T-Mobile sells 500,000 iPhone 5s in first month, quarterly profits drop

Dave LeClair

Posts: 75   +1

T-Mobile has just released its earnings report for the first quarter of 2013, offering a first look at the company's iPhone 5 sales since it began carrying the device about a month ago. The self-procalimed 'uncarrier' was able to move 500,000 iPhones in that time, which is not bad, but nowhere near the 4.8 million units sold by AT&T during the same period.

Of course, comparing iPhone sales between the two is not exactly a fair comparison, since AT&T offers an iPhone 4 free of charge, and a 4S for $99 with a new contract. T-Mobile did not release quantities sold for older model iPhones, as it is probably holding that data back for next quarter, when it actually has a full three months of carrying the complete line of devices.

Besides iPhone sales, T-Mobile added 579,000 new subscribers in the previous three month period, but only 3,000 of those were branded customers. The rest were spread among its MVNOs and other unbranded carriers using its network. Still, this was the first branded increase T-Mobile has seen since 2009.

Despite an otherwise encouraging quarter, the company still saw a big drop in profit compared to Q1 2012. Specifically, quarterly net income was $107 million, whereas last year it saw $200 million in profit during Q1. 

Of course, these number are not totally indicative of where T-Mobile stands right now, as only a small part of the data includes its new no contract strategy. Next quarter will provide a much better indication of where the carrier is heading, and how the change in strategy is actually doing. 

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iPhone 5s?

An attemp at the plural form of "iphone 5". My god, do your parents still poor milk in your cereal?

The only thing poor here is your grammar, what you do to milk is pour.

Anyway...
I'd guess T-mobile's business will only go up. I just signed up with them because my contract with Sprint was up. Much faster network, new phone, lower monthly bill (even though I'm paying for the phone) and no contract. Data is technically unlimited, but they limit your 4G data before they drop you down to Sprint speeds. It's win-win-win-win all the way around.

It'll take them some time to get people on board as so many are stuck with their current contracts, and I'm sure there are some costs associated with their merger and new contract-free plans.
 
Mike
Dude watch out. You ARE in a contract, just not for the service. TMoble has had quite a few complaints to the FCC about this very subject. Let me be the first to warn you of something. DO NOT MISS A PAYMENT!!! TMoble can and will cut off your service and send you to collections. Also pray that you dont drop your phone. There have been a few instances where ppl have daqmaged their phone and TMoble will not replace it and forces you to pay for a new one, pay for a refurb, or just send it to collections.
 
The self-procalimed 'uncarrier' was able to move 500,000 iPhones in that time, which is not bad, but nowhere near the 4.8 million units sold by AT&T during the same period.

This statement isn't true. T-mobile started selling the iPhone on like April 12th, which isn't the in first quarter. AT&T sold 4.8 million in 3 months, t-mobile sold 500,000 in two weeks. These are two sales numbers that occurred over different periods at different times.

Mike
Dude watch out. You ARE in a contract, just not for the service. TMoble has had quite a few complaints to the FCC about this very subject. Let me be the first to warn you of something. DO NOT MISS A PAYMENT!!! TMoble can and will cut off your service and send you to collections. Also pray that you dont drop your phone. There have been a few instances where ppl have daqmaged their phone and TMoble will not replace it and forces you to pay for a new one, pay for a refurb, or just send it to collections.

Yeah, I know. I took out a loan on the phone. This was perfectly clear to me when I signed up, but I did hear that many people were confused by it. I didn't need to buy an expensive phone from them, and of course I'd have to pay for the phone now that I have it. Leaving t-mobile does make me have to pay it back right away if I leave, but that's still a choice I made. This isn't a downside, or a hidden consequence... this is a benefit. With no contract you have to buy the phone, and if I needed to fork over the full $575 for the phone right away that would have kept me from signing up. If my previous phone had a SIM card I could just bring it over their network and not buy a phone at all.

T-mobile actually sent me a letter yesterday saying that they were sorry this was confusing for some people and I have 14 days to send the phone back and get all my money back. I'm also paying for the insurance, just in case I drop my phone, and there is a $175 deductible for a new one.
 
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