Number port stats suggest curious trends in iPhone 3G launch

Sure, Apple alleges to have flipped over a million iPhone 3Gs at this point, but what does that mean? The devil's in the details, as always; yes, true, the first one took 74 days to reach that same milestone, but it was available in less than one-twentieth the number of countries and an even smaller fraction of carriers. Hell, the very definition of "sale" is under scrutiny here, with some suggesting that Apple's making reference to the number of phones it's sold to its carrier partners, not end users -- a metric that would make sense from Cupertino's perspective since Apple's payday technically ends there. We have some metrics on hand here that paint an interesting picture of the iPhone 3G launch that might be a little different than what you expect; head on over to Engadget Mobile for the scoop.

[grull27 @ Jul 22nd 2008 2:02PM]

Are you calling Steve Jobs a liar?! :O

[deyanimay @ Jul 22nd 2008 2:14PM]

No, just a distorter of reality.

[Chris Aubeck @ Jul 22nd 2008 4:51PM]

He mis-spoke.

[Jon @ Jul 22nd 2008 2:06PM]

And there was me thinking I was one in a million. :o(

[High Ranks make you sterile @ Jul 22nd 2008 2:08PM]

Meh this is common. The big M does the same thing with it's Xbox 360s... and lest we forget how they had such a boost in XBL memberships recently.... when they introduced the "Silver" account, so that every Xbox they sold got at least one XBL account.... w00t w00t

[chris @ Jul 22nd 2008 2:09PM]

zombie likes turtles. =D

[iHoppipolla @ Jul 22nd 2008 2:10PM]

In response to the Engadget:Mobile article...

One more time, please? In English this time...

There is still no clear explanation of what the "1 million sales figure" refers to.

[chris @ Jul 22nd 2008 2:15PM]

i believe it says that apple has sold 1 million of them to retailers like at&t and other phone companies. so 1 million people do not have new iphones.
so the number of iphones sitting in stores plus the number of people with new iphones equals more than a million.

[kjb434 @ Jul 22nd 2008 2:35PM]

Chris is right.

Apple's report of 1 million sales is what is sold in bulk to carriers. Even the iphone you purchase at the Apple store is technically already been bought by ATT if you did your purchase in the US.

There isn't anything misleading about this. Apple announcing this was to motivate stock sales and investment in the company and also acknowledging to the existing investors that they made a good investment.

Nokia, Motorola, and HTC do the same thing.

[Jeff @ Jul 22nd 2008 4:37PM]

@kjb434

word.

...but you know that any mention of Apple will fire up the comment threads. (especially one even a little bit negative, and doubly for sort-of-blown-out-of-proportion-or-innacurate articles about Apple)

why do you think this was double-posted on Mobile AND here...

[John @ Jul 22nd 2008 4:48PM]

The point is that "one million sold" is not a metric that you could use to determine how popular it is. It is perfectly valid fiscally, since SOMEBODY gave Apple money, and Apple has sent out 1,000,000 iPhones and gotten paid for them. But if you want to say that 1,000,000 people bought iPhones in the week or so since it came out, you can't rely on that statistic.

Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo all count units shipped as their metric as well. However, when you're referring to an initial launch, just because you put a million units in stores doesn't mean that a million units were bought. As time goes on, this measurement becomes more indicative of actual consumer purchasing trends because stores will not order more from the manufacturers unless their stock is being depleted by consumer sales.

[Zak @ Jul 22nd 2008 7:52PM]

John - And yet, there are no more iPhones to be found in any retail stores, anywhere. They're all sold out. So if all 1,000,000 of those iPhones were not sold to actual customers - where are they?

[nikster @ Jul 22nd 2008 10:50PM]

So they counted the # shipped to bulk retailers instead of the number sold to consumers.

But what's the difference when they are sold out world-wide?

I call fluff piece / linkbait.

[Veraxus @ Jul 22nd 2008 2:26PM]

Well, I bought the 8GB model on launch day since it was literally the ONLY phone the AT&T store had in stock. The sales guy told me they'd "for sure" have 16GB phones in stock by the 21st, and that if I got the 8GB now (and thereby officially switch from Sprint to AT&T), I could just exchange the phone for the 16GB model when they had them back in stock. Well, as of this morning the AT&T store hasn't seen hide nor hair of ANY new iPhone shipments. That's 11 days since launch and counting down to the 30 day exchange window. That said, it really looks like Apple isn't shipping any damn product. I'm sure part of the reason sales weren't better is because there just aren't any phones to be had for carrier switchers... they're all being bought up by current iPhone users.

[bob @ Jul 22nd 2008 2:27PM]

it doesnt matter either way as its sold out pretty much everywhere so the numbers are about the same.

