A Direct Marketing Agency - Helping Brands Acquire and Retain Customers

On Friday, June 29^th the iPhone will be on-sale through AT&T Wireless. AT&T is expecting a huge amount of traffic to their stores due to their new product. Industry analysts and executives are unsure how much AT&T will benefit from the iPhone and the affects it will have on their competition with Verizon, Sprint Nextel and other wireless carriers. The new iPhone will change consumers' expectations of what type of mobile phones should be offered through wireless companies.

Chetan Sharma, a wireless industry consultant, stated the shift will be like the one caused by the Razr from Motorola, the once wildly popular phone that became the first phone that people regularly asked for by name. The iPhone's popularity is a testimony to the power of Apple's brand name and reputation. Due to the fact that Apple is a powerful brand customers are willing to give the new phone a chance as they did when the iPod first became popular. According to Apple's chief executive, Steven P. Jobs, Apple expects to sell 10 million iPhones by the end of 2008. A market research firm, M:Metrics, found that 64% of American mobile phone users had heard of the iPhone and 14% will be interested in purchasing the new product. These statistics are testimony to how powerful AT&T and Apple's iPhone marketing campaign has been.

The iPhone has the potential to shift AT&T's whole brand and its launch is bigger than any of AT&T's other products. AT&T has been greatly focused on their marketing techniques for the new phone because it has the potential to bring in more subscribers. AT&T is excited about the potential to increase their customers because their share of new monthly wireless subscribers has fallen steadily over the last year. AT&T is currently losing 1.7% of their subscribers each month compared to Verizon who is losing 1.1%.

To accommodate the expected demand for the iPhone AT&T has hired about 1,900 workers for their stores across the country. Glenn Lurie, president for national distribution of AT&T's wireless group stated, "This is going to drive a tremendous amount of traffic and energy to our stores. It'll help our growth not just in iPhones but in our overall business."

It should be interesting to hear if AT&T's launch on Friday is successful and if it will increase their customers. This is an excellent opportunity for AT&T to improve their brand and have a new position in the wireless carrier network.