I bet the month will not go by before Apple announces that iPhone 5 will not be coming on the normal date.
You can be sure that it would be unacceptable to Verizon if ATT would get their version a few months before them. And Apple would surely not make a new Verizon model that would only sell for a few months.
I expect the next iPhone to be released in the typical June/July timeframe as a unified phone for both ATT & Verizon.
Apple did not really create a new phone for Verizon but, rather, dropped a new radio and tuned the antenna to perform properly in an almost 8-month old phone.
Quote:
Other than the people screaming for it to come on the anniversary as always.
Apple has time. No competitors will outdo them in 6 or 8 months time.
Apple cannot afford to be complacent. Their once-a-year release schedule means they have to really impress early on and then ride out the rest of the year as the competition releases and markets incrementally improved devices that might even surpass Apple's specs. So far no one has been able to catch up to Apple's total package but Apple needs to stay aggressive in this area.
I don't find this type of news to be very surprising or really any type of foreboding doom for Verizon or the CDMA iPhone 4. First, the handset has already sold out to pre-order Verizon customers ... most of which were the most likely to upgrade to the iPhone 4 early. Secondly, the iPhone 4 has already been on sale on the AT&T network for over half a year, and the iPhone 5 is scheduled to be released within the coming months. With Verizon's subsidized upgrade policy what's the point of rushing to get an iPhone 4 at the end of it's product cycle when you'd have to wait another two years to upgrade to a newer model without penalties? Third, most "switchers" (from AT&T to Verizon) are also waiting on the iPhone 5.
I personally have no plans on switching from AT&T to Verizon. I do, however, know four of my relatives here in the San Diego who are current Verizon customers have been waiting for the iPhone to be released for years on their network. Still every single one of them is waiting for the iPhone 5 ... I don't really think they're alone. If I were in their position I would be doing the exact same thing -- and I think the majority of Verizon customers in the iPhone fall in the same category.
Once the CDMA iPhone 5 hits Verizon I think we can expect long lines and dramatically increased demand.
You might have a point if the iPhone 4 wasn't Apple's only phone. How many models of Android phones are on the market? The only meaningful comparison is how many iOS phones are sold compared to Android phones.
Unless things pick up a lot today, Apple and Verizon can only view what's being reported as a failure. Both companies will try to spin it otherwise, but they must be very disappointed at what seems to be a lackluster event.
Time to ditch Apple stock folks. The boom times are coming to a close. If you believe otherwise, I just hope you're not risking your retirement or you kids college education on it.
What if Apple announces in a couple of weeks that they have sold 1.5-2M Verizon iPhones? Still a failure? I think not and they will likely have steady Verizon sales through the next phone update.
Please do ditch the stock- you and as many as you can convince. I've been waiting for a really big drop to buy some more stock.
For those who think that the small lines today are a disappointment of "failure", I'd be careful not to read too much into todays turnout.
Todays sales are a rough gauge for the number of disgruntled ATT iPhone users. So todays events are "good" news for them not necessarily "bad" news for Apple. Even still there may be many ATT customers who will switch to VZ once their ATT contract is up. I'm in that category.
The VZ pre-order sales were supposedly very strong so I doubt Apple will consider today a failure of any sorts.
As I indicated earlier, I think the whole mass-ATT-defections-to-Verizon meme is largely the myopic ramblings of techies and bloggers that live in NY or SF, places that even AT&T acknowledges have bad network coverage. Yes, AT&T has numerous other issues, but Verizon's not necessarily a panacea for everyone. For example, my mom switched from AT&T to Verizon when her contract was up, but now she can't wait to switch back because Verizon's reception is horrible at her house.
The big picture, in addition to gaining the many current Verizon smartphone users whose existing contracts are running out (primarily Blackberry), the iPhone also stands to gain from subscribers transitioning from feature phones. I don't think there's any question that adding Verizon will generate millions of new iPhone sales this year and divert many sales that otherwise would have gone to Android models. So, this singular obsession with the length of the store lines on one day is rather absurd.
And we know for a FACT that the iPhone 5 release later this summer, will in fact, be both for AT&T and Verizon? I missed that news release from Apple...