[digitallysick @ Jul 22nd 2008 2:27PM]

I don't even know anyone with a 3g iphone , i haven't seen a rush to the stores to get them. So i think apple cashed in, and the cell carriers will be left holding the bag.

[holto @ Jul 22nd 2008 2:53PM]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHHA! Please tell me you are being sarcastic here. Because I kinda missed it.

[Joe @ Jul 22nd 2008 2:48PM]

They have had I-phones at the apple store by me every day since the release in the morning till they sell out for the day. There have been lines every day buying every phone.

[Oscar5453 @ Jul 22nd 2008 2:50PM]

********###########*************************################

Why does my 3G IPHONE have several Dead zones and a VERY weak 3G signal here in The Silicon Valley where it was born??

Funny thing is that if I turn off the 3G the signal then skyrockets!

WTF!!!???

I checked the forums and it says I have to turn off 3G to get good Signal??

WTFF??

THis is rediculous! I refuse to pay HIGH service fee's for this crappy service.

I'm returning this overpriced - Feature lacking Phone today!!

********###########*************************################


***********************************************************

SO Can I really Switch my 3G iphone to TMOBILE??? I think it would be worth it since I'd be paying like $40 less a month for basically the same service. Times 40 x24 months = $960 savings - $200 Disconnect fee to jump ships = Still a savings of $760 to switch my 3G iphone to TMOBILE.


Has anyone switched their 3G iphone to TMOBILE?

***********************************************************

[phanbouy @ Jul 22nd 2008 3:19PM]

put DOWN the coffee, dude

[Joe Pollicino @ Jul 22nd 2008 3:41PM]

no one likes a scroller.

[The 3rd Hot Dog @ Jul 22nd 2008 3:42PM]

*****#####*****#####
Ridiculous is spelled with an "i".

[wako @ Jul 22nd 2008 3:46PM]

The reason for that is because 3G towers are not as prevalent as the EDGE towers. So when you ask for the iPhone to connect to 3G network, you are in effect connecting to another tower despite that it maybe farther and has a weaker signal.

That is why when you turn off 3G it will connect to a closer tower that has better signal.

You sort of have to think of it as TWO different things are you connecting to.

[mcatrage @ Jul 22nd 2008 2:53PM]

A post critical of Apple and the iPhone in some small way? Where am I?

[Engadgetluvsappl @ Jul 22nd 2008 3:04PM]

Chris Ziegler is *kinda* different from the rest of the engadget crew, along with Darren Murph. Their bias is lower...

[Joe Pollicino @ Jul 22nd 2008 3:43PM]

Did anyone notice engadget's review of the iphone was more of a product spotlight. Lol. So much for" the only iphone review i need"

[Decoy @ Jul 22nd 2008 4:24PM]

Ryan block is leaving, so finally the voices can be heard!

[Steffen Jobbs @ Jul 22nd 2008 3:09PM]

Those liars only sold 999,999 iPhone 3Gs. Close, but no cigar. Sure, it sold quicker than every other smartphone in the industry, but I won't stand for cheating.

My avatar's a WinMo user and he hates Apple users. He's says he wants to start a handset company named Banana that will be competitive to Apple.

[Mark @ Jul 22nd 2008 3:12PM]

They did the same thing with the itunes store. They made a deal with Pepsi to include 1 free song on 1 million bottles of pepsi. So guess what the first day numbers were when Apple opened the Itunes store?

[SFO Kevin @ Jul 22nd 2008 3:23PM]

If they did not have that nasty policy of requiring a signed contract to get it out the door they would be at 2 Million right now!!!

[wako @ Jul 22nd 2008 3:48PM]

So by you having to post it three times, and in a different name of the same thing has it somehow made you feel better?

[SFO Kevin @ Jul 22nd 2008 5:25PM]

Soory I not very good with a puter... And I have no connection to that Hot Dog guy!

[SFO Kevin @ Jul 22nd 2008 3:32PM]

If they did not have that nasty policy of requiring a signed contract to get it out the door they would be at 2 Million right now!!!

[The 3rd Hot Dog @ Jul 22nd 2008 3:43PM]

If they did not have that nasty policy of requiring a signed contract to get it out the door they would be at 2 Million right now!!!

[Leo M. @ Jul 22nd 2008 3:44PM]

@ Steffen

Bananaberry!!!

[T.H. @ Jul 22nd 2008 3:54PM]

Isn't this the "shipped vs sold to consumers" argument that the console guys argue about over and over? Sony & MS always quote shipped numbers while Nintendo quotes sold to consumer numbers. This inflates Sony & MS's numbers a bit but it's an apples and oranges comparison though you can sort of guestimate what each number would be. Since the analysts are pretty good at knowing roughly what is in the channel most of the time.

