Verizon survey suggests carrier is a little self-conscious about the iPhone

by Chris Ziegler posted Mar 4th 2009 at 3:38PM

With phones like the Versa and Dare already on the market and a host of other interesting devices inbound for Verizon in the next few weeks, we'd say Verizon has enough juice in the marketing tank to fight off the iPhone for the time being -- but be that as it may, they'd still like to know if you've been swayed by Cupertino's gravitational pull. A tipster to Boy Genius Report sent in some screenshots of an exit survey sent after canceling his service, and of the things Verizon could have "offered to keep you as a customer," the iPhone was the only hardware called out by name. Apple's baby goes on to appear in two more of the survey's questions, suggesting that there's some concern out there in Basking Ridge -- and considering that rumors of a CDMA iPhone for Verizon refuse to die down, maybe they're planning on doing something about it. Or... you know, maybe all you needed was an apology to be swayed to stay, you big softie, you.

Filed under: Verizon Wireless, Apple

Tags: apple, iphone, survey, verizon, verizon wireless, VerizonWireless, vzw

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Neutral

ryanmills84 @ Mar 4th 2009 4:11PM

Maybe they are getting ready to introduce something. Wasn't there a leak of a new Apple iPhone comming because of a software 2.1 or something a month ago or so. . . maybe it is a CDMA version.

Neutral

Jordan @ Mar 4th 2009 4:28PM

PLEASE! I am begging you.

Pay for AT&T's early termination fee to get out of it's contract if you have to.

I miss my iPhone so much. But I do not miss dropping calls.

Lowest Ranked

bernardino @ Mar 4th 2009 7:28PM

Dropped calls? That's funny, that's one of the reasons I left Verizon, which constantly dropped my calls while I was at home. I went to AT&T and got the iPhone, and get five bars at home and at work. I go to my parent's house and get 2 - 3 bars while they get none. My poor sis-in-law continues to have calls drop on her end, and she's a Verizon customer. I also love being able to keep my unused minutes. :)

Lowest Ranked

Toledo Guy @ Mar 4th 2009 9:55PM

AT&T? Dropping calls? The final straw for me with VZW was when my wife and I were driving along the Ohio Turnpike. Following each other. One car behind the other. She tried calling me and the call went straight to VM. My corporate phones had been with AT&T, and I never had coverage issues. Since we switched over 2 yrs ago we haven't had issues. Now we have to iPhones and 2 other lines for my parents. We pay less than we paid VZW for 3 lines two years ago. Plus rollover and much better coverage. I recommend AT&T to all my friends on VZW.

Lowest Ranked

Riley Freeman @ Mar 4th 2009 4:56PM

i think there is a high likely hood we see a cdma iphone this year

Lowest Ranked

Mario2k7 @ Mar 4th 2009 5:26PM

Yeah I am defintitely not suprised ! The Iphone, one device (two if you count 2G and 3G) owns over 30% of the market. How does that happen . . . someone please explain. How can other manufacturers fail to innovate and allow a single device do dominante the market. Keep putting out crappy devices . . . I phone will just keep on geting more money and more of the market share.

Highly Ranked

SoCoolCurt (PSN: KillaKornbread - XBL: SoCoolCurt) @ Mar 4th 2009 8:06PM

30% of the market seems like an extremely high number. you got a source?

but either way, i do agree with the rest of what you said. the iPhone isn't perfect but it's a damn good phone. if i were to actually get one, it would be mostly based on the knowledge that i'm getting a solid device with a huge amount of support. other carriers seem to move on to the next phone as soon as they drop a big name smartphone, leaving them buggy and near unusable for months on end. im with Verizon now and i get no reception where i live, and my phones are ALWAYS buggy when i first get them until they decide to finally release a firmware update like 6 months+ later (Treo 700wx and Moto Q9c). if other carriers could release decent phones on a regular basis, the iPhone would not have the pull it has, it would just be another phone.

Neutral

mario2k7 @ Mar 5th 2009 12:15AM

The source was my Information And Decision Science teacher here in Chicago, I think I just made a fool out of my self. Well he has a thick Columbian accent maybe I just misinterpreted. Any way next time ill double check the facts X)

Neutral

Warren @ Mar 4th 2009 6:13PM

I WISH VZW would have sent me this survey when I left. I would have been real quick to tell them I left for the iPhone.

Neutral

youngcalihottie @ Mar 4th 2009 6:46PM

the iphone is only 1% of the market. although that is extremely good for one phone, i wouldnt call it "dominating." as for the internet usage, why would a carrier even want a phone that is sucking in so much more data than any other device? we're not going to see a cdma iphone until 2012 at the earliest in the US. att still has their exclusive agreement until then. and by 2012 we'd probably see a lte iphone not a cdma one.

Neutral

Masonicangel @ Mar 4th 2009 10:38PM

Iphone rules!! I had the same issue with verizon as the above!! I get 20% discount and it wasn't enough to keep me at VZW. I would go to places and my vzw phone was always in a low bar scenario, places where my GF had full bars! I switched to iphone and now 3G have full 3G in 99.9% of places! I will pay the 30+ more a month I don't care. AT&T better coverage , better phones, no CRIPPLING and IPHONE!!!

Neutral

Brandon @ Mar 4th 2009 11:22PM

Please don't tell me you think AT&T has better 3G coverage than anyone except for T-Mobile. I personally left Sprint and went for an iPhone myself but I can tell you it wasn't because of AT&T's "awesome" 3G coverage.

