Posted on Friday, October 10 2008 @ 6:16 CEST by Thomas De Maesschalck
CNET
reports 30 percent of all smartphone buyer's this summer switch to another carrier to purchase the device. The number is a lot higher than usual, mainly due to the iPhone 3G effect:
AT&T has been the iPhone 3G's exclusive carrier in the U.S. since the smartphone was released in June.
According to the report, which covers June through August, 47 percent of those switching to AT&T to get the iPhone 3G came from Verizon Wireless, 24 percent from T-Mobile, and 19 percent from Sprint.
"While the original iPhone also helped win customers for AT&T, the faster network speeds of the iPhone 3G (have) proven more appealing to customers that already had access to a 3G network," Ross Rubin, NPD director of industry analysis, said in a statement.
By contrast, about 23 percent of consumers overall switched carriers from June through August.
During that same time frame, the smartphones with the highest unit sales were Apple's iPhone 3G, followed by Research In Motion's BlackBerry Curve, RIM's BlackBerry Pearl, and the Palm Centro, according to NPD.
