that you would be able to make money.

 

[cgk.emu]

Where have you been living for the last couple of years? The Galaxy S already kicked the iPhone's butt and the Galaxy S2 still is ahead even of the iPhone 4S which was released a long time after the S2.

Maybe Apple have started the smartphone race, but they've fallen far behind the pack and they have only been playing catch-up with the Android market for the last two years. Whatever they are going to introduce next week won't change that.

When you use a mobile device that has a REAL web browser like Firefox or Chrome, you will quickly notice that the entire app store concept is hopelessly overrated. Most of those apps were front-ends for web services, which means that most apps for mobile phones were just crutches to balance the crappy web browsers that those devices had in the beginning.

Most of the stuff that is now sold in the app stores are games. Now I'm a gamer, but I don't play on my mobile gadget - touch interfaces just suck for most games, period.

What benchmark is used to determine if phone x is better than phone y? What sort of scientific methods are used? I'm being a bit sarcastic because there isn't a benchmark, it's simply an opinion. It is my opinion that iOS devices are better, but it doesn't really matter. You think Android is better, but it doesn't really matter.

I have Chrome on my iPhone...

 

[charlien]

US Cellular is being equally stubborn.

They are going to lose me. I'll wait to see if they pick up the iPhone 5. If not, it's goodbye USC?