Since the iPhone 4S release earlier this month, people have been trading in their smartphones, both Blackberry and Android alike, at a record pace according to Gazelle “Chief Gadget Officer” Anthony Scarsella.
In an interview with CNET Scarsella said:
This is “easily the highest volume of BlackBerry trades ever seen period” and that “Android trade-ins have seen an increase of 72 percent during the same time period…Android trade-ins have been on Sprint’s network, which began carrying the iPhone for the first time this month.”
Gazelle, a service that lets users sell their old technology for a profit, sells everything from Blu-Ray players to video games. It’s interesting to see the spike in other smartphone platforms since the iPhone 4S. The earlier part of the quote can easily be taken out of context, but the later part about Sprint really hammers home the fact that a lot of people in the US are still waiting to get their hands on the iPhone.
I’d love to know what Apple’s executive team really thinks about the original iPhone exclusivity deal with AT&T now and if they regret not getting their phone on other carriers sooner.
On the flip side, what the Gazelle statements don’t provide is any answers on what platforms these users are moving to, should they actually be leaving behind their current OS of choice. Are Android users selling off their phones because they’re getting ready to upgrade to new Android phones or are they switching to something like iOS? Is the Blackberry sale increase really because of poor experience, or is it because of the recent downtime?
It’s pretty hard to draw any conclusions from the statements by Anthony Scarsella with the information he provides, so take this post for what it’s worth and with a lot of extra salt.
What do you think? Did exclusivity deals help accelerate Android adoption in the US?