I'm not discounting it... But I would like to know:
Will there be one iPhone model manufactured or will the current two versions of iPhone still need to be produced. Wasn't the Verizon iPhone slightly modified regarding the outer band antenna and the buttons had to be moved slightly?
And if two versions still need to be produced, why the update in such a short period of time versus unifying things next year especially, with the carriers moving to LTE and how that might alter the next iPhone design update?
Inquiring minds want to know?
I really don't see a new Verizon iPhone happening just 4 short months from the initial release. I could be wrong but I thought Apple would have learned their lesson from the original iPhone release in 2007 when they lowered the price several hundred dollars just two months after the initial release and then had all those angry early adopters. Does Apple or Verizon for that matter want to deal with a million plus early adopters angry that the phone they just purchased a few months earlier didn't have a year's life span before being EOL'ed?
I don't knowwwww!.....
/
/
/
I expect a unified iPhone to drop on schedule this summer for both carriers. Part of this is based on the fact that the Verizon iPhone is using the Gobi chip which supports GSM/UMTS and CDMA. I am not sure how they would handle the antenna tuning and other related matters but other handset makers have already made world-mode phones.
I don't think we will see LTE in an iPhone until next year. Currently, there is just not enough LTE coverage for Apple to make that investment. They will arrive a bit late to the LTE game but I suspect things will work out fine since many early adopters will be complaining that they cannot get LTE (for which they will pay extra) in many places.
Most Verizon customers do not care about global support, simultaneous voice and data because they have never had it. Unlimited internet for $30 is much better than 2GB for $25. For me, being locked out of LTE for two years is what is making me wait for the iPhone 5.
Since the iPhone 5 (assuming you mean the iPhone to be released this summer) is not expected to have LTE, you will be waiting at least another year for an iPhone or will have to settle for a handset from another manufacturer.
I'd probably buy the current Verizon iPhone so that I already have completed four months of my contract and hence would need to only wait an additional 8 months for an LTE iPhone.
In a few weeks Apple and/or Verizon will post the sales results and, regardless if there were long lines or not, they will have sold more Verizon iPhones in that period of time then any other phone, in an equal amount of sales time, that Verizon has ever released.
Say what you want about people waiting for the next iPhone, or no LTE support, no world phone (GSM) support, etc... etc. They will sell a ton of Verizon iPhones and, for the most part, people are going to be very happy with their decision. Some people have lots of spare money and will pay for the phone they want, with or without a contract renewal being available.
I dumped my Droid Incredible for the iPhone 4 and I am very happy. The Droid was a good phone, but it wasn't a great phone. It had a few too many quirks for me.
To each his or her own, of course... but those of you who say,"Fail".. lol. Apple is laughing all the way to the bank. They are going to make a ton of money by bringing the iPhone to Verizon. They only wish they would have done it sooner.
I don't find this type of news to be very surprising or really any type of foreboding doom for Verizon or the CDMA iPhone 4. First, the handset has already sold out to pre-order Verizon customers ... most of which were the most likely to upgrade to the iPhone 4 early. Secondly, the iPhone 4 has already been on sale on the AT&T network for over half a year, and the iPhone 5 is scheduled to be released within the coming months. With Verizon's subsidized upgrade policy what's the point of rushing to get an iPhone 4 at the end of it's product cycle when you'd have to wait another two years to upgrade to a newer model without penalties? Third, most "switchers" (from AT&T to Verizon) are also waiting on the iPhone 5.
I personally have no plans on switching from AT&T to Verizon. I do, however, know four of my relatives here in the San Diego who are current Verizon customers have been waiting for the iPhone to be released for years on their network. Still every single one of them is waiting for the iPhone 5 ... I don't really think they're alone. If I were in their position I would be doing the exact same thing -- and I think the majority of Verizon customers in the iPhone fall in the same category.
Once the CDMA iPhone 5 hits Verizon I think we can expect long lines and dramatically increased demand.
I agree with most of what you say but Verizon has discontinued its "New every two" program:
This isn't true; it depends on where you are in your two-year contract. With a tad over 6 months left, they offered the upgrade to me for only $20 extra.
