T-Mobile
T-Mobile: First day for Apple's iPhone was 'gangbusters'
April 13, 2013: 6:28 AM ETWith trade-ins, an ad-blitz, "un-carrier" pricing and lines outside nearly 3,000 stores
Photo: BTIG's Walter Piecyk
FORTUNE -- No one knows how long it will last, but the pent-up demand at America's fourth largest carrier was palpable Friday morning as lines formed outside T-Mobile USA stores for the first time in memory.
The lines weren't overwhelming, and they dissipated before the afternoon, but it says something about the draw of Apple's (AAPL) iPhone that customers will still queue up to buy the newest one nearly eight months after it launched.
The reason, of course, is that it had a captive crowd: 34 million T-Mobile customers locked into contracts with the only major U.S. carrier that, until Friday, didn't have a contract with Apple.
T-Mobile made the most of the opportunity:
- Undercutting (slightly) the competition by selling the iPhone 5 for $99.99 down and $20/month for two years ($580 total)
- Offering trade-ins (until Father's Day) for old iPhones that could bring the upfront cost to $0.00
- Running ads for its "un-leash" unlocked-iPhone scheme on TV, radio and YouTube (see below)
- Launching (a few weeks ago) high-speed LTE networks in seven metropolitan areas
"Today has been gangbusters for T-Mobile," said T-Mobile's Mike Sievert to anyone who asked. "We experienced lines out the door this morning at nearly all of our almost 3,000 stores nationwide."
Below: T-Mobile's TV ad, to what sounds like a Jimmy Hendrix soundtrack.
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T-Mobile has finally cut a deal with Apple
The U.S.'s fourth largest carrier gives Apple access to 33 million potential buyers
FORTUNE -- Talk about burying the lede!
Five paragraphs into a 770-word press release, at the end of a paragraph about infrastructure investments in Germany and the U.S., Deutsche Telekom (DT) confirmed Thursday what Merrill Lynch's Scott Craig correctly predicted last week:
"T-Mobile USA has entered into an agreement with Apple to bring products to market together in 2013"
The assumption is MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Dec 6, 2012 1:05 PM ET -
Merrill Lynch: T-Mobile USA may get the iPhone next week
The deal would give Apple access to 33 million more mobile subscribers
FORTUNE -- It was only last week that Jim Alling, COO of T-Mobile USA, poured cold water on speculation that his company might finally start selling Apple's (AAPL) iPhones to its 33 million customers.
"Make no mistake about it: We would love to carry the iPhone," he said at a conference in Barcelona. "However, we want the economies to be right MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Nov 29, 2012 10:41 AM ET -
Mobile users to carriers: 'Give me my unlimited data'
While Verizon and AT&T have gone with tiered data plans, T Mobile and Sprint are hanging tough with unlimited data for its users. Will the strategy pan out for the holdouts?
By Peter Suciu
FORTUNE -- While number one and two mobile carriers Verizon Wireless and AT&T have adopted tiered plans for wireless data, T-Mobile and Sprint have opted to stick with so-called "all-you-can-eat" options for customers. And unlike older so-called MORE
Sep 13, 2012 11:19 AM ET -
Today in Tech: PayPal trumps Square, partners with Discover
For AT&T users, FaceTime over cellular Mobile Share plans online; the 10 top startups from YCombinator's Demo Day.
PayPal trumps Square's deal with Starbucks by partnering with Discover [ALL THINGS D]
Under a new partnership being announced with Discover, PayPal is super-sizing the number of U.S. merchant locations it will be accepted at — more than seven million. ... Just two weeks ago, Square made a huge splash after announcing that Starbucks would use the MORE
JP Mangalindan, Writer - Aug 22, 2012 2:09 PM ET -
Today in Tech: Kindle Fire comes under attack
Fortune's curated selection of tech stories from the last 24 hours. Sign up to get the round-up delivered to you each and every day.
* AOL CEO Tim Armstrong is reorganizing the Internet company. Its dial-up services will be merged with Web services, which includes AOL Instant Messenger. The other three divisions will include advertising, local services, and the Huffington Post media group. (Bloomberg)
* Amazon's Kindle Fire has come under, well, fire, over some MORE
JP Mangalindan, Writer - Dec 13, 2011 2:00 AM ET -
Why thieves love to steal phones
FORTUNE -- Next time you whip out your iPhone on the sidewalk or the subway, you might first want to glance over your shoulder. Smartphones have become a favorite target of thieves who do what the police call a snatch and grab. One favorite M.O.: The perp grabs a phone and jumps off the train just as the doors are closing. So far this year, over 40% of thefts in MORE
Oct 17, 2011 5:00 AM ET -
What to expect on Oct. 4
When did an All Things Digital become the keeper of Apple's event calendar?
We don't recall getting an invitation from Apple to an event on Oct. 4 or any other date, but that hasn't stopped analysts from alerting their clients exactly what to expect from the company that day. Jeffries' Peter Misek, for example, issued this note on Friday:
Apple holding press event on October 4.
Takeaway: We expect Apple (AAPL) to focus MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Sep 23, 2011 11:16 AM ETPosted in: All Things Digital, Apple, AT&T, China Telecom, iPad, iPhone, John Paczkowski, Mobile, T-Mobile, Tablet -
Survey shows 'unprecedented' demand for Apple's iPhone 5
Demand for the iPad is also rising, according to data from a ChangeWave survey
RBC Capital's Mike Abramsky has raised his fourth quarter iPhone and iPad estimates based on the results of a survey of 2,200 potential buyers. The survey, conducted in August by ChangeWave research, showed what Abramsky called "unprecedented iPhone 5 demand and strong back-to-school iPad buying intentions."
In a note to clients issued Tuesday he ticked off the main MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Sep 13, 2011 8:23 AM ET -
Today in Tech: Netflix lets Starz go
Fortune's curated selection of the day's most newsworthy tech stories from all over the Web. Sign up to get the newsletter delivered to you every day.
* The Netflix-Starz partnership is no more, meaning all Starz content on the movie and TV-streaming service will be unavailable beginning next February. In a statement, Netflix (NFLX) CEO Reed Hastings told Business Insider that domestic viewership of Starz content has declined to 8% given increasing content from MORE
JP Mangalindan, Writer - Sep 2, 2011 3:30 AM ETPosted in: AOL, AT&T, Economic Policy Institute, Facebook, Michael Arrington, Netflix, PC, Reed Hastings, Sequoia Capital, Sprint, starz, T-Mobile, TechCrunch, Twitter
