What happens when you don’t sell as many iPhones as Apple would like for you to?  You could owe the Cupertino company some money!  Or at least that is true when it comes to the top wireless carrier in the United States.  I understand that contracts exist between entities of all types from car manufacturers and car lots from PC manufacturers and retailers — they are unavoidable.  Apparently, Verizon “agreed a deal to sell at least US$23.5 billion worth of iPhones in 2013” [Source: http://www.cellular-news.com/story/60982.php ].

Is it particularly Verizon’s fault that it did not sell as many devices as it would have liked?  Yes and no.  Perhaps marketing was not on their side; better yet, maybe iPhones just aren’t selling as well as they used to?  Let’s examine the statistics here, when Apple first released it’s famed iPhone everybody wanted it.  Some left their current carrier to join AT&T because that is the only service that offered the device.  Then, Verizon followed suit and agreed to sell the iPhone 4 — millions were sold.  However, let us take a look at the marketshare for iOS devices and Android devices:

As it is quite easy to tell (perhaps after enlarging the picture) Android is in the lead and isn’t relinquishing hold.  There simply are not enough iPhones in the market.  The gift of Android is that there is simply a device for everyone.

Bottom line: Contracts sometimes are harsh, word of advice to Verizon look at the market before signing another deal with Apple.