Even Without iPhone, Verizon Is Gaining on AT&T

AT&T initial strategy of iphone exclusivity for 5 years worked well for both AT&T and Apple to influence other GSM operators across the world. Once the exclusivity ends, AT&T has to find new ways to keep their customers from switiching. The AT&T's subscriber based should have been 30% more than verizon in last 4 years but they are almost same. I can think of two reasons 1) The AT&T did not address the growing demand of data networks, which let many customers unhappy. There are high chances of customers migrating to other networks once the contract ends. 2) Google's android helped Verzion in competing with iPhone. Verzion with storng marketing campaigns managed to increase their subscriber base without the magic device. According to Comscore, Verizon has managed to steadily increase its share of the Smartphone market, to 26 percent in May, from 20 percent in late 2008. In the same period, AT&T’s market share slipped to 40 percent, from around 45 percent. Apart from devices, the apps and the appstores played major role when customer choosing the devices offered by network, which gave positive fetch to verizon with their Droid. Tier2 carriers and MVNO's offered cheaper plans but the magic devices saved the tier1 operators. At least in metro's AT&T is loosing its ground to Verzion because of the poor network.