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Increased wireless penetration means carriers need to woo customers

As wireless penetration increases, the number of new wireless customers available continues to decrease, according to a study by Nielsen.

Therefore, getting through to existing customers becomes increasingly important and one likely avenue to capture them is through the introduction of smartphone handsets like the iPhone.

Nielsen provided Mobile Marketer with the following statistics having to do with the 3G smartphone market:

How is the iPhone 3G faring?
AT&T ports associated with the iPhone 3G have risen for two consecutive months since the device launched on July 11.

How does the iPhone 3G launch compare with the original iPhone?
The number of customers porting into AT&T increased by 97 percent between June and July 2008, reaching a level 12 percent higher than the original iPhone launch in 2007.

Postpaid net adds for AT&T increased by 70 percent between June and July of 2008, reaching a level 14 percent higher than the 2007 launch.

Where has the iPhone 3G had the biggest impact?
The launch of the iPhone 3G has had the biggest impact in San Francisco and New York.

Nielsen Mobile measured a 2-month change in AT&T ports of 137 percent in San Francisco and 183 percent in New York for June and July, outpacing the industry average of 113 percent over those same two months.

What about the competition?

Although Sprint launched the Samsung Instinct (June 20) and Verizon launched the LG Dare (June 26) as competition to the iPhone, ports into other carriers were not nearly as dramatic as AT&T's, suggesting that competition has not significantly affected movement toward the iPhone.

As of Q2 2008, RIM (31.1 percent), HTC (20.6 percent), and Palm (16.9 percent) continue to lead the smartphone industry in market share, with Apple (12.2 percent) trailing in fourth place.

What is the outlook for the smartphone industry?
More than 26 million mobile subscribers use a smartphone device. Smartphones represent 16 percent of recent mobile device acquisitions in the United States.

Additionally, 57 percent of smartphones are acquired by personal users and 30 percent of smartphone users are likely to upgrade their device in the coming year.