Despite T-Mobile COO Jim Alling admitting just last week that the iPhone is too expensive right now, analyst Scott Craig from Merrill Lynch has reportedly said that “speculation is heightening” that Deutsche Telecom will announce a deal to bring the iPhone to its U.S. subsidiary at next week’s analysts day.
The carrier recently improved its iPhone compatible high-speed HSPA+ network in 10 metropolitan areas, which allows some of the 1.5 million T-Mobile customers already using unlocked iPhones to get something better than the GSM download speeds.
Alling also admitted that not selling the iPhone has been costing T-mobile customers. Craig also pointed out that making a deal with the fourth largest U.S. carrier would give Apple access to 98 percent of the U.S. post-paid market and 75 percent of the country’s total mobile subscribers.
Craig also says that “while this would be incrementally positive, any financial impact would be limited.” He estimates that a T-Mobile deal would add about 4 million iPhones to his current estimate of 179 million sold in calendar 2013, boosting Apple’s top line (revenue) by 1 percent and its bottom line (earnings per share) by 2 percent.
Image Credit: alizahausman
