AT&T: no massive switch to Verizon iPhone expected

iPhone users won't bolt from AT&T to Verizon, if and when a Verizon version of the smartphone is introduced, AT&T believes. Why? Not because they love AT&T, but because it's a pain to switch.

On Wednesday, at the JPMorgan tech conference, AT&T CEO Ralph de la Vega, while not mentioning when the iPhone exclusivity will end, gave the following stats which point in that direction:

• 70 percent of AT&T's customers are on family plans. It's a lot harder to switch a family over than a single person, obviously, due to equipment cost
• 40 percent of customers are on corporate discount plans

Meanwhile, AT&T's churn rate has gone down since the iPhone's introduction.

In effect, while there will be defectors, Verizon and Apple are more likely to see folks already at Verizon sign up for an iPhone, than see AT&T customers who already have iPhones switch over.

Of course, de la Vega probably hasn't been been reading comments on any Verizon iPhone story, which usually have a high percentage of folks saying stuff like "I can't wait to switch."