The story here is the non-event and it's hard to draw readers without something to report.
While the iphone is a very good product and the best selling single device, it's just one of many highly competitive devices. Nowadays, it's just a product release whereas previously, Apple and ATT had the mojo to get people to line up. The fact that Verizon is not disclosing sales figures is further indication of disappointment.
The summer release should be closer to what we are used to seeing in terms of sales and hype, but things aren't getting any easier for Apple, as the market share trend continues.
I don't find this type of news to be very surprising or really any type of foreboding doom for Verizon or the CDMA iPhone 4. First, the handset has already sold out to pre-order Verizon customers ... most of which were the most likely to upgrade to the iPhone 4 early. Secondly, the iPhone 4 has already been on sale on the AT&T network for over half a year, and the iPhone 5 is scheduled to be released within the coming months. With Verizon's subsidized upgrade policy what's the point of rushing to get an iPhone 4 at the end of it's product cycle when you'd have to wait another two years to upgrade to a newer model without penalties? Third, most "switchers" (from AT&T to Verizon) are also waiting on the iPhone 5.
I personally have no plans on switching from AT&T to Verizon. I do, however, know four of my relatives here in the San Diego who are current Verizon customers have been waiting for the iPhone to be released for years on their network. Still every single one of them is waiting for the iPhone 5 ... I don't really think they're alone. If I were in their position I would be doing the exact same thing -- and I think the majority of Verizon customers in the iPhone fall in the same category.
Once the CDMA iPhone 5 hits Verizon I think we can expect long lines and dramatically increased demand.
No, there was no 'sell out'. They simply stopped pre-sales and most sales were in the first two hours. It was a 'take away' to build hype. Then they put out a story saying they were predicting 'unprecedented demand' urging employees not to buy iphones, all-the-while there was plenty of stock including now. My only point: it was a relative disappointment for Verizon and Apple. They were surely hoping for a blockbuster and nothing of the sort happened.
1) Verizon has already had 2 online launches before this.
2) Sales are spread between Apple/Verizon/Best Buy/Walmart
3) The hardcore Apple fans are probably on ATT already
4) People found out about this 1 month ago. They are still waiting to get done with their 2 year contracts to upgrade (even the original iPhone had a 6 month warning, so folks whose contracts were ending in the 6 months preceding the launch could wait for it. For the iPhone 4, ATT allowed some folks to upgrade early, allowing people who once again, fell into a 6 month window to upgrade...besides, people knew the iPhone 4 was coming out then).
5) Most are waiting for iPhone 5.
6) 1 month after the holiday season is not really the best time to release a product. Most have just got done spending significant sums of money, and are likely to scale back a bit.
A VERY small percentage of the market sits online and worries/predicts/argues/cares about when exactly the next version is coming out. The readership here is not a sample of the real world.
The iPhone 4 was released on a Thursday in June. I remember calling in sick and missing the first inning of an afternoon ballgame due to standing in line
You might have a point if the iPhone 4 wasn't Apple's only phone. How many models of Android phones are on the market? The only meaningful comparison is how many iOS phones are sold compared to Android phones.
Unless things pick up a lot today, Apple and Verizon can only view what's being reported as a failure. Both companies will try to spin it otherwise, but they must be very disappointed at what seems to be a lackluster event.
Time to ditch Apple stock folks. The boom times are coming to a close. If you believe otherwise, I just hope you're not risking your retirement or you kids college education on it.
How is selling a million phones in 24 hours a failure?
The reason there aren't big lines is because they have been online pre-orders for a week. No other iPhone launch has had pre-orders before in-store availability. So the only way to get iPhones on the first day in all previous releases is to go to a store.
SInce it isn't necessary to go to a store, and a million were sold in the first 24 hours of online pre-order availability, before anyone even thought to go looking for a line. This is like saying the cows all left the barn even though the doors are closed and there is a lot of mooing inside. Pure bunk. Take those 1,000,000 phones and divide them out across the Verizon and Apple stores and you get more than 400 phones pre-sold per store. More than 2000 400+ customer lines averted. That's a lot of line serviced before it ever became a line.
