T-Mobile has gained a lot of popularity ever since offering the iPhone. The announcement of the “UNcarrier” initiative has not only shaken things up for other major carriers, but also has lured in many customers. It’s safe to say that the iPhone has brought back a lot of business to T-Mobile, and with the payment options for devices, affordable device upgrade plan and low device down payments, it seems T-Mobile is on its way to becoming a contender in the smartphone market.
Apple is set to announce the iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C today at 10 A.M. Pacific standard time. The Cupertino giant is expected to unveil the two iPhones, pricing, and availability. Of course United States will be one of the first markets to get the iPhone. The iPhones are rumored to become available on September 20, which falls about right based on previous experiences.
In an interesting report from Bloomberg, Apple’s low cost iPhone 5C could benefit T-Mobile the most. Currently, T-Mobile seems to be behind in terms of network availability, but not as bad as Sprint. Though it can be said without a doubt that T-Mobile and Chief Executive Officer John Legere have brought something to the market that no other carrier would be willing to do, get rid of long term contracts.
T-Mobile’s new business plan is very threatening to other major carriers like AT&T and Verizon. In previous years, the iPhone was only exclusive to AT&T, then Verizon was added to the pool. With the new iPhones coming to T-Mobile, iPhone 5C will be amongst the most popular purchases. Seeing as the cost of the device will be low, and knowing T-Mobile’s business model, the low cost iPhone will go for $0 down, with just monthly payments. This could be very damaging to AT&T especially since there’s a battle currently going on with T-Mobile. Customers are have been leaving AT&T to join T-Mobile in their “UNcarrier” business model.
With T-Mobile purchasing MetroPCS, it has gained more spectrum and necessary licenses to expand LTE faster. While Verizon may be in the lead with LTE work size, and AT&T in second, it’s only a matter of time before T-Mobile catches up. Currently, T-Mobile’s LTE market isn’t very big, but the carrier expects to “expand its LTE coverage to 200 million people by the end of the year, including 90 percent of the biggest 25 markets.” Even thought the market isn’t currently big, with just 116 markets, the network itself performs very well. Take a look at LTE speed test above, using the iPhone 5.
What do you think? T-Mobile may take away more customers from other carriers?
