How AT&T is spinning its iPhone sales

Posted in iPhone News by admin. Published June 3rd, 2010

How AT&T is spinning its iPhone sales

By focusing on its recent iPhone sales, the company quietly deflects attention from plans to make money off tiered data services

After AT&T announced that 40 percent of the people who bought iPhones in 2010 were business users, there was a flurry of headlines conveniently dropping the “in 2010″ and suggesting that a substantial minority of AT&T’s iPhone customers were, in fact, using the smartphone for work. However, a closer look at the numbers indicates it’s not exactly time to prepare for the iMobile workplace.

AT&T’s been selling iPhones for nearly three years and, in that period, has moved a total of 15 million models domestically. According to Reuters, iPhone users account for a whopping 17 percent of AT&T’s total customer base. If you follow AT&T’s figures, you might conclude that 6 million iPhones were bought for business purposes since 2007 — and you might be wrong. Though Apple’s iPhone 3G can claim to be the mobile device market leader in the United States, with 4 percent of the total market, it still trails business-oriented Research in Motion. In combination, RIM’s 8300-series, 9530-series, and 8100-series smartphones command 6.3 percent of the market.

AT&T really wants people to pay attention to the last five months of iPhone sales, per Ron Spears, chief of AT&T’s Business Solutions unit: “Enterprises today view the iPhone as a mobile computer.” The company is crafting a narrative that tells people this is the year of the iPhone at work.

What’s really worth your attention is the amount of money AT&T hopes to make from wireless and wireline business revenue. In 2009, 32.5 percent, or $40 billion, of its revenue came from business services. This year, wireless and wireline business service revenue is forecast to rise to $62 billion — half of AT&T’s total revenue.

It’s doubtful this 55 percent rise in revenue will come from AT&T’s planned iPhone insurance offerings, but there’s plenty of potential in charging for wireless data services — an idea the company has expressed acute interest in implementing. Before anyone gets too excited about the iPhone’s presumed penetration in the business, ask yourself whether that new office smartphone will come with a hefty data price tag.

[Thanks: http://www.infoworld.com]