500,000 iPhones sold so far -- but can Apple keep up?

No matter how you slice it, moving 500,000 units of any product during its inaugural weekend launch is big. According to Gene Munster, analyst at Piper Jaffray, that's exactly what Apple's iPhone managed to pull off. After originally expecting Apple to sell "only" 200,000 iPhones on Friday and Saturday, he's now estimating that Apple sold a half-million iPhones from start of sales at 6pm on Friday until close of business on Sunday even with supply issues at AT&T store. According to their survey, 95% of buyers purchased the 8GB model with 50% of all buyers making the switch from another carrier to AT&T. Great news right? Maybe, but in a potentially worrying trend, Apple is showing a marked decrease in iPhone availability at their retail locations this morning. While stores showed a 100% iPhone availability (they don't break it down by 4GB and 8GB models) on Saturday which dropped to 84% on Sunday, Apple's retail channel is showing a further decline in availability for Monday across Apple's brick and mortar retail business. In particular, Californians not living in San Francisco will have a tough time locating the device with 34 of 36 stores bleeding red on Apple's retail locator site -- a potential supply problem especially if AT&T shops remain void of product. Sure, you can still order on-line albeit with that same 2-4 week delivery delay we've seen since day 1.

Update: Global Equities Research claims 525,000 iPhones were sold through Sunday. A quick calculation shows that only 61% of Apple's 164 stores are stocked with iPhones for today or 23% fewer than yesterday.

[Alan Partridge @ Jul 2nd 2007 4:51AM]

iPhone users - please help! Since EVERY single 'review' just goes over the same features, can you help me out?

What is the imaging experience like on the iPhone? Are you pleased with the camera, does lack of auto-focus/flash effect you in day to day usage?

Are there any zoom, white balance functions etc? Any editing functions?

I understand you cant send/receive pictures using MMS but what other options are there? Can you send/recieve via bluetooth with your pc/mac? with another phone?

Can you send/receive via wifi with other iPhoners?

Can you send to a bluetooth/wifi printer, or connect to a printer via USB Pictbridge?

Can you save pictures from the browser and email/bluetooth them?

If someone sends you an email with picture attachments, what can you do with them? Can you save them to a specific folder etc? send them to other people?

Can you upload to blogs/Flickr/Myspace/Facebook etc? Also are these sites usable in the browser?

Final one, can you delete individual text messages?



Thanks in advance!

[Arthur @ Jul 3rd 2007 10:02AM]

Don't have one, but can answer some of your questions based on what I've read and seen:

- Imaging experience quite poor, similar to other phone cameras (slow). Image quality acceptable in well-lit conditions, no real manual settings
- No MMS, but you can e-mail photos. No file exchange via BlueTooth or WiFi. Not with other any cell phone, including other iPhones
- No printing capabilities
- No way to save photos in Safari.
- Don't know about Flickr/Myspace etc.
- Yes, you can delete individual text messages. Just 'strike them through' with a swipe of the finger and click the Delete-button.

[Sammy @ Jul 2nd 2007 6:15AM]

Camera: The camera is limited. No functions. Only good for a quick snapshot of something well-lit, as others have said.

MMS: MMS is achievable through what we, in the open standards world, call eMail. Maybe you've heard of it? It's simple really. Take the person's mobile number (you've got this, right?) and add @carriername.com to it and you've got your MMS. It looks like MMS to them when they receive it but it's free to you.

File functions: basically anything that involves manipulation of individual files is out. Can't save new files, choose individual files to upload, etc. It's as if there's no file browser on the phone. Maybe there isn't and that's why there's no mass storage ability yet. This will change in a matter of weeks, I predict.

Web: the web is amazing on this phone but MySpace is an ugly abomination on any device.

[badtzmaru @ Jul 2nd 2007 7:23AM]

Image: Works fine with me but there are no functions besides click. Check macrumors.com and flick for iphone photo examples.

Once you have taken a picture you can email it, provided you have set up an email account.

No bluetooth send or receive of any sort.

No wifi send or receive with other phones.

