HTC EVO 4G overtakes Palm Pre for best-selling launch day on Sprint
By Chris Ziegler 
posted June 7th 2010 12:54AM
posted June 7th 2010 12:54AM
HTC EVO 4G Breaks Sales Records for Sprint on Launch Day; America's First 4G Phone is a Hit with Customers
OVERLAND PARK, Kan.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Friday, June 4, was an early morning for thousands of customers who lined up several hours before Sprint (NYSE: S) stores opened their doors in anticipation of the first day of sales for America's first 3G/4G phone, HTC EVOTM 4G. Customers were anxious to get their hands on HTC EVO 4G providing record sales figures for Sprint stores around the country.
"I woke up and thought it was Christmas. This phone is so innovative and Sprint is so far ahead of everyone else when it comes to innovation. I'm so excited and looking forward to getting to know EVO better."
Friday sales of HTC EVO 4G marked the largest quantity of a single phone sold in one day ever for Sprint – the record was previously held by both Samsung InstinctTM and Palm PreTM. In addition, the total number of HTC EVO 4G devices sold on launch day was three times the number of Samsung Instinct and Palm Pre devices sold over their first three days on the market combined.
"HTC EVO 4G is a clear winner for customers with the powerful combination of an amazing multimedia experience in 3G coverage areas that becomes even better in our growing number of 4G markets. It is terrific to see customers react so positively to this device and the innovative experience it brings to them," said Dan Hesse, Sprint CEO.
The record pace of HTC EVO 4G sales led to temporary shortages of the device at some of the 22,000 sales locations across the United States, including Sprint retail stores, national retail partners including RadioShack, Best Buy and Walmart, and indirect dealers. Sprint and HTC are diligently working around the clock to increase inventory in all sales channels. Additional shipments are arriving in retail stores on a regular basis with many stores seeing daily deliveries.
"HTC EVO 4G has more than lived up to our expectations that it would be one of the most anticipated technology products of the year," said Kevin Packingham, senior vice president - Product Development for Sprint. "We are working closely with our partners at HTC to increase the supply and get EVO 4G into the hands of everyone who wants one as quickly as possible."
RAVE REVIEWS ROLLING IN
Respected technology and telecommunications media and analysts lavished HTC EVO 4G with praise through its opening weekend:
* "Sprint HTC EVO 4G! There, do we have your attention? Of course we do, it's hard to ignore the phone that has proven to be the hottest Android kit for the foreseeable future." –IntoMobile
* "If you want the biggest, brawniest, most ridiculously muscular phone you can buy, it's the Evo." - Gizmodo
* "Entertainment – this is where the EVO 4G really shines – there's so much to do, it can actually be hard to decide; there's mobile video, games, a fully featured music player, and web browsing at blazing fast speeds." – Brighthand
* "The HTC EVO 4G represents a huge step forward for both the Android platform and Sprint's 4G network." – PC World
* "When it comes to 4G, Sprint is the sheriff in town ... EVO 4G is simply the most advanced phone today." – Ubergizmo
* In the June 4 issue of Investor's Business Daily, Ken Dulaney, Gartner analyst, commented, "The device is magnificent. It's a work of technological art."
* "It will certainly fly off the shelves as one of the most advanced 3G smartphones available... With a 4.3-inch 480 x 800 pixel LCD display and a rear kick stand, the EVO looks more like a mobile TV than a phone. I would not mind watching the Celtics-Lakers NBA Finals on this screen in a pinch." – Berge Ayvazian, Yankee Group analyst
CNET, LAPTOP Magazine and eWeek gave HTC EVO 4G awards for Best of Show when it was announced at CTIA this spring. It was also recently cited on MobileTechReview's Best Smartphones and Best Touch Screen Phones lists.
Sprint customers joined in the praise as well:
* "I woke up and thought it was Christmas. This phone is so innovative and Sprint is so far ahead of everyone else when it comes to innovation. I'm so excited and looking forward to getting to know EVO better." – Peggi Terzakis, Chicago, Ill.
* "I couldn't wait until the phone was released. I've been sitting everyday just counting the days until launch. I'm a musician so I'm most excited to test the sound quality, all of the multimedia capabilities and the front and back-facing cameras. This is one unique device." – Orlando Williams, Atlanta, Ga.
