Carriers who sell iPhone have love/hate relationship with Apple. Revenue per user (ARPU) from iPhone customers is higher than other phones, but device subsidies and other costs are also higher. Apple dictatorial ‘my way or highway’ of doing business gets under their skin. Apple has gutted mobile value chain disproportionally shifting profits. While number of iPhones sold increases - carriers margins keep dropping.
AT&T, the iPhone beachhead, is trying to shake things up by partnering with Nokia on the launch of flagship Lumia 900. Nokia is desperate to retake US market after being irrelevant for the last 7 years and has excellent product to show at low price. Nokia has gotten its foot in the door already with more affordable Lumia 710 on T-Mobile network. The device, which has been free with contract has attracted a lot of new smart phone buyers and sold better than Samsung Galaxy S II.
Nokia and AT&T will throw extraordinary resources to ensure the success of Lumia 900. First, Nokia ensured their Lumia 900 was the most talked about product during the CES in Las Vegas. Now AT&T is going to follow the suit. Cnet quoted AT&T device head Jeff Bradley “At all levels, this is a notch above anything we've ever done" , noting that includes the launch of the iPhone.
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