Not sure about sending pics from browers -- i haven't ried that.

you can file emails with pictures, you can forward emails with pictures.

you cannot upload.

yes you can delete texts

[phillipe the irish immigrant @ Jul 2nd 2007 2:04PM]

apple should just go die

[Mike Manzano @ Jul 3rd 2007 10:41AM]

Here's some unretouched sample photos from the iPhone, near the bottom of the page:

http://protoskoot.dreamhosters.com/blog/?p=25

[S K @ Jul 2nd 2007 4:51AM]

I see the hype seems to have done the trick! suckers!

[Shaunt Gharibian @ Jul 2nd 2007 5:10AM]

What is the imaging experience like on the iPhone? The quality is pretty good.
>The image quality is pretty decent for a phone.

Are there any zoom, white balance functions etc? Any editing functions?
> It comes with a simple "snap" button. One button, one function, one resulution. i don't see any editing features. There is no "flash" either.


I understand you cant send/receive pictures using MMS but what other options are there? Can you send/recieve via bluetooth with your pc/mac? with another phone?

>I haven't tested this, but i don't believe you can do much with the bluetooth on there (data-wise)




Can you upload to blogs/Flickr/Myspace/Facebook etc? Also are these sites usable in the browser?
>The sites are VERY usable. Uploading files though, won't work...

Final one, can you delete individual text messages?
>You can delete whole conversations, not individual messages.

[brendan Sheehan jnr @ Jul 2nd 2007 4:10PM]

*cough* Software update *hint hint Apple, cough*

[LiQuiD_FuSioN @ Jul 2nd 2007 5:36AM]

Wow, I am really surprised to see how well the iPhone is doing in
terms of sales. However, doesn't a constricted supply = MORE desire/want for a product?

But, still, why do I have feelings of doubt about this product? I can't help but personally think that it's highly overrated. Maybe I feel content with what I have? I guess I'm just waiting for Apple to release their 6th generation iPod already. That's pretty much all I'm interested in with the company anyway.

Other than that, cheers to Apple for bringing an interesting product to us consumers! (And yes, *cringes*, we appreciate the coverage!)

[JAmerican @ Jul 2nd 2007 11:02AM]

People who don't know their technology think its something new when in reality, this stuff has been out for years. The only new things in the iPhone is multitouch and the accelerometer. OTher than that, all the features have been in PDAs like Windows Mobile and Palm OS for years. You can even watch YouTube on these devices while its not as easy. Apple is successful because they advertised to people who don't know their technology and showed them how easy it was for their product to do things they were used to on a PC. So, they think they have a mobile computer in their pocket. It is a very smart marketing plan. I bet that within a few months, the hype will have decreased and people will start to wonder why they purchased the device. Everyone has that technological depression. That is where customizations and third-party applications come in to rid it. The lack of third-party apps will limit people to the functions of the device Out-of-Box. Making it really just a flashy $600 phone. The lack of an exchangeable battery means that you will have to send it to Apple to be replaced for an extra fee. All in all, your iPhone costs don't end with the phone price or data plan but with everything else you do to enhance your experience.

Unless its hacked, which should happen sooner or later.

[garbuhj @ Jul 2nd 2007 3:59PM]

@ JAmerican

Repeat after me:

'It's not about who has the highest number of features, it's about who makes the most sought after features easy and fun to use.'

This is the same reason why people like you can't understand why the iPod has been so dominant since the day came out. You cry "but it doesn't have an FM tuner! It doesn't play OGG files! It doesn't have a memory expansion slot!" Well ya know what? Most people don't cary about all that, they care about getting the device that lets them actually do more of what they want to do and gives them the best experience, and that's all they should care about. If an entertainment device is confusing to the average user and isn't immediately obvious how to use, then it doesn't matter if the device is technically capable of performing a feature because the user will never use it! So you say "the iPod and (and now the iPhone) must be so popular just because it's marketed well." But you're wrong, the iPod and iPhone are popular because it lets people actually DO much more of what they want a handheld to do, regardless of which device is technically capable of doing more on paper.

I hope this didn't come off as too rude, but that "Apple is only popular because of marketing" song and dance is old and tiresome. You have to remember, the vast majority of people aren't techno geeks like we are. They have other things to do in their life and they don't want to spend long figuring out how to work their electronic devices.

[brendan Sheehan jnr @ Jul 2nd 2007 4:31PM]

@ garbuhj?