[whatishalo? @ Jul 22nd 2008 5:20PM]

No it is a apples to apples comparison...really...they compare it to last years iPhone numbers :)

[Mr. E @ Jul 22nd 2008 4:06PM]

A certain well known multi-brand retailer here in the UK who sell the iPhone have sold all the iPhones they had in. Total: 10,000. I have in fact heard from different people that the figure is between 4,000 and 10,000. I can confirm that when visiting carrier and reseller stores here in sunny but cloudy England that there are many people buying and enquiring about the iPhone, but I do think Apple's 1m figure is based on shipments to resellers, not sales to consumers. After all, assuming shipments to 20 countries, thats 200,000 units - with most no doubt to the USA. I am willing to bet that the Nokia E71 will outsell the iPhone - why? Because it does more and you can perform pertinent tasks with ONE keypress. For example, (try it), hold down the Calender button to create a new Calendar entry. Hold down the email / message button to compose a new message. And then enter your data using a fast mechanical keyboard. One click features are vital to the busy human. (I do not work for Nokia. I am impartial, acting as analyst.) What I can say is, long term, iPhone will be massive because revision 3.0 will learn the lessons of 1.0 and 2.0. (BTW, the biggest problem is the on screen keyboard. 3rd time lucky huh?)

[Zak @ Jul 22nd 2008 5:12PM]

Yes, the on screen keyboard is such a problem that Apple sold out of all the iPhones they could produce. Not only does that indicate that 1,000,000 people did in fact buy iPhones (if they didn't, wouldn't there be some left over in stores?), but it also clearly indicates demand for the iPhone.

And yet you're still claiming the on screen keyboard is a huge problem. I bet Nokia would like to have a problem that causes all their phones to sell out. I guess their phones just aren't problematic enough.

[Mark Anderson @ Jul 22nd 2008 5:26PM]

@cockboy

The N95 sold out in the UK at launch.

Carry on.

[Decoy @ Jul 22nd 2008 8:47PM]

Apple can ship a million phones, and the store can all sell out, but there is still the possibility the some of the phones in the million are still in warehouses and stockrooms, or being shipped around the world.

It's still good news for Apple, because the perception of the sellers is that the number of phones they've bought from Apple will sell, otherwise why order so many?

[Lazarpandar @ Jul 22nd 2008 4:12PM]

I don't see how any of these replies are relevant to "I like turdles"

Quit replying to the first comment in every post just to get yours on the top.

[Jeff @ Jul 22nd 2008 4:28PM]

@Lazarpandar

I whole-heartedly agree.

Posting an irrelevant reply to the first comment just to "be at the top" is annoying as hell.

....everyone thinks their own little comments are sooo important.

I'd almost (ALMOST!) like a system where very low-ranked comments are hidden by default, a-la-Digg.

[WickedEast @ Jul 22nd 2008 4:39PM]

Would be interesting to know the number of NEW iPhone users. Some news reported 30% of new iPhone 3G sold were upgrades by existing users.

[YOYO @ Jul 22nd 2008 4:41PM]

y do u call keep saying the iphone sold out
i thoiught this was debunked all ready i swear i read some place that the stories of iphone being sold out every where where shit


i live Michigan the apple store in Novi mi has alot them and the at&t store down road from house still has them


in fact my dad got 1 yesterday and my moms went today both went to different stores and both got 1

[Mike @ Jul 22nd 2008 5:49PM]

Why is there a T-Mobile logo?

[Evan @ Jul 22nd 2008 6:01PM]

"making reference to the number of phones it's sold to its carrier partners, not end users"

Many Canadian Rogers/Fido stores had as few as 8 to 10 iPhones, and put one on display (yes, they actually put functional iPhones on display instead of empty shells like they do with most phones), which means up to 10% of Canadian iPhones were not sold through to customers.

[jupiterthunder @ Jul 22nd 2008 7:53PM]

@Steffen Jobbs

I think I just mixed you and Eric up in what was suppose to be a clever reply. Counts as a FAIL.

[Viator @ Jul 23rd 2008 3:12AM]

T-Mobile... I want to like T-Mobile, if only because they aren't ATT. But ATT has the 3G infrastructure and the ability to offer the subsidies that lure ppl in (because most ppl just don't think about total contract price).

*T-Mobile is still charging $300 USD for the friggin Wing.*

Or you could spend $200 at ATT for a Kaiser (or iPhone 3G for you FUCKING iCLONES), and you'd have a much more capable phone with a better data infrastructure in the US.

[macserv @ Jul 23rd 2008 5:44PM]

Based on the speciousness of the data in this story, it was barely fit to post on engadget mobile, let alone interesting enough to cross-post here.