AT&T Preorders Of iPhone 4S Top 200,000, Sprint And Verizon Sales Also Going Well
October 8, 2011
Despite those who were disappointed that Apple did not announce an iPhone 5 or a design change, AT&T reports they had the best iPhone pre-sales ever. Within 12 hours, AT&T had over 200,000 orders for the new iPhone 4s. A company spokesperson for AT&T said this was, “the most successful iPhone launch we've ever had."
The new iPhone 4S is also being released on Sprint and Verizon. It will be interesting to find out more specifics on how well these carriers do by being part of an iPhone launch from the very beginning. Verizon picked up the iPhone 4 almost eight months after its original launch and this is the first iPhone ever for Sprint. Neither one of these carriers has experience with pre-launch iPhone sales.
According to a Verizon spokesperson, executives were: "pleased with the sales and the ordering process." I happened to call Verizon on the first day of pre-launch sales to ask a couple of questions. They could not guarantee I would receive the iPhone 4S on October 14. The representative said they had so many orders they did not know for certain what their supply levels were and they no longer could make the guarantee. By early evening, their website said shipping of the iPhone 4S 16 GB model was delayed to October 20, 2011.
When I checked the Sprint website later in the evening, it said the iPhone 4S 16 GB was sold out, but available in stores on October 14. Other models were still available. A statement from Sprint’s vice president of product development Fared Adib said: “Today’s sales and the overall customer experience greatly exceeded our expectations.”
This provides some insight for all those who wanted to see a new design on the next iPhone, myself included. Hardware on the current iPhone 4 has worked well and this may be an example of: "if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it." Apple does not need to change what works just to get people to buy it. They only have to make it better.
Another possible reason for the popularity of the iPhone 4S is because it may be one of the last devices influenced by Steve Jobs.
(Via: AllThingsD, The Wall Street Journal)