Only a quarter of US iPhones are sold through Apple
by Allison Johnson from The Verge - All Posts on (#66RY0)
September is now an unofficial free iPhone bonanza. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge A new report from CIRP says that only about 24 percent of recent iPhones purchased in the US were sold directly by Apple. Instead, the most popular way to buy a new iPhone was through a wireless carrier, which accounted for 67 percent of sales. That's certainly a perception shift from the time of lines around the block at the Apple store on launch day, but it's not at all surprising given how aggressively AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile now promote iPhone giveaways every fall.
CIRP (Consumer Intelligence Research Partners) surveys iPhone buyers to find out which models they're buying and where they're shopping - information Apple doesn't disclose. Outside of carriers and Apple retail, CIRP attributes 4 percent of iPhone sales to Best Buy...