74% of Verizon iPhone buyers are waiting for Apple’s next model
A significant number of Verizon customers are waiting for Apple’s fifth-generation iPhone, rather than buying the currently available iPhone 4, a new survey has found.
Analyst Gene Munster with Piper Jaffray polled a small sample of 216 mobile phone users about their phones and carriers. He found that the results showed encouraging news for Apple and the iPhone.
In particular, his sampling found that many Verizon customers are waiting for the iPhone 5, as the iPhone 4 only went on sale to Verizon customers in February, a full 8 months after the handset was first sold to AT&T customers.
Of Verizon subscribers who do not have an iPhone but plan to buy an iPhone next, 74 percent are specifically waiting for Apple’s anticipated “iPhone 5.” For comparison, just 53 percent of AT&T customers who plan to buy an iPhone said they are waiting for the fifth-generation model.
Though this poll represents a small cross-section of people, I think it’s a pretty accurate overall impression of what is happening with Verizon subscribers. I’ve spoken with many current Verizon customers and most of the people I know are either waiting for the next-gen iPhone to come out, or waiting for their Droid contract to expire before switching. This is why I tend to wonder about the phenomenal activation numbers Google cites. It would seem that Android usage stats should be higher if they are activating that many devices on a daily basis. The Facebook usage article linked in the previous sentence is just one example of what real-world usage looks like by mobile platform.