Thirty per cent of US consumers who purchased Apple’s new iPhone 3G from June through August 2008 switched from other mobile carriers to join AT&T, according to a survey by the NPD Group.
AT&T is the exclusive mobile carrier for the iPhone in the US.
Nearly half (47%) of new AT&T iPhone customers that switched carriers switched from Verizon Wireless, another 24 per cent switched from T-Mobile, and 19 per cent switched from Sprint.
Unsurprisingly, the new iPhone was the top selling smartphone between June-August, pipping RIM’s Blackberry Curve and Pearl to the top slot.
The Apple device is now the second best-selling mobile phone handset among US consumers, after Motorola’s RAZR V3.
Before the launch of the iPhone 3G, iPhone sales represented 11 per cent of the consumer market for smartphones (January through May 2008), according to NPD’s iPhone 3G Report.
However, after the launch of iPhone 3G, Apple commanded 17 per cent of the smartphone market (January through August 2008).
Ross Rubin, director of industry analysis for the NPD Group, said: “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.
Rubin said that in general terms, the iPhone had boosted overall smartphone sales.
“The launch of the lower-priced iPhone 3G was a boon to overall consumer smartphone sales,” he said.
The average price of a smartphone sold between June and August 2008 was USD $174, down 26 per cent from USD $236 during the same period last year.
During June through August 2008, the top four best-selling smartphones based on unit-sales to consumers were as follows:
1. Apple iPhone 3G
2. RIM Blackberry Curve
3. RIM Blackberry Pearl
4. Palm Centro
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