Being An iPhone Owner Is Costly Even Before Shopping In The App Store

Being an iPhone owner can be quite expensive, and this isn't because of App Store purchases. Folks that own an iPhone are often charged a premium by carriers according to a new report by Consumer Intelligence Research Partners, which shared the information with AllThingsD. Between October and December 2012, 59 percent of iPhone owners indicated that they spend more than $100 per month with their carrier. This compares to 55 percent of Android-based smartphone owners, 40 percent of BlackBerry owners, and 56 percent of Windows Phone users. Why do iPhone owners spend more? Says CIRP co-founder Michael Levin:

We think it has to do with their data plans and carriers, rather than their usage habits. They are all on expensive data plans, unlike Android users, some of which are on prepaid or unsubsidized plans with regional carriers.

But, don't blame AT&T and Verizon Wireless for the higher fees. Apple charges carriers higher subsidies for each iPhone. As such, carriers don't necessarily make more money on their iPhone users.

We shouldn't expect this to change anytime soon. CIRP says that the retention rate for iOS and Android are “stickiest by far.”

For the survey period, the research house noted that 88 percent of iPhone activations it charted were from prior iPhone users, while 64 percent of Android device activations were from prior Android owners. Just 7 percent of Blackberry users and 9 percent of Windows Phone users reported sticking with those operating systems.

It will be interesting to see what all this means given that Apple is rumored to be working on a lower-priced iPhone. Source: AllThingsD

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