Maybe, just maybe, the reason there are no lines is that there is much less demand for a Verizon iPhone than expected. Weather is not a factor...we see people line up each Christmas outside many stores. Here are some real reasons:
-iPhone 5 around the corner.
-Most people are actually happy with AT&T.
-Verizon has fewer features, less speed.
-NY Media Centric Hype overstated demand.
And/or, Verizon user are quite happy with their Android phones... \
Just curious. What new feature is the iPhone 5 supposed to have that is worth waiting for? The display has more resolution then humans can perceive.
Is it 1080P video? Better camera? More storage?
Apple is pretty good at reinventing the wheel every now and again, but what hot new feature is rumored to be forthcoming that is worth holding out for?
I'm getting the viPhone 4 right now because it has one terrific new feature. The ability to make phone calls.
I would expect faster hardware inside, but not much changes on the outside. Like 3G and 3Gs did.
How is selling a million phones in 24 hours a failure?
The reason there aren't big lines is because they have been online pre-orders for a week. No other iPhone launch has had pre-orders before in-store availability. So the only way to get iPhones on the first day in all previous releases is to go to a store.
SInce it isn't necessary to go to a store, and a million were sold in the first 24 hours of online pre-order availability, before anyone even thought to go looking for a line. This is like saying the cows all left the barn even though the doors are closed and there is a lot of mooing inside. Pure bunk. Take those 1,000,000 phones and divide them out across the Verizon and Apple stores and you get more than 400 phones pre-sold per store. More than 2000 400+ customer lines averted. That's a lot of line serviced before it ever became a line.
While I basically agree with you, there has been no confirmation of the number of pre-sold phones. I figure that Apple will make an announcement next week disclosing their Verizon sales and that number will likely be right around plan or demand slightly outstripping supply.
Maybe, just maybe, the reason there are no lines is that there is much less demand for a Verizon iPhone than expected. Weather is not a factor...we see people line up each Christmas outside many stores. Here are some real reasons:
Comments
Check out his post as android4ever. Everything about his post was to instigate, not add an alternative rational viewpoint.
yeah, turns out it was a lost cause, oh well, I tried. he's an angry little fandroid isn't he..
I bet the month will not go by before Apple announces that iPhone 5 will not be coming on the normal date.
You can be sure that it would be unacceptable to Verizon if ATT would get their version a few months before them. And Apple would surely not make a new Verizon model that would only sell for a few months.
I expect the next iPhone to be released in the typical June/July timeframe as a unified phone for both ATT & Verizon.
Apple did not really create a new phone for Verizon but, rather, dropped a new radio and tuned the antenna to perform properly in an almost 8-month old phone.
Other than the people screaming for it to come on the anniversary as always.
Apple has time. No competitors will outdo them in 6 or 8 months time.
Apple cannot afford to be complacent. Their once-a-year release schedule means they have to really impress early on and then ride out the rest of the year as the competition releases and markets incrementally improved devices that might even surpass Apple's specs. So far no one has been able to catch up to Apple's total package but Apple needs to stay aggressive in this area.
I personally have no plans on switching from AT&T to Verizon. I do, however, know four of my relatives here in the San Diego who are current Verizon customers have been waiting for the iPhone to be released for years on their network. Still every single one of them is waiting for the iPhone 5 ... I don't really think they're alone. If I were in their position I would be doing the exact same thing -- and I think the majority of Verizon customers in the iPhone fall in the same category.
Once the CDMA iPhone 5 hits Verizon I think we can expect long lines and dramatically increased demand.
You might have a point if the iPhone 4 wasn't Apple's only phone. How many models of Android phones are on the market? The only meaningful comparison is how many iOS phones are sold compared to Android phones.
Unless things pick up a lot today, Apple and Verizon can only view what's being reported as a failure. Both companies will try to spin it otherwise, but they must be very disappointed at what seems to be a lackluster event.
Time to ditch Apple stock folks. The boom times are coming to a close. If you believe otherwise, I just hope you're not risking your retirement or you kids college education on it.