You're a breath of fresh air between all the iPhone versus N95 debates. This is exactly the reason why the iPhone WILL succeed, cause it's easy to use, and it's cool. Robert Scoble says it best when he compares the N95 to the iPhone, and he owns an N95 (his son has an iPhone) http://scobleizer.com/2007/07/01/comparing-n95-to-iphone/

[d wright @ Jul 2nd 2007 5:37AM]

iPhone uPhone wePhone

[Andy @ Jul 2nd 2007 5:44AM]

I'm an apple fanboy and i'd be disappointed if they didn't sell out. regardless of how well they were stocked, I always want demand larger than supply!

[dglaz @ Jul 2nd 2007 6:06AM]

Why would prefer that demand is greater than supply? Do you get some
sort of pleasure from the thought of people having to wait for apple
products? I am sure that demand does not have to be greater than
supply for apple to thrive and release new products. Actually, Apple
would probably thrive better if they could meet their demand.

[Rich @ Jul 2nd 2007 5:51AM]

N.B. The Nokia N95 sold 800,000 units in its first week.

500,000 over a weekend (in one country, on one carrier) is impressive but nothing record breaking.

[Thomas Ricker @ Jul 2nd 2007 5:55AM]

Rich, can you link us to your source on the N95 sales figures? Google's coming up empty. Very interesting.

Thomas

[Whackmushrooms @ Jul 2nd 2007 5:57AM]

(breakdown is 4:1 8GB vs 4GB)

yes the first week Rich .. 500k in 2 days + 6 hours and i am betting the official numbers will be SHOCKING let alone for the week.

[dan druff @ Jul 2nd 2007 8:39AM]

Wll, Nokia N95 was launched WORLD WIDE, the iPhone was launched in ONE country, as you yourself acknowledge ... and with strings attached, so to speak, in terms of AT&T.

Surely you can see there are problems comparing the two? The N95 was Nokias most hyped phone in years, and it only sold 300 000 more units - in a WEEK. World wide. Etc. etc. Compared to that scenario, 500 000 units (if true) is mighty impressive.

[Mat @ Jul 2nd 2007 6:02AM]

I cant believe that there is no MMS or bluetooth capability, interesting to see how well that effects sales in the UK especially against the established brands such as Nokia and SE. Nearly every one I know uses bluetooth daily and MMS is a basic function.

Seems very shortsighted.

[Sammy @ Jul 2nd 2007 6:15AM]

Last I checked a weekend is only 2 days, 3 if you're counting in Friday and a week is 7. Pro-rated week would be just a hair over 228,000 in 2 days or 345k in 3. IOW, the iPhone sold 50% more than the N95 in its opening weekend (if you're uncited numbers are even close to right). "Hardly record breaking" my ass.

[Rich @ Jul 2nd 2007 6:39AM]

Hmmm... I can't find the figures either. I thought it was on All About Symbian but maybe not.

I definitely read 800,000 somewhere though. You'll either have to believe me or denounce me as an Internet troll. I'm cool with either. :)

[Tips @ Jul 2nd 2007 7:10AM]

Dunno are those figures real, but I do know that N95 was uk top selling phone for at least 2 weeks(yeah I know its lovely to state something like this with out link ). Well anyways volumes are pretty crazy on mobile phones business Nokia sold 92 milj phones...... on first quarter of 2007 =D(http://www.technologynewsdaily.com/node/7082)
Not to take anything away from iphone it was only released in usa ,these figures are only from 2 days and I'm sure there will be new spike of buyers that have been waiting for the reviews of iphone.

[Mills @ Jul 2nd 2007 6:03AM]

Where did you get the 800000 unit sales figure for the N95? I thought Nokia didn't release the figures. 500,000 is a crapload of phones to sell in one weekend.

[ALLurGroceries @ Jul 2nd 2007 6:13AM]

There's still 9,500ish iPhones for sale on eBay... Although it's down from the 15,000+ I saw Saturday.

[Xultar @ Jul 2nd 2007 6:36AM]

50% of all buyers making the switch from another carrier to AT&T.

Buhwawawa!

[peshue @ Jul 2nd 2007 6:55AM]

Well they didn't sell out in the first day and ebay prices are only $100-$150 over retail. I'd say that for all the hype the demand really wasn't that huge.
Despite what you guys tell us the hype/demand for the last rounds of game systems was very likely more.

