Post iPhone 5 release date: Can AT&T maintain subscriber growth?

Rumor mill is claiming that Apple might allow other carriers like Sprint Wireless and T-Mobile USA to sell its still-unannounced, but most likely existing Apple iPhone 5. So for the former exclusive carrier of the iPhone AT&T, is this a big bad news? Well, a bit, but not what others were then suggesting.

According to AT&T, they have added at least 331,000 new subscribers last quarter, which is more than 100% compared to 91,000 that analysts have suggested. However, the company’s profit fell to $3.59 billion compared to its previous record of $4 billion, but still better than the estimates made also by analysts.

Apparently, Verizon Wireless started selling the iPhone 4 in Q1 of this year, which is the first CDMA version of the iPhone to land in United States. Analysts and journalists then have predicted the growth slowdown of AT&T, but if the new figures presented yesterday is accurate, then it looks like there’s still hope for AT&T even after September, which is the rumored release month of the iPhone 5.

Can AT&T maintain its subscriber growth post iPhone 5 even with more competing carriers? Well, obviously they can especially if they will carry more Android and Windows Phone by the end of this year, which is actually possible (Nokia with Windows phones should start popping out of warehouses later this year).

Rumor has it that Google will introduce a new Nexus phone later this year, which will carry the Android’s latest build called Ice Cream Sandwich. It’s worth noting that AT&T is the latest carrier to support the Google Nexus S which is a phone manufactured by Samsung. The AT&T-flavored Nexus S will arrive by weekend and will sport a tag price of $99 with contract. Obviously, Google and AT&T have started a partnership regarding the Nexus line, so Nexus 3 under AT&T is highly possible now.



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