Verizon wins on that front.

Neutral

Anon @ Mar 4th 2009 10:51PM

Good, they need to know that they screwed up by passing on the iPhone the first time around! I want the iPhone so bad but I am stuck on VZW, wish I could take the survey anyway. the iPhone is just a good product, like most of Apple's products. A good product plus a good service = one damn good thing. But as it is now, the equation is only a good product plus bad service (ATT) = bittersweet.

Neutral

masonicangel @ Mar 4th 2009 11:25PM

Hey Im telling you from my experience in the tristate are of NJ,NY, PA AT&T has better service so for me yes and honestly for me is what matters when I pay my bill

Neutral

nc @ Mar 5th 2009 1:52AM

PLEEEEAAAASE let there be a cdma iPhone this year. I want one so bad but am still locked in a contract with my current carrier - and a termination fee of $480 is too much since its another $300 or whatever to get an iPhone.

Neutral

NuShrike @ Mar 5th 2009 2:28AM

Why hasn't anybody at Verizon been fired for passing over the iPhone?

Neutral

tra la la @ Mar 5th 2009 3:41AM

it's been discussed to death that VZW dropped the proverbial ball with the iPhone. but if you look at the back end of things, AT&T just wanted too much damned control over it, and the only apps they allow MUST be bought thru the apps store. AT&T may be making a bit of money on the service contracts, but they are overall losing a bunch of money because all they do is provide a signal.

rollover minutes? that's great... you pay for minutes you don't use so that MAYBE you'll be covered in the event you use more than your average. There's something that other people do - it's called "being and educated and responsible customer". Check your minutes- if you need to increase, then call in and change your plan for the month.

better signal? that's subjective. I don't know about the rest of you (although some mentioned it), but where I'm at in mid/northern CA, my signal doesn't get much better. On top of that, I've been across the state, as well as to NV, OR, WA, ID, CO, IL, NY, AZ, and the ONLY time I've ever not had coverage is when I was out in the middle of nowhere (read: deep forest or the desert/plains (where likely nobody has coverage)).

I'd like to see this survery personally because I know a few graphic artists who could make that survey look legit with the inclusion of the iphone marker. hell, *I* could probably do it just with MS Paint. And why would that question even be included with options such as cost, features/benefits, an apology, or just plain nothing... and then include a box to put in your own option??

People just need to get over the iPhone already. It's a great *device*, I agree. But there are plenty of other options out there that can do more without all the hype. It's basically an iPod touch that makes calls. And as "advanced" as it is, it still cannot do some things that a free phone can. Case in point:

I've heard the iPhone is aka the "Jesus phone". I couldn't agree more- Jesus couldn't send MMS or record video either.

Neutral

Cricket @ Mar 5th 2009 11:41PM

honestly I think I've only recorded video with my phone MAYBE once since the technology was introduced... And MMS is a joke sending something through email is sooo much more efficent and practical becasue your image isnt scaled down... Of course i guess if your emailing pics its not as easy to send them to dumphones but everyone I know is has a blackberry, sidekick or iphone...

If I were to complain about the iphone id complain about the lack of copy and paste, landscape keyboard in messaging, and apps that run in the background (push email, AIM etc)

But I do agree that as a WHOLE VZW pwns AT&T in coverage... Especially 3G coverage...

The iphone is a great device... you want proof? they say imitation is the greatest form of flattery... How many iClones are there now? How many manufactures changed their whole design schemes and UI's???

Neutral

tra la la @ Mar 6th 2009 2:08PM

@ cricket

I agreed that as a device, it was great. but as a smartphone, there is a decided lack of features that cheaper "dumb" phones have.

remember the time when cameras were first starting to be included with phones? I do... because I said "I'll save the $40 and just get one without. Besides, I just paid $300 for this nifty digital camera that's better." Well, 3 months later when all my friends had cameras on their phones and could load them in SECONDS as opposed to the about 1 minute my camera would take to bootup, I said to myself "well, shit.... maybe I should have gotten the camera on my phone." To add to that, just the bulk of having to carry around the full camera was too much.

I don't really record a lot of video, either. However, just like the camera example, I do find myself using it from time to time.

As far as sending MMS vs email- that's all well and great if you know people who have smartphones/pdas, because you have options. For those people who don't, it's a real pain in the ass. Even more so when someone wants to get YOU a MMS instead of an email. I'm sorry, but getting a web address and access code message which I then must go to a computer to use (since can't cut&paste from the phone and the message doesn't have links), is just ridiculous.

Neutral

Jonno @ Mar 11th 2009 5:12PM

I can honestly say, the iPhone would have been a great addition on the Telus network up here in Canada. Unfortunately, it got placed on a network that hasn't got nearly as much of a service footprint: Rogers. If the iPhone had come out in CDMA as it's rumored to have been offered (I've been hearing stories that Verizon was the first one offered the device... which would have been a real kicker for all those on AT&T or T-Mobile), the odds are I probably would have considered getting one over the Touch Diamond that I got instead. That said, that Touch Diamond has proved how valuable the "Cut & Paste" option can really be.

The iPhone is going to continue to be a phenomenal device, no matter what people believe. I think it is only a matter of time before it improves all the more and becomes more open to more applications. Actually, to be honest, 50% of the reason I did not go over to an iPhone (besides the fact that it was on an insanely over-priced network) was the lack of a way to do MSN without having to log in from the mobile web.