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Verizon released their quarterly report from last years end, and the numbers are not good for Verizon, or so they would seem. A major part of the reason for this loss, according to Verizon, was subsidiaries from smartphones.
Verizon reported that the total amount lost for the fourth quarter was 4.23 billion dollars. This is due, primarily, to three things. The Basking Ridge, New Jersey based company suffered heavy damage during Hurricane/Tropical Storm Sandy, as well as many of its northeast operations. Also, they include gargantuan charges from their own pension plan, as well as being in debt. 
The final contributor to the loss of Verizon was the subsidiaries from smartphones. These subsidiaries are incurred when Verizon releases new products and promotions, and the retailer is paid to sell the phones at a reduced price. In addition, the retailer sees most of the profit from the sale, and the money that Verizon makes does not make its way to their pockets until the user upgrades their phone or get more contracts. This can take years sometimes.
Despite all of these setbacks, Verizon is hopeful that the company will bounce back. Revenue for the quarter was up 5.7%. Verizon clinched 2.1 million new contracts as well, and users activated 9.8 million smartphones, both records for the company in their respective categories. 9% of new users upgraded their phones right away, which is up from the 7% from last years similar quarter. The year before that saw 10% of users upgrade. With numbers like these, Verizon could very well see an increase in profits as customers upgrade and buy more phone for their accounts, and Verizon hopes to surpass 10% in the following years reports.
The last quarter has been tough on Verizon in the last few years because of Apple’s domination of the market and AT&T’s claim on the iPhone. Now iPhone’s are available through many providers, Verizon included. This and all the other bits of good news have Verizon spokesmen excited about turning this losing trend around.
