Apple iPhone to Alter Competitive Landscape of Wireless Market

Press Release - June 7, 2007

The launch of Apple’s much-anticipated iPhone product will fundamentally alter competition in the wireless market, according to John Hodulik, a telecommunications analyst with UBS Securities.

First and foremost, the Apple iPhone will help change overall consumer perception of mobile handsets, causing users to think of their phones more as multipurpose devices. Cell phone shoppers in North America and Europe will gradually come to expect new handsets to do more than voice, and will be increasingly willing to pay a little extra for music and multimedia features.

Right now, most wireless customers choose a carrier first and mobile handset second, but this is likely to chance in the post-iPhone era, as mobile devices offer a wider range of advanced features. Carriers will need to put more effort into getting exclusive contracts on the hottest new mobile devices, just as AT&T Wireless managed to do with the iPhone.

Other wireless providers are already beginning to follow AT&T’s lead, as can be seen in this Advertising Age rundown of new wireless devices expected to compete with the iPhone.