[Bhaal @ Jul 2nd 2007 7:06AM]

Or the supply was very heavily constrained in game systems launches whereas Apple actually knew what they were doing and got enough units out to meet demand.

[halfeatenfish @ Jul 2nd 2007 7:40AM]

??????? You can't make that inference! All you can conclude is that demand did not significantly exceed supply. No more, no less. You can't conclude anything about the magnitude of either.

Funny thing... iPhone is a hit, and all these threads prove it. Why? Because it provoked a reaction in EVERYBODY. Love it or hate it, you reacted to it. THAT, my friends, is a marketer's dream.

[Jep @ Jul 2nd 2007 5:53PM]

Agree on that. Thought apple wont have the huge hype around it when it land to EU land. What i have been looking this site i have to say that it seemed to have huge news flow in usa. Judging these news apple seems to have pretty big place on Americans heart ^^

[Miker @ Jul 2nd 2007 7:01AM]

Baa! Baa! Come on mindless little sheep, follow the herd. To quote Syndrome from The Incredibles "...and when everyone's special, no one will be!"

I hope all you plebs with shiny new iPhones are recycling your previous phones rather than adding to the worldwide garbage pile...but then if we're honest there really wasn't anything wrong with your last phone was there, you just got bored with it and wanted something that looked pretty and that you could show off with.

[717 @ Jul 2nd 2007 7:37AM]

Hell yeah!

[halfeatenfish @ Jul 2nd 2007 7:58AM]

Hmm sheep? Sooo... lets say (hypothetically of course) that 95% of the people use one type of computer, and the other 5% use an alternative.

Which group would you call the "sheep?"

[BoZs13 @ Jul 2nd 2007 10:02AM]

@halfeatenfish

BRILLIANT! Good way of putting it man!

[axemte @ Jul 2nd 2007 10:23AM]

@ halfeatenfish

Well said. Everyone knowes sheeps need a shepherd, a person who they would follow as a guide since they don't know better, a person who knowes what they need, one to believe and hang to every word... Oh icrap!!

[sshah87 @ Jul 2nd 2007 12:20PM]

MS user's don't hang on bill gates's every word. Apple users, on the other hand, would jump off a cliff if steve jobs told them to. which group sounds like sheep to you?

[Brandon @ Jul 2nd 2007 12:51PM]

MS users jump off bridges out of frustration, not instruction.

[halfeatenfish @ Jul 2nd 2007 2:33PM]

sshah87:

Actually I'm a die-hard MSWin guy... have been since 3.1. But I got tired, and on a whim bought a powerbook. I couldn't believe it. I used to get things done IN SPITE of XP. I took pride in knowing all the right workarounds.

On Jaguar -- and moreso, Tiger -- I felt like the computer was actually trying to help me get my sh*t done. No crazy workarounds, no registry editing, no 8-billion-useless-messages/day-telling me "I'm here" (think desktop cleanup). Never looked bac... mac all the way.

If you really think that you can just classify all mac or pc users firmly as this or that, then you are a moron.

If you think that one company's products are all good or all bad, then you are a moron.

There might be a mac user that would follow Jobs off a cliff, but I'll bet there aint A SINGLE ONE that would put up his ass if OS X let them down as much windows does.

Funny you say that Apple customers would jump off a cliff if Jobs said to (as if you have ANYTHING other that your own poot-smell upon which to base that). Funny that of all those people waiting in line all those hours, half of them identified themselves as Windows users. Wouldn't you KILL to have a product that generates that kind of excitement? I know Microsoft would...

[Chris Derry @ Jul 2nd 2007 2:37PM]

Hmm, except the iPhone is a phone, not a Mac (well, you know what I'm getting at). It's not like 95% of people have Nokias.

[halfeatenfish @ Jul 2nd 2007 2:51PM]

Chris,

I was talking about win/mac, not iphone/nokia. I get so tired of this juvenile-ass apple vs ms crap... m$/crapple, etc ... geez... so I blew off a little steam there.

I don't think apple is picking a fight with nokia or anyone in particular with the iphone. Actually, I think that Nokia stands to benefit a LOT if iphone takes off. I think Nokia shares that opinion. They have quite a few phones in that price range.... and you can bet they'd rather sell all their phones at full price how Nokia wants to specify them, rather subsidized and specialized for the carriers.

