Verizon Shows Up To The Table With Money In Hand

I've been asked a lot why we spend so much time talking about cell phones and the various wireless carriers. Aside from the iPhone and the G1, as well as a few of the Blackberry models coming out, there doesn't seem to be much innovation going on in the market, and most consumers are completely satisfied with a cell phone that simply makes and receives calls and maybe text messages. Sometimes it's hard to quantify why we believe cell phones are a big deal in tech, at least until you see recent Verizon quarterly statement and realize that their wireless business single-handedly held the company up. And Verizon isn't the only wireless carrier like that.

Turns out that even in these tough economic times, cell phones are still big business. It makes sense too. If I'm looking to cut some bills to save some money, getting rid of a land line in favor of just a cell phone makes sense. Also, the high end market only continues to grow. Most phones releasing nowadays are aiming for that high end, high data user segment (aka, everyone reading tech blogs), and that's where the money is at for the carrier.

One of the other things we learned in Verizon's quarterly statement is that they have the lowest defection rate of all wireless carriers in the states. We also learned that they don't carry the iPhone (duh!) but that they are continuing to pursue competitive products, as they estimate that the iPhone is their current number one cause of defection, or "churn" as they call it.

This is really good news overall for us consumers, I believe. Hopefully, the other carriers will follow suit with equally good news, as this could spell a boom in cell phone production and innovation. When companies start to realize that the cell phone market seems to be "recession proof," it's likely that more money will be poured into R&D and production, which means more innovations on current technology and more choices for us. Of course, that is assuming any of us have jobs to buy new phones, but hey, there's always wishful thinking!

Verizon's profits soar on wireless [CNET]