Preorders of Apple's iPhone 4 break Verizon sales record in 2 hours

Posted:
in iPhone edited January 2014
Verizon on Friday declared that presales of the iPhone 4 exceeded any other launch in the company's history in just the first two hours, though the carrier declined to provide actual sales figures.



"This was an exciting day," said Dan Mead, president and chief executive officer for Verizon Wireless. "In just our first two hours, we had already sold more phones than any first day launch in our history.



"And, when you consider these initial orders were placed between the hours of 3 a.m. and 5 a.m., it is an incredible success story. It is gratifying to know that our customers responded so enthusiastically to this exclusive offer -- designed to reward them for their loyalty."



Though Verizon didn't provide any specific sales figures, analyst Mike Abramsky with RBC Capital Markets issued a brief note to investors in which he said the "limited" pre-order availability was likely restricted to less than 100,000. For comparison, the Motorola Droid, when it launched in 2009, was estimated to have sold 100,000 in its first weekend, while the GSM iPhone 4 sold 1.7 million in its first three days of availability last June.



Verizon and Apple stopped taking preorders at 8:10 p.m. on Thursday, just over 17 hours after existing Verizon customers were first able to place an order. It marked the most successful sales day in the company's history.



"I am proud of our employees who worked tirelessly to strengthen and scale our systems, enabling unprecedented customer orders through our website," Mead said. "Overall, it was a very good day."



He also reminded customers that they will have another opportunity to order the CDMA iPhone 4 when it launches on Feb. 10 at 7 a.m. local time in Apple's U.S. retail stores and more than 2,000 Verizon Wireless Communication Stores. On Feb. 9, all qualified customers will be able to order a Verizon iPhone 4 through the Apple online store for delivery or in-store pick-up beginning Feb. 10.



"Yesterday's launch set the pace for next week when we open up sales to everyone across America," Mead said.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 70
    "First-day deliveries of Apple's iPhone 4 break Verizon network in 2 hours"
  • Reply 2 of 70
    I doubt there were only 100,000 pre-orders available if they went 17 hours before going out of stock. My guess would be more like 500,000.
  • Reply 3 of 70
    maestro64maestro64 Posts: 5,043member
    what is interesting is that there is all this so called competition out there for the iphone and it now 4 yr and still it out selling the competition.
  • Reply 4 of 70
    Sounds like the Microsoft Kin launch. Oops, sorry. Sales exceeded the Kin launch in the first 2 seconds.
  • Reply 5 of 70
    whozownwhozown Posts: 128member
    Verizon has no idea the monster theyre about to unleash on their network. I think they're starting to realize the mania Apple products bring to the table, hence the "throttling"
  • Reply 6 of 70
    It's like Consumer Reports editors cried out in terror, and were suddenly silenced....
  • Reply 7 of 70
    My order was #304, and I read that other people had 1,200,000 and who knows how many after, so thats just order #, not quantity (i.e. I ordered 2), so my guess is over 3 mil, easy.
  • Reply 8 of 70
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by lilroot9 View Post


    My order was #304, and I read that other people had 1,200,000 and who knows how many after, so thats just order #, not quantity (i.e. I ordered 2), so my guess is over 3 mil, easy.



    Were these all from Verizon, or mixed Verizon and Apple?
  • Reply 9 of 70
    I purchased from Verizon, so I have no idea (I dont want to plug the other site) but it was a neutral site, neither apple nor verizons sites. I am thinking just Verizon as that seems to be a verizon thing, but really no clue.
  • Reply 10 of 70
    markbmarkb Posts: 153member
    Quote:

    "In just our first two hours, we had already sold more phones than any first day launch in our history.



    I suspect we will have a lower bound really soon. There has to be announced first day sales data for other Verizon phones out there. I suspect some entrepid reporter will backtrack and find that data in the next few hours. A CEO making a statement like that will get some attention.



    The number sounds way north of 100k unless the CEO completely mispoke, which I imagine will be clarified later, if that is the case.
  • Reply 11 of 70
    hill60hill60 Posts: 6,992member
    Blah, blah, blah, Android, blah, blah, iPhone killer.





  • Reply 12 of 70
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by markb View Post


    I suspect we will have a lower bound really soon. There has to be announced first day sales data for other Verizon phones out there. I suspect some entrepid reporter will backtrack and find that data in the next few hours. A CEO making a statement like that will get some attention.



    The number sounds way north of 100,000k unless the CEO completely mispoke, which I imagine will be clarified later, if that is the case.



    100,000 was a number from an analyst. 100,000k = 100,000,000 seems like A LOT! lol



    I'm guessing the analyst left a 0 off his number so it should be closer to a million
  • Reply 13 of 70
    Stock split anyone?
  • Reply 14 of 70
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Smiles77 View Post


    I doubt there were only 100,000 pre-orders available if they went 17 hours before going out of stock. My guess would be more like 500,000.



    Yeah that RBC guy is a complete moron. If that's his professional assessment RBC should fire his ass for incompetence. First off, and most obvious this isn't just any phone. 2) There's 4 years of pent up demand 3) Apple has become a MASTER at inventory control and anticipation with Tim Cook they've sold out every iPhone launch but not until they've sold MILLIONS 4) The original Droid was way before Android-mania took off (if anything it was the pre-cursor) and 5) Android-mania is partly if not mostly because of a lack of a VZW iPhone till now.



    I can't see the initial pre-sales alotment being anything less than 1-2 M phones.
  • Reply 15 of 70
    While that appears to be amazing; they still haven't been in on the launch of a new iPhone. When iPhone5 is released then they will have an idea what this is all about. The numbers (whatever they are) they are seeing from this 2 hour sale will be blown out of the water.
  • Reply 16 of 70
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by skipaq View Post


    While that appears to be amazing; they still haven't been in on the launch of a new iPhone. When iPhone5 is released then they will have an idea what this is all about. The numbers (whatever they are) they are seeing from this 2 hour sale will be blown out of the water.



    Pretty soon people will realize that there is no physical keyboard on the iPhone and they will stop buying these things.



    Yours truly,



    Steve Ballmer
  • Reply 17 of 70
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Robert.Public View Post


    Stock split anyone?



    How about stock implosion...For RIM. They won't release the numbers of sales because

    that would allow analysts to deduce how much BB and Android sales will have fallen off.
  • Reply 18 of 70
    bageljoeybageljoey Posts: 2,004member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Elian Gonzalez View Post


    It's like Consumer Reports editors cried out in terror, and were suddenly silenced....







    I got an issue yesterday with a blurb about "hot new smartphones" on the front... A quick scan showed no mention of the iPhone on Verizon. What did I expect?
  • Reply 19 of 70
    chronsterchronster Posts: 1,894member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by hill60 View Post


    Blah, blah, blah, Android, blah, blah, iPhone killer.









    Blah, blah, blah, iphone numbers means its best, blah, blah, McDonald's cheese burgers.



  • Reply 20 of 70
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by island hermit View Post


    Pretty soon people will realize that there is no physical keyboard on the iPhone and they will stop buying these things.



    Yours truly,



    Steve Ballmer







    And yet despite his completely cluelessness (or egocentrism/egomania re Microsoft) he still managed to get a huge bonus this year.
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