iPhone Love: Our Hearts, Our Souls, Our Wallets
With most of the geek world squealing with excitement over Apple’s iPhone in the wake of its debut last June, the real purpose of the tech-gadget was sort of forgotten.
And no, that purpose had nothing to do with advancing touch-screen technology or unifying a wireless phone with an mp3 music player or even giving us Internet access with a legitimate browser.
The iPhone was created to generate sales and fatten the bottom line for Apple and its wireless partner in the deal, AT&T. And it definitely has done its job.
Apple reported record earnings earlier this week, and AT&T today reported strong earnings of its own and record gains in wireless subscribers.
In fact, the telecommunications giant now claims 70.1 million wireless subscribers. That means that AT&T claims about a quarter of the nation’s population as wireless subscribers.
That’s a gain of 2.7 million in the fourth quarter, which is in addition to the 1.7 million subscribers the company gained in its acquisition of Oklahoma City-based Dobson Communications Corp., which closed in November.
AT&T revealed that it had just under 2 million iPhone users at the end of December.
Apple CEO Steve Jobs told a Macworld Expo audience last week that Apple had sold almost 4 million iPhones, which makes me wonder how much of that number were hacked by their owners to use with other wireless carriers.
So, now the world awaits the release of a so-called 3G iPhone, which would speed up all of its wireless features over the 2G model in the hands of subscribers today. When the 3G model hits, I predict the geek lovefest will begin anew.
Maybe it should happen on Valentine’s Day.
Jim Stafford
Business News Reporter
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