iLounge

According to a new report from The NPD Group, 30 percent of U.S. customers who purchased an iPhone 3G from its launch on July 11 through August switched mobile carriers to do so. By comparison, only 23 percent of consumers, on average, switched carriers between June and August. Of the iPhone customers that switched to AT&T, 47 percent switched from Verizon Wireless, 24 percent switched from T-Mobile, and 19 percent switched from Sprint. In addition, the report states that prior to the launch of the iPhone 3G (January through May 2008), iPhone sales accounted for 11 percent of the consumer market for smartphones, while after the launch of the iPhone 3G, Apple commanded 17 percent of the market. From June through August, the iPhone 3G was also the top-selling smartphone based on units sales to consumers, followed by the BlackBerry Curve, BlackBerry Pearl, and Palm Centro.

“The launch of the lower-priced iPhone 3G was a boon to overall consumer smartphone sales,” according to Ross Rubin, director of industry analysis for The NPD Group. “While the original iPhone also helped win customers for AT&T, the faster network speeds of the iPhone 3G has proven more appealing to customers that already had access to a 3G network.”