A new report from US market researchers The NDP Group, have given a heads-up on the impact of the iPhone on US consumers, hinting at what’s in store with O2’s launch in the UK.
NDP said that AT&T’s iPhone exclusivity is, as expected, benefiting the operator at the expense of its rivals, with Alltel and T-Mobile customers most likely to switch network to get an iPhone. However, it also said that Sprint and Verizon – which both offer over-the-air (OTA) music services and video and data services over 3G, haven’t suffered so much.
Does this mean that despite O2’s hopes with its UK exclusivity, the iPhone won’t be so successful in the UK? Yes, the US and UK markets are quite different, but Vodafone, Orange, 3 and T-Mobile all offer rich media content such as music downloads over 3G networks, so after all the hype the iPhone launch might, just might be a damp squib if UK consumers follow the US pattern.
NDP also found that iPhone buyers were 10 times more likely than other consumers to own a Treo or T-Mobile Sidekick phone, hinting that such consumers want a mobile Internet and media device. The people it doesn’t seem to appeal to are BlackBerry users because of the lack of corporate email support – but then it would take something special to pull people away from their ‘CrackBerry’ anyway.
[Via 3G.co.uk]
0 Responses to “iPhone’s US impact could hint at damp squib UK launch”
Leave a Reply