30 Percent of iPhone 3G Users Nabbed from Other Carriers

/* Posted October 7th, 2008 at 8:38am */
/* Filed under Apple, News, iPhone */
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iphone 3g stock photo trio

AT&T’s got to happy with the latest NPD Group statistics on the new iPhone 3G sales which shows that 30% of its user base actually switched from other wireless carriers. Nearly half of those came from Verizon Wireless, and a quarter came from T-Mobile. The iPhone 3G has also impressively increased Apple’s presence in the smartphone market, rising from 11% market share in May 2008 to 17% after August.

According to industry analyst Ross Rubin from NPD Group, “While the original iPhone also helped win customers for AT&T, the faster network speeds of the iPhone 3G has proven more appealing to customers that already had access to a 3G network.”

In fact, the entire smartphone industry has Apple to thank for sparking renewed interest and growth in the market as Rubin also noted that the iPhone 3G was a “boon to overall consumer smartphone sales.”

The other big winner as indicated by NPD market analysis was RIM, which had the second and third best-selling smartphones in the market with the Blackberry Curve and Pearl respectively, behind the Apple iPhone 3G.