What if Apple announces in a couple of weeks that they have sold 1.5-2M Verizon iPhones? Still a failure? I think not and they will likely have steady Verizon sales through the next phone update.
Please do ditch the stock- you and as many as you can convince. I've been waiting for a really big drop to buy some more stock.
For those who think that the small lines today are a disappointment of "failure", I'd be careful not to read too much into todays turnout.
Todays sales are a rough gauge for the number of disgruntled ATT iPhone users. So todays events are "good" news for them not necessarily "bad" news for Apple. Even still there may be many ATT customers who will switch to VZ once their ATT contract is up. I'm in that category.
The VZ pre-order sales were supposedly very strong so I doubt Apple will consider today a failure of any sorts.
As I indicated earlier, I think the whole mass-ATT-defections-to-Verizon meme is largely the myopic ramblings of techies and bloggers that live in NY or SF, places that even AT&T acknowledges have bad network coverage. Yes, AT&T has numerous other issues, but Verizon's not necessarily a panacea for everyone. For example, my mom switched from AT&T to Verizon when her contract was up, but now she can't wait to switch back because Verizon's reception is horrible at her house.
The big picture, in addition to gaining the many current Verizon smartphone users whose existing contracts are running out (primarily Blackberry), the iPhone also stands to gain from subscribers transitioning from feature phones. I don't think there's any question that adding Verizon will generate millions of new iPhone sales this year and divert many sales that otherwise would have gone to Android models. So, this singular obsession with the length of the store lines on one day is rather absurd.
And we know for a FACT that the iPhone 5 release later this summer, will in fact, be both for AT&T and Verizon? I missed that news release from Apple...
I'm not discounting it... But I would like to know:
Will there be one iPhone model manufactured or will the current two versions of iPhone still need to be produced. Wasn't the Verizon iPhone slightly modified regarding the outer band antenna and the buttons had to be moved slightly?
And if two versions still need to be produced, why the update in such a short period of time versus unifying things next year especially, with the carriers moving to LTE and how that might alter the next iPhone design update?
Inquiring minds want to know?
I really don't see a new Verizon iPhone happening just 4 short months from the initial release. I could be wrong but I thought Apple would have learned their lesson from the original iPhone release in 2007 when they lowered the price several hundred dollars just two months after the initial release and then had all those angry early adopters. Does Apple or Verizon for that matter want to deal with a million plus early adopters angry that the phone they just purchased a few months earlier didn't have a year's life span before being EOL'ed?
I don't knowwwww!.....
/
/
/
I expect a unified iPhone to drop on schedule this summer for both carriers. Part of this is based on the fact that the Verizon iPhone is using the Gobi chip which supports GSM/UMTS and CDMA. I am not sure how they would handle the antenna tuning and other related matters but other handset makers have already made world-mode phones.
I don't think we will see LTE in an iPhone until next year. Currently, there is just not enough LTE coverage for Apple to make that investment. They will arrive a bit late to the LTE game but I suspect things will work out fine since many early adopters will be complaining that they cannot get LTE (for which they will pay extra) in many places.
Most Verizon customers do not care about global support, simultaneous voice and data because they have never had it. Unlimited internet for $30 is much better than 2GB for $25. For me, being locked out of LTE for two years is what is making me wait for the iPhone 5.
Since the iPhone 5 (assuming you mean the iPhone to be released this summer) is not expected to have LTE, you will be waiting at least another year for an iPhone or will have to settle for a handset from another manufacturer.
I'd probably buy the current Verizon iPhone so that I already have completed four months of my contract and hence would need to only wait an additional 8 months for an LTE iPhone.
In a few weeks Apple and/or Verizon will post the sales results and, regardless if there were long lines or not, they will have sold more Verizon iPhones in that period of time then any other phone, in an equal amount of sales time, that Verizon has ever released.
Say what you want about people waiting for the next iPhone, or no LTE support, no world phone (GSM) support, etc... etc. They will sell a ton of Verizon iPhones and, for the most part, people are going to be very happy with their decision. Some people have lots of spare money and will pay for the phone they want, with or without a contract renewal being available.