Just my 0.02.

[Mike Manzano @ Jul 3rd 2007 11:18AM]

You imply that I bought the iPhone so I can be "special"? Is that why you buy technology, to feel technically superior to other people? Wow.

And yes, you are right, there was nothing wrong with my last smart phone. Nor was there anything wrong with my last CRT television, or my last mouse, or my previous car, or my previous SLR.

Hey, you know, I bet there was nothing wrong with the last version of anything you own as well.

What point, exactly, are you trying to make?

[Tom @ Jul 2nd 2007 7:02AM]

Hmmm.... iPhone sells 500k in one day, and still has what, 2.5mil unsold inventory? Wii sold 600k first day and is STILL sold out in many places almost EIGHT MONTHS after it's release. Yet, the iPhone was more over-hyped, and even deemed more revolutionary (Nintendo even changed the name of their product to lessen the revolution claim).

Either the hype-machine lost control (a lot of people can't stand anything that even starts with an i even more...), or the targeted customer base was just too small ($600?).

[JTW5 @ Jul 2nd 2007 7:24AM]

Someone doesn't quite understand supply and demand. You make the most money when supply meets demand. Every minute the Wii is sold out is a loss in profit for Nintendo. Please think before posting.

[Deepthroat @ Jul 2nd 2007 7:40AM]

wrong wii sold 600k in the first WEEK. so it seems like apple is doing better than expected. But why be sour about it? if you don't like the iPhone is ok no one is going to force u to use it, if becomes wildly accepted. No need for the fox-like spin there

[cduran01 @ Jul 2nd 2007 8:08AM]

Though I'm not too fond of the iPhone right now, I still have to say that you cant compare the Wii to the iPhone. Heck, you shouldnt even compare it to the PS3 or Xbox 360. The Wii is a TOY, with no other features other than playing games and maybe some video clips and music that costs $250.

As I remember, Tickle Me Elmo sold much more than the Wii and was extremely difficult to find for months. Does that mean that Tickle Me Elmo is a better product? No...its just a cheaper product with mass apeal,

[Tom @ Jul 2nd 2007 8:36AM]

Meh - I like my "Fox-like spin". It makes me feel good about myself. Besides, people expected the iPhone to sell out. If it doesn't sell out, people stop and think "hey, wait - wasn't the iPhone supposed to sell out because, you know, everyone in the world wanted one?". It drops the hype they brought. Hyped products are supposed to sell out on day one - followed by 2 or 3 weeks of shortages, then everyone knows that they want one, because everyone else obviously wants one. The Wii is not suffering "loss of profit" - it's doing amazingly well right now. AND YES - I can compare the iPhone to the Wii or the PS3 or whatever - they are all over-hyped products, although the iPhone seems to be on its' own playing field in terms of hype.

Also - the Wii is just as much a toy as the iPhone is. You can go online, IM your friends, play some games, listen to music, watch a movie.... Only the iPhone also does the same thing that a $25 pay-as-you-go phone can do.

[John Galt @ Jul 2nd 2007 9:15AM]

Tom,

I'm sorry, you still seem to be missing supply and demand. It IS lost profit for Nintendo if they could be selling more than they have in stock.

The formula of the argument is simple and familiar: to dispose of a problem all that is necessary is to deny that it exists.

[Warhorse @ Jul 2nd 2007 9:40AM]

Very true Tom, the comparison here is Hyped/overhyped products, not funcionality.

[Tom @ Jul 2nd 2007 10:16AM]

John - unsold stock = loss of profit. Apple loses money every time they DON'T sell something that they spent money making. Nintendo has had zero loss of profit, because they sold everything that they made - no left over stock equals maximum profit for their supply chain. Why do stores sell unsold stock at discount? Because they want to cut their losses while they can - even if it means just "breaking even" on their inventory. If I sell 500k products, but made 3 million - that is a HUGE loss. Especially knowing that most people looking buy my product have already bought it. That means that even if I sell them at 100% profit, I still lost money overall. Granted, Apple will likely sell all of their units, but there's no telling how long that will take. The Wii gained a return on day one - the iPhone did not. Simple.