Strong sales of the iPhone 5 have helped Apple grab more than a quarter of the global LTE device market last quarter, despite the handset’s short time on sale. The Cupertino company now commands 27% of the market share, while arch rival Samsung’s 40% share means it maintains the top spot for the seventh quarter in a row.
However, increasing competition from its rivals means Samsung’s share has quickly slipped by more than 10% from 50.9% in the previous quarter.
Sprint may not be in last place when it comes to the 4G LTE arms race, but they’re certainly not in first. Lagging well behind the likes of Verizon and AT&T, Sprint has just recently managed to bring its 4G LTE market total to a pathetic 43 markets. I say pathetic because half of them can hardly be considered “markets.” Since Sprint is simply playing the numbers game here, let’s take a look at the 11 new “markets” recently added to Sprints 4G LTE list.
AT&T had the fastest 3G network in the country, but when it comes to 4G LTE service, they’ve been way behind Verizon. It looks like AT&T is finally ready to play catchup with Verizon though as they announced this morning that they plan to invest $14 billion into their LTE network over the next three years.
AT&T is calling their investment and LTE expansion plans, “Project Velocity IP,” and is hoping that the investment in the network will drive continued increases in revenues from existing products and services.
The first time you purchase your first LTE-capable smartphone, the biggest shocker of the device isn’t how wicked fast LTE download speeds are, it’s how sinisterly expensive it is to pay for all that super-fast LTE data. Just like 3G data plans, LTE is expensive. In fact, according to to the GSM Association, Americans are being charged too much for LTE data.
SoftBank will combine with Sprint to become one of the world’s largest carriers.
SoftBank, Japan’s third-largest carrier, has this morning announced that it will acquire Sprint in a deal worth $20.1 billion. The company will purchase $8 billion in newly-issues shares from Sprint, in addition to $12.1 billion in existing shares — giving it a 70% stake overall.