* "I've been using the EVO for two days now and this is the best smart phone I've had! Sprint's 3G network is reliable and it will provide our AfterCollege employees throughout the country with reliable internet access. With Sprint's network and hotspot feature, we will have significant cost savings." – Robert Angulo, San Francisco, Calif.
* "I'm excited about this phone. It's huge and I can finally watch videos." – Jordan Grinevitch, Phoenix, Ariz.
* "I'm most excited about the 4G speed and the hotspot. I can get rid of my wireless cards!" – Terence Govan, Lewisville, Texas
Customer favorites on HTC EVO 4G's long list of features include the 4.3-inch screen, dual 8MP video camera capable of capturing HD quality and front-facing 1.3MP camera. They also appreciate the HDMI output jack making it simple to start a movie for your children in the backseat of the car with the phone and then connect to an HDTV to finish it when you arrive at home. 1 Business customers highlight its super-fast 1GHz processor, simultaneous voice and data capability in 4G or Wi-Fi coverage areas enabling Web surfing and more during conversation, and built-in mobile hotspot for up to eight Wi-Fi enabled devices.2
AMAZING AT 3G, UNBELIEVABLE AT 4G
Sprint 4G offers a faster wireless experience than any other U.S. national wireless carrier, and Sprint is the only national carrier offering wireless 4G service today in 33 markets. Sprint 4G delivers download speeds up to 10 times faster than 3G2, giving HTC EVO 4G the fastest data speeds of any U.S. wireless device available today. HTC EVO 4G's exciting features and applications are compelling and powerful in a 3G world, but they become even more amazing when experienced with 4G speeds.
Sprint 4G covers 43 million people and expects to have up to 120 million people covered by the end of 2010. Sprint currently offers 4G service in 33 markets: Georgia – Atlanta, Milledgeville; Hawaii – Honolulu, Maui; Idaho – Boise; Illinois – Chicago; Maryland – Baltimore; Missouri – Kansas City; Nevada – Las Vegas; North Carolina – Charlotte, Greensboro, (along with High Point and Winston-Salem), Raleigh (along with Cary, Chapel Hill and Durham); Oregon – Portland, Salem; Pennsylvania – Harrisburg, Lancaster, Philadelphia, Reading, York; Texas – Abilene, Amarillo, Austin, Corpus Christi, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Houston, Killeen/Temple, Lubbock, Midland/Odessa, San Antonio, Waco, Wichita Falls; Washington – Bellingham, Seattle. For more information, visit www.sprint.com/4G.
In 2010, Sprint expects to launch 4G service in multiple markets, including but not limited to, Boston, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Denver, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, New York City, Pittsburgh, Salt Lake City, San Francisco, St. Louis and Washington, D.C.
For more details on HTC EVO 4G, please visit www.sprint.com/EVO.
About Sprint Nextel
Sprint Nextel offers a comprehensive range of wireless and wireline communications services bringing the freedom of mobility to consumers, businesses and government users. Sprint Nextel served more than 48 million customers at the end of the first quarter of 2010 and is widely recognized for developing, engineering and deploying innovative technologies, and is the first and only wireless 4G service from a national carrier in the United States; offering industry-leading mobile data services, leading prepaid brands including Virgin Mobile USA, Boost Mobile, Common Cents Mobile and Assurance Wireless and instant national and international push-to-talk capabilities; and a global Tier 1 Internet backbone. With its customer-focused strategy, you can learn more and visit Sprint at www.sprint.com or www.facebook.com/sprint and www.twitter.com/sprint.
The sad part is that by the time the back of the line people bought their EVOs the batteries for the phones purchased by those at the front of the line were already dead.
I didn't recorder and got mine launch morning there were only like ten people in line could have possibly had the first evo in Cincinnati lol this was also posted from an evo as said though this is a way better phone then the pre lol and I came from a g1
I can't sleep. My Evo came in tomorrow :(
There wasn't exactly a line of customers at the Sprint store I got my Evo at, but it did seem like there was a pretty steady stream of them throughout the day.
