More than a quarter of people who bought Apple Inc's iPhone are using them on wireless networks other than AT&T's, the exclusive iPhone carrier in the U.S., a “stunning” number that will pressure the company's business model, an analyst said on Monday. Bernstein Research analyst Toni Sacconaghi said analysis of sales numbers from Apple and AT&T Inc revealed about 1.45 million phones were “missing in action” at the end of 2007.<\/p>\n
\nAbout 480,000 of those were believed to be held by AT&T as inventory, leaving another 1 million phones, or 27 percent of the total, that Sacconaghi said were “unlocked” so they could work on non-AT&T networks. Apple executives said last week the number of unlocked phones was “significant” but declined to give an estimate. Most analysts had estimated the portion of unlocked phones at under 20 percent. Spokespersons for Apple and AT&T declined to comment.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
More than a quarter of people who bought Apple Inc's iPhone are using them on wireless networks other than AT&T's, the exclusive iPhone carrier in the U.S., a “stunning” number that will pressure the company's business model, an analyst said on Monday. Bernstein Research analyst Toni Sacconaghi said analysis of sales numbers from Apple and AT&T Inc revealed about 1.45 million phones were “missing in action” at the end of 2007.<\/p>\n
\nAbout 480,000 of those were believed to be held by AT&T as inventory, leaving another 1 million phones, or 27 percent of the total, that Sacconaghi said were “unlocked” so they could work on non-AT&T networks. Apple executives said last week the number of unlocked phones was “significant” but declined to give an estimate. Most analysts had estimated the portion of unlocked phones at under 20 percent. Spokespersons for Apple and AT&T declined to comment.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n