I dumped my Droid Incredible for the iPhone 4 and I am very happy. The Droid was a good phone, but it wasn't a great phone. It had a few too many quirks for me.
To each his or her own, of course... but those of you who say,"Fail".. lol. Apple is laughing all the way to the bank. They are going to make a ton of money by bringing the iPhone to Verizon. They only wish they would have done it sooner.
This sums it up pretty well.
I don't find this type of news to be very surprising or really any type of foreboding doom for Verizon or the CDMA iPhone 4. First, the handset has already sold out to pre-order Verizon customers ... most of which were the most likely to upgrade to the iPhone 4 early. Secondly, the iPhone 4 has already been on sale on the AT&T network for over half a year, and the iPhone 5 is scheduled to be released within the coming months. With Verizon's subsidized upgrade policy what's the point of rushing to get an iPhone 4 at the end of it's product cycle when you'd have to wait another two years to upgrade to a newer model without penalties? Third, most "switchers" (from AT&T to Verizon) are also waiting on the iPhone 5.
I personally have no plans on switching from AT&T to Verizon. I do, however, know four of my relatives here in the San Diego who are current Verizon customers have been waiting for the iPhone to be released for years on their network. Still every single one of them is waiting for the iPhone 5 ... I don't really think they're alone. If I were in their position I would be doing the exact same thing -- and I think the majority of Verizon customers in the iPhone fall in the same category.
Once the CDMA iPhone 5 hits Verizon I think we can expect long lines and dramatically increased demand.
I agree with most of what you say but Verizon has discontinued its "New every two" program:
http://www.informationweek.com/news/...leID=229000774
7) Verizon isn't allowing early upgrades.
This isn't true; it depends on where you are in your two-year contract. With a tad over 6 months left, they offered the upgrade to me for only $20 extra.
While the iphone is a very good product and the best selling single device, it's just one of many highly competitive devices. Nowadays, it's just a product release whereas previously, Apple and ATT had the mojo to get people to line up. The fact that Verizon is not disclosing sales figures is further indication of disappointment.
The summer release should be closer to what we are used to seeing in terms of sales and hype, but things aren't getting any easier for Apple, as the market share trend continues.
I don't find this type of news to be very surprising or really any type of foreboding doom for Verizon or the CDMA iPhone 4. First, the handset has already sold out to pre-order Verizon customers ... most of which were the most likely to upgrade to the iPhone 4 early. Secondly, the iPhone 4 has already been on sale on the AT&T network for over half a year, and the iPhone 5 is scheduled to be released within the coming months. With Verizon's subsidized upgrade policy what's the point of rushing to get an iPhone 4 at the end of it's product cycle when you'd have to wait another two years to upgrade to a newer model without penalties? Third, most "switchers" (from AT&T to Verizon) are also waiting on the iPhone 5.
I personally have no plans on switching from AT&T to Verizon. I do, however, know four of my relatives here in the San Diego who are current Verizon customers have been waiting for the iPhone to be released for years on their network. Still every single one of them is waiting for the iPhone 5 ... I don't really think they're alone. If I were in their position I would be doing the exact same thing -- and I think the majority of Verizon customers in the iPhone fall in the same category.
Once the CDMA iPhone 5 hits Verizon I think we can expect long lines and dramatically increased demand.
No, there was no 'sell out'. They simply stopped pre-sales and most sales were in the first two hours. It was a 'take away' to build hype. Then they put out a story saying they were predicting 'unprecedented demand' urging employees not to buy iphones, all-the-while there was plenty of stock including now. My only point: it was a relative disappointment for Verizon and Apple. They were surely hoping for a blockbuster and nothing of the sort happened.
This is really simple folks...
1) Verizon has already had 2 online launches before this.
2) Sales are spread between Apple/Verizon/Best Buy/Walmart
3) The hardcore Apple fans are probably on ATT already
4) People found out about this 1 month ago. They are still waiting to get done with their 2 year contracts to upgrade (even the original iPhone had a 6 month warning, so folks whose contracts were ending in the 6 months preceding the launch could wait for it. For the iPhone 4, ATT allowed some folks to upgrade early, allowing people who once again, fell into a 6 month window to upgrade...besides, people knew the iPhone 4 was coming out then).
