How the iPhone crushed T-Mobile

With the U.S. Department of Justice now fighting the proposed AT&T takeover of T-Mobile USA, many T-Mobile customers are beginning to wonder about the viability of the mobile carrier in the long run. In an InfoWorld post today, blogger Galen Gruman wrote a fascinating treatise on how the iPhone is largely responsible for the sad shape that T-Mobile finds itself in.

According to Gruman, the iPhone has created very loyal customers, many of whom have stayed with AT&T despite its reputation for poor service. Since Verizon started selling the iPhone in March, it has also seen a jump in the number of customers who have embraced Apple's smartphone. It's expected that Sprint is also going to join the ranks of American mobile carriers that offer the iPhone. Gruman notes that "without the iPhone, T-Mobile will look like a loser to both potential and existing customers."

He goes on to say that the loyalty that iPhone owners have for their shiny metal and glass boxes is what is helping the other carriers -- they commit to two-year service plans unfailingly, and they're exactly the type of customers that T-Mobile USA is losing.

Gruman wonders how T-Mobile can succeed without AT&T. Despite T-Mobile's advertising about its "4G network" (actually a "3G-plus" HSPA+ network), parent company Deutsche Telekom chose not to invest in spectrum licenses, so the company has very little spectrum that can be used for future LTE 4G networks. Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, and even PAYG vendor Metro PCS have LTE 4G networks and are planning on expanding those rapidly in the future.

One thing that could help out T-Mobile if the AT&T takeover doesn't happen -- a T-Mobile specific model of the iPhone, since it wouldn't be difficult for Apple to build a version that supports T-Mobile's network.