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The Survey Says: Verizon Users Want an iPhone
   

Despite the recent onslaught of high-tech smartphones to AT&T rival Verizon Wireless, users are still waiting for Apple’s iPhone.At least that’s the general consensus from a recent ChangeWave survey (PDF download) of more than 4,000 Verizon customers, according to a new Computerworld report. How many are waiting for the iPhone? According to the poll results, more than half of them.“[There is] an unprecedented level of pent-up demand for the iPhone among Verizon subscribers,” the Rockville, Maryland-based ChangeWave reports after their latest market research was released last week. 19 percent of those polled stated that they were “very likely” to buy an iPhone if it landed on Verizon Wireless, with another 34 percent saying they were “somewhat likely” to buy. ChangeWave notes that those numbers were higher than either Sprint or T-Mobile customers.“If Verizon were ever to offer the iPhone, the evidence points to it having a profound and likely transformative impact on the industry,” ChangeWave concludes.While Verizon customers have historically become used to smartphones with crippled features (such as lack of Bluetooth, where a device has it on other carriers), in recent months the carrier has stepped up their game with hot devices such as the webOS-based Palm Pre Plus and the Android-powered Motorola Droid and last week’s launch of the HTC Incredible.BroadPoint AmTech financial analyst Brian Marshall believes it’s a win-win situation for all involved. “If Verizon gets the iPhone in the March, 2011 timeframe, as I expect, Verizon will sell at least 11 million iPhones in the calendar year.”As far as the competition goes, the iPhone has proven to be a strong reason for AT&T customers to stay with the exclusive carrier, despite often vocal grumblings about dropped calls and slow 3G network speeds. “AT&T’s low churn rate -- despite is relatively poor ‘Very Satified’ rating and its high percentage of dropped calls -- is attributable to the huge advantage it continues to maintain as the exclusive U.S. service provider for the Apple iPhone,” notes ChangeWave.BroadPoint’s Marshall concurs. “AT&T is God-awful,” he says bluntly. “But what people are saying is, ‘Don’t take away my iPhone.’”
     

http://www.maclife.com/article/news/survey_says_verizon_users_want_iphone