Absolutely Nothing To Do With The Bakken -- ATT vs Verizon

As an avid fan of Apple and its products (I don't own any shares in AAPL), it has been entertaining to watch the discussions among customers of ATT and Verizon.

For those who have followed the story, one can recall all the stories about all the ATT iPhone users who could not wait for Verizon to get the iPhone. So many ATT users were upset with dropped calls and couldn't wait to get a Verizon iPhone.

Well, now Verizon has the iPhone, and the results are in. They left in droves. Not.

Link here.

Verizon Communications may have the iPhone, but the blockbuster smartphone has yet to pay off in its battle against AT&T Inc.

In the second quarter, Verizon Wireless, the No. 1 U.S. mobile service, signed up 1.3 million fewer iPhone customers than AT&T, dashing high hopes of investors who sent its shares down almost 3 percent.

On top of this, Verizon Wireless customers spent less per month than expected as the company changed its data service price plans, further disappointing Wall Street on Friday.

While Verizon Wireless added three times more net subscribers in the quarter than AT&T, it only activated 2.3 million Apple Inc iPhones compared with 3.6 million activations at AT&T.

"AT&T has done a much better job of hanging on to iPhone customers than anybody expected," said Credit Suisse analyst Jonathan Chaplin.

Oh, I mentioned that I don't own any AAPL shares. Members in my family do own some shares in ATT, but none in Verizon, that I am aware of, except through mutual funds, etc.