Apple iPhone Aided Q4 Wireless, Says Baird; T-Mobile Resurgence?

R.W. Baird’s Will Power offers an update of the deep impact on the wireless industry of Apple’s (AAPL) iPhone.

Post-paid subscriber growth in the industry in Q4 of 18.9% was helped in a big way by Apple’s iPhone 4S introduction that quarter, he notes. And post-paid was responsible for almost half (47%) of all the new subscribers added at retail, writes Power.

The iPhone 4S, moreover, provided an “overhang” to Deutsche Telekom’s (DTE.DE) T-Mobile Unit: “T-Mobile lost 802,00 total postpay subscribers in Q4, with most seemingly switching to either AT&T (T) or Verizon [Wireless (VZ)] based on results,” writes Power.

Going forward, however, Power warns that T-Mobile will be “revitalized”: “T-Mobile, now armed with $3 billion in cash from AT&T, plans to�relaunch its brand and Challenger strategy in Q3. In addition, it plans to roll out LTE in 2013, adding one more 4G LTE competitor.”

He also sees various “industry participants,” are “speaking with one another on a range of potential partnerships and spectrum positions.”

Fin