Apple made mistakes by not originally subsidizing the iPhone when it was launched, and by signing an exclusive deal with AT&T in the U.S. Those are some of the conclusions of widely followed Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster.
The observations were made in a note that Munster sent to clients on Tuesday. In it, he said Apple corrected its subsidizing mistake by lowering the price on the first iPhone not long after its release, and by offering a subsidized price for the 3G version.
Exclusivity Boosts Android
Munster noted that, at some point, Apple will likely offer a subsidized deal for the iPad, such as AT&T increasing its data plan from $25 monthly to $35, and then dropping the price of the 3G 16GB iPad from $629 to $389 with a two-year commitment.
As for the deal with AT&T, Munster pointed out that the U.S. is the only market where Apple still has an exclusive deal with a wireless carrier. This excludes countries like China, where the arrangement with the only carrier in the market is technically not exclusive.
The AT&T deal, he said, is the key to why Google’s Android-powered phones have begun to outsell the iPhone in the U.S. “In countries where the iPhone is available on multiple carriers and competes with Android,” he wrote, “we see the iPhone outselling Android.”
The biggest factor in Android’s success thus far, Jaffray said, is that Verizon Wireless “customers are loyal to their carrier.” He added that, when Verizon does get the iPhone, “Android’s success in the U.S. will be tested.”
On Tuesday, Consumer Reports rated AT&T as the worst wireless carrier in the U.S. The report was based on a survey of more than 58,000 subscribers to the magazine. AT&T was rated in last place in 2009 as well, but now it’s even further behind the next-best…