T-Mobile Talks iPhone Switch Rate
One of the most horrifying statistics for any wireless company is the “churn rate” -- that is, how many customers jump ship and move their service to a competitor. While it’s widely believed that Sprint and T-Mobile have suffered mercilessly from the iPhone onslaught, the reality may be it’s not so bad after all.
Cult of Mac is reporting that only 10 percent of U.S. T-Mobile customers leave the carrier for the iPhone. The statistic was revealed by CEO Philipp Humm on Thursday, during a presentation to investors in New York.
“According to Humm, the churn rate -- or number of contract customers lost per month -- is sitting at two percent right now,” Cult of Mac reported. “Of that two percent leaving the network, a full ten percent are because customers want the iPhone.”
Humm claims that T-Mobile will combat the problem by launching a line of Android smartphones with a price tag under $100 and data plans that start at a mere $10 per month -- which doesn’t give much confidence that the fourth-place U.S. carrier will be landing the iPhone anytime soon.
Ironically, overseas T-Mobile was an early partner for Apple’s coveted handset, where it was among the first carriers in Europe to offer the iPhone.
Follow this article’s author, J.R. Bookwalter on Twitter
(Image courtesy of Cult of Mac)
jscotta
January 25, 2011 at 1:15pm
The churn problem will get worse now that Verizon has the iPhone. When it was an AT&T exclusive, many people would not get an iPhone just because of the carrier. So…while Verizon may or may not be any better than AT&T, there are people at Sprint, T-Mobile, and a host of smaller carriers (e.g. Cellular South) that will probably see an increased iPhone churn rate because of the non-AT&T option.
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