Verizon chief unfazed by iPhone

Stephen Withers
Thursday, 21 June 2007 05:47

Your IT - Mobility

Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg is putting a brave face on rival carrier AT&T's iPhone exclusive. "The way we see it, our customers have price points and service packaging that is different," he said.

The company's strategy will be to counter the iPhone with services such as over-the-air music downloads and mobile TV. At this stage we don't know whether or not the iPhone will allow over-the-air access to the iTunes Store, but Apple has announced YouTube will be available via EDGE or Wi-Fi.

Verizon will continue to introduce new devices, but Seidenberg does not think a specific 'iPhone killer' is needed to remain competitive.

The company currently has the lowest churn rate among US mobile carriers, but a recent survey by M:Metrics found that two-thirds of mobile users with a "strong interest" in buying an iPhone were not currently AT&T customers. AT&T's own figures show 40 percent of iPhone enquiries have come from other networks' customers.

"The way we come at this is to let the iPhone hit the market," said Seidenberg. "I don't think it changes the game plan for how we approach the market."

Seidenberg may have taken heart from IDC's recent survey suggesting that many buyers feel the iPhone is too expensive and don't want to switch carriers. iTWire has previously pointed out a significant flaw in the study that probably caused it to overweight the opinions of people that have already decided not to buy an iPhone.