We were amazed last night to see both Apple and AT&T
sell out of iPhone 4 pre-order units despite the
sustained ordering issues, and now we know why: Apple managed to move 600,000 iPhones in just a single day. Yes, that's a lot -- Apple says it's the largest number of pre-orders it's ever taken in one day, and AT&T says it's ten times as many orders as it took for the iPhone 3GS. It's not all sunshine and roses, though; Apple's also apologizing to the large numbers of people who simply couldn't get through yesterday, and AT&T's
suspended pre-orders entirely until the device is in stock. We're guessing AT&T might also be putting the stopper on things while it gets those
pesky security issues under control, but there's a chance the carrier is just trying to deal with the insane order volume coming from Apple's servers -- it served up 13 million eligibility checks yesterday, shattering the previous record by three times. All in all, it looks like Apple has a hot item on its hands here -- almost too hot to handle. Here's Apple's full statement:
Yesterday Apple and its carrier partners took pre-orders for more than 600,000 of Apple's new iPhone 4. It was the largest number of pre-orders Apple has ever taken in a single day and was far higher than we anticipated, resulting in many order and approval system malfunctions. Many customers were turned away or abandoned the process in frustration. We apologize to everyone who encountered difficulties, and hope that they will try again or visit an Apple or carrier store once the iPhone 4 is in stock.
Update: Looks like that "ships by" date just slipped once more from July 2nd to July 14th. Yikes.
posted June 16th 2010 12:11PM
just because there are 600k preorders doesnt mean this is the best phone ever. ATT has a ton of shitty phones, go look. the iPhone is the only decent one out of the lot, it's no wonder the preorders are so high, especially when theyre offering contract upgrades early.
@doobie Your comments are irrelevant and should be disregarded for your stupidity matches the level of no other. Perhaps, it matches the same as the others who choose to bash a phone and or company that knows how to bring in the pesos; in large quantities.
@doobie Lol, you make it sound like a conspiracy. Are there also men in black suits who collect you and secretly eliminate you if you buy a different phone?
@ryan1
Your comment doesn't hold up
The razor sold like crazy but that doesn't male it a good phone
@DefPoet
It was great at the time!!!!
@Peter Church
I don't understand why people should hate what/how apple does, does not have an impact on them at all.
iPhone users. Blech.
Impressive
@JStar *most* impressive
Beat that HTC EVO and Craproid!
13 Million security checks? Does that mean it took an average of 20 ATTEMPTS per person to purchase an iPhone?
@whatthewhereis
Sounds about right! It took me at least that mine tries to get through.
@whatthewhereis No, it means that 13 million people checked to see if they were eligible. Not all of them would be, so didn't order. Many of them were, and could get an order through. Probably still more of them were eligible and *couldn't* get an order through.
It just means 13 million people were *interested*
Wow I am glad I didn't work yesterday....curious to see what launch day looks like.
The real question is, how many of these pre-orders are already existing iphone users?
@Shinjifei 599,999.
@Shinjifei
Exactly my thoughts. I find it funny fan-boys who use sales numbers to push their belief that their phone/company is "winning". Think about it for a second. Your not gaining money, only a product. I wonder if they feel that they "won" when buying food.
@Bioxide
Partially true, partially false.
I consider my iPhone to be great because of the fantastic software selection available for it. This is a direct result of a large user base, i.e. sales.
If only 10 people owned an iPhone, it would never have all apps and games that make is such a pleasure to own.
@Shinjifei I really hope they come out with numbers for this, since I think it will be a fun and interesting read. Really Android manufacturers are just starting to get their first batch of repeat customers (with the Droid 2 and/or Droid x come out on Verizon). Besides that most android purchasers are either first time smartphone purchasers, or people who have switched from other smartphones and decided to give them a chance.
Apple does have the "luxury" of one upgrade option every year on one carrier, which means their sales numbers will always be out of this world good! Which is good news for all of us Apple Stockholders!
@Shinjifei I was at an AT&T store last night (upgrading from a 3g) and they were having problems porting numbers for customers, seems the system was overloaded. Anecdotal yes, but it certainly seems like they were getting a decent share of new customers to go along with all of us upgraders.
@Bioxide
It sounds like you feel you're "losing".
Just an observation on numbers, but wouldn't that "13 million eligibility checks" figure not properly reflect the fact that a single person might have had theirs checked a dozen or 100 times while trying to get through to actually ordering their phone? I think the same can be said for visitors to AT&T's and Apple's sites. I just wonder how many unique visitors they really had. As I said, just an observation though.
@Yoshi Yeah, I tried at least twenty times before I just gave up for the night.
But trying to pre-order as of right now, the website is ten times more faster than it was yesterday! D:
I couldn't get my preorder in...
Will now put the money toward new tires on my '69 Marquis Convertible.
Maybe I'll get a new iPhone 5 next year.
@bitbanger Giving up till next year because you couldn't order it yesterday?
If you give up that easily in life then buckle up man