Recent estimates by the Kantar Group, a market research and analytics firm, show that Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) was leading wireless telecom companies in smartphone sales for the three months ending August 2013. According to Kantar’s estimates, Verizon sold almost 37% of all devices sold in the US market during that period, while its main competitor, AT&T Inc. (T), lost market share.
Changes in market shares of smartphone sales can have major implications for wireless carriers, who are operating in an already saturated market with limited growth options. Smartphones are the largest growth drivers for the wireless industry and their owners use more data and therefore have higher data ARPUs, which is the fastest growing revenue stream for the industry.
AT&T was given exclusive rights to market the iPhone when Apple Inc. (AAPL) released it for the first time in 2007. This was an important privilege for AT&T, as it became the only company authorized to sell and distribute a revolutionary new product that was an instant hit with customers. It was not until February 2011 that Verizon starting selling iPhones on its network, and the device was introduced to Sprint and T-Mobile customers even later than that.
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