Still in the process of getting everything set up on my Evo the way I want it (I ditched Sense pretty much right away in favor of the vanilla Android UI) but so far it seems to be working out pretty well. I'm so used to carrying around my old Mogul in a holster that I keep thinking I forgot my phone when it's in my pocket.
So far, speed with the 4G connection enabled (Seattle area) doesn't really seem any better than the 3G speed, so mostly I keep the 4G off for now. The EVDO speed is pretty decent here though, so it's not that big a deal for now.
@Vexorg .. My guess is that you won't notice the 4G for most tasks because what slows down browsing etc is the latency not the bandwidth.
However if you do any streaming or downloading of large files you should quickly notice the benefits of 4G.
@dark star
i cant hit a single website without seeing that damn ad plastered everywhere. they havent put out a tv ad yet (at least not one that ive seen) but i dont believe palm did before their product launch either.
@dark star lack of ultra-compelling options @ sprint, first (well, I know not the first, but for most intensive purposes) 4G phone + lack of options at AT&T means they had two large customer bases who might have been out of contract or willing to break contract. Also, even without a marketing blitz by HTC or Sprint this thing had a viral marketing campaign run by the interweblogs.
@yankdez "In addition, the total number of HTC EVO 4G devices sold on launch day was three times the number of Samsung Instinct and Palm Pre devices sold over their first three days on the market combined."
OH MY GOD. I was expecting it to sell a lot. but not that much.
C-c-can you enlarge the photo, I need a better look at the dame in the black skirt?!
Oh yeah!! Good job Sprint!
EUROPE WANTS THE UMTS ECO!!!!
Caps =\
@crichton007 well it's still better then AT&T with drops, locks, falls and charges.
High and Drunk. High...and...Drunk.
I have been patiently (but painfully) waiting for the 8th of this month before buying my EVO. Strategic billing... lol. My bill cycle starts over on the 8th. So then I'll buy the EVO and the $299 won't be due till July (or early august if I wait till the last minute to pay). That gives me a bit more time to wait on my rebate. I'll be breaking that up in two payments, anyway. I'm just glad it didn't sell out totally. That was my biggest fear in my plan.
Also, I'm lucky with my phone plan. Earlier this year, in an effort to retain me as a customer (which worked), Sprint discounted my bill $20 a month for 2 years. Plus I get the $10 corporate discount. My bill will be $50.00 plus taxes and insurance when I buy my EVO. You can just imagine... I'm loving Sprint so much right now.
how you guys liking your evos? :)
@WillSmith Love it!! It's like a mini tablet.
GOt mine Friday, took an hour but hey I'm very happy with my phone and the service thus far.
@yankdez What? Isn't this sprints first smartphone? What's a "pre"?
htc make the best phone.
Yes, it is definitely like a mini tablet. I'm coming from the Pre which I bought because of the keybrd..nvr was a fan of virtual, but screen size compensates..very *very* accurate. Fast as well, no webOS lag (sorry palm, still love webos!)
And plz, who all wrote any the battery 'problems' again?? Been holdin up pretty well... no complaints so far... LOOOVIN IT!
@dark star As a launch-day Pre and launch-day Evo owner, the run-up to the Evo had WAY more advertising. I remember seeing the first Pre commercial a couple days before it came out, then only sporadic ones after release. Not so for the Evo, which has not only TV ads but a ton of online ads.
I wonder why they won't give numbers?
@Jerry Rawlings
They are probably waiting to verify total weekend sales as well. Then they can put out a nice commercial talking about launch day and weekend sales on "America's first 4g network" etc.
@Mofetti - they can't / won't give numbers because its only 3x the Pre, a failed device. And, by the way, its not a network if its only in a handful of ciites. How about that battery life folks? Isn't it grand...
@Mofetti
not a real 4g, i wish the itu puts a stop to this shit.
@bigbudha Once again WiMax can be a backhaul network for 2G, 3G, and yes 4G. So shut the f*ck up since you don't know what your talking about...
@FreeRange1
Back to your cave, troll. Honestly, ask anyone who uses an EVO in a normal fashion and you'll hear that the battery life is beyond satisfactory. These reviewers have 20 things running and don't put it down till the battery is drained...not exactly the best way to see how the battery will perform.