5) Most are waiting for iPhone 5.
6) 1 month after the holiday season is not really the best time to release a product. Most have just got done spending significant sums of money, and are likely to scale back a bit.
Dead on except for #5.
A VERY small percentage of the market sits online and worries/predicts/argues/cares about when exactly the next version is coming out. The readership here is not a sample of the real world.
The iPhone 4 was released on a Thursday in June. I remember calling in sick and missing the first inning of an afternoon ballgame due to standing in line
Great story!
You might have a point if the iPhone 4 wasn't Apple's only phone. How many models of Android phones are on the market? The only meaningful comparison is how many iOS phones are sold compared to Android phones.
Unless things pick up a lot today, Apple and Verizon can only view what's being reported as a failure. Both companies will try to spin it otherwise, but they must be very disappointed at what seems to be a lackluster event.
Time to ditch Apple stock folks. The boom times are coming to a close. If you believe otherwise, I just hope you're not risking your retirement or you kids college education on it.
How is selling a million phones in 24 hours a failure?
The reason there aren't big lines is because they have been online pre-orders for a week. No other iPhone launch has had pre-orders before in-store availability. So the only way to get iPhones on the first day in all previous releases is to go to a store.
SInce it isn't necessary to go to a store, and a million were sold in the first 24 hours of online pre-order availability, before anyone even thought to go looking for a line. This is like saying the cows all left the barn even though the doors are closed and there is a lot of mooing inside. Pure bunk. Take those 1,000,000 phones and divide them out across the Verizon and Apple stores and you get more than 400 phones pre-sold per store. More than 2000 400+ customer lines averted. That's a lot of line serviced before it ever became a line.
Maybe, just maybe, the reason there are no lines is that there is much less demand for a Verizon iPhone than expected. Weather is not a factor...we see people line up each Christmas outside many stores. Here are some real reasons:
-iPhone 5 around the corner.
-Most people are actually happy with AT&T.
-Verizon has fewer features, less speed.
-NY Media Centric Hype overstated demand.
And/or, Verizon user are quite happy with their Android phones...
Just curious. What new feature is the iPhone 5 supposed to have that is worth waiting for? The display has more resolution then humans can perceive.
Is it 1080P video? Better camera? More storage?
Apple is pretty good at reinventing the wheel every now and again, but what hot new feature is rumored to be forthcoming that is worth holding out for?
I'm getting the viPhone 4 right now because it has one terrific new feature. The ability to make phone calls.
I would expect faster hardware inside, but not much changes on the outside. Like 3G and 3Gs did.
How is selling a million phones in 24 hours a failure?
The reason there aren't big lines is because they have been online pre-orders for a week. No other iPhone launch has had pre-orders before in-store availability. So the only way to get iPhones on the first day in all previous releases is to go to a store.
SInce it isn't necessary to go to a store, and a million were sold in the first 24 hours of online pre-order availability, before anyone even thought to go looking for a line. This is like saying the cows all left the barn even though the doors are closed and there is a lot of mooing inside. Pure bunk. Take those 1,000,000 phones and divide them out across the Verizon and Apple stores and you get more than 400 phones pre-sold per store. More than 2000 400+ customer lines averted. That's a lot of line serviced before it ever became a line.
While I basically agree with you, there has been no confirmation of the number of pre-sold phones. I figure that Apple will make an announcement next week disclosing their Verizon sales and that number will likely be right around plan or demand slightly outstripping supply.
Maybe, just maybe, the reason there are no lines is that there is much less demand for a Verizon iPhone than expected. Weather is not a factor...we see people line up each Christmas outside many stores. Here are some real reasons:
-iPhone 5 around the corner.
-Most people are actually happy with AT&T.
-Verizon has fewer features, less speed.
-NY Media Centric Hype overstated demand.
You forgot
-Very many stopped waiting and got a Droid
You forgot
-Very many stopped waiting and got a Droid
Is there a carrier where iPhones sell less than equivalent Android-based devices?