You seem to be quite angry about this phone and Sprint. Its just a phone man, and Apple is just a company. You don't have to defend it from the big bad EVO.
If you can't say how many phones you sold - you blew it.
I live less than a block away from that sprint. It's on the corner of maiden lane and broadway. And I live in 11 maiden lane. Haha awesome.
@scorpeo hahah I've been thinking that since this photo has been posted.
Its Good to see that the Evo hit the ground running (unlike my N1 which had the chance to come out swinging but knocked itself out, with the bad marketing, sales pitch as well as the release of the Incredible and the Evo), hopefully this thing continues to sell well before the end of the year when HTC drops its newest beast of a phone.
My guess would be between 3 and 400,000 sold.
@Corriewf
The Palm Pre is a smartphone available on three major carriers that can handle multitasking and has a new mobile operating system called WebOS that's, quite frankly, one of the best mobile OS's out there. Far superior to iPhoneOS and yes, even Android (I'm not an Apple hater and I own an Evo now).
It's meeting an unfortunate fate due to bad marketing and poor hardware choices. But, now that Google has hired on the brains behind WebOS, I look forward to what the future versions of Android will look like.
If you didn't know, now you know. :-)
we rooting for you in the hood lil homies
Wow - they sold more than the Pre at launch - a failed device (and company). I count a total of 18 people in line. Stand back!
I'd like to know what the return levels are on phones. I knew plenty of people who bought the pre and returned it. I think it would be interesting to know what percentage of new phones are returned.
I'm curious if the bad battery life will be enough for people to return their EVO. I bought the diamond - the next model after the touch and the battery life was about 6 hours with exchange activesync and BT turned on and even though I'd probably only be on the phone for about 30 minutes it would be dead after a full charge every night by about 3PM ever day.
@boe Once I solved the issue of the calendar keeping my phone from going to sleep I get better battery than my Pre. Seriously anyone with bad battery life get Advanced Task Killer and have it kill the calendar. Or get Spare parts to see what is making your phone stay in Partial awake mode.
@donatom3 Hello, My clients were returning the Pre because they didn't like it - not because of battery life. I returned my Diamond because of a design flaw in the receiver on the unit - not a defective unit but a defective line. They had a problem with the diamonds not maintaining a signal and as a result, the unit overheats and the battery dies quickly. It is pretty well documented that the design of the Diamond was just plain bad. The Touch Pro 2 and imagio were acceptable for battery life though.
Ok so it beat "Sprint's Sales Record" but where does it stand over all? Did it beat the droid? The iPhone? I want to know the total number of handsets sold in the first 24 Hours as compared to the other top selling handsets! Where does the EVO stand?
Every Sprint Kiosk in the Mall and every Sprint store I drove passed on opening day had NO ONE in line or even talking to a sales person that day! They seemed pretty slow to me!
I was told on Sunday that customers can't even back-order the Evo now. I got one of two canceled pre-orders. Feeling very lucky to have gotten mine. Its my favorite toy since getting an n-scale train set for Christmas when I was 9.
Well that was quick and easy.
Wait, so if each of the 22000 stores sold at least 20 devices, that would mean close to half a million!
Can't wait to see the real numbers!
Can't say I'm surprised to see the EVO as Sprint's top selling phone. I mean seriously, look at the competition its had.
Picked it up for my wife on Friday and so far she loves it. Battery life has been surprisingly good. She doesn't use it a lot so that is a consideration, but it's retaining a lot of charge despite all the apps left running in the background. I downloaded ATK for her and gave her a quick tutorial, but I doubt she'll use it.
So far it's been very impressive.
@juanvaldez "INTENTS AND PURPOSES."
Fixed.
@Scrtcwlvl sprint palm instinct sales combined on the frst day were 320,000 so the htc evo had atleast that amount of sales if it exided them both. Not even half a million. Dam
I'm not surprised considering how slow sprint's servers were, it took an hour and a half just for my phone to be activated.
anyone having trouble with wired headphones? my EVO will not detect the microphone on my Bose earphones and the answer/end call button also does not work.
Thanks
I went to that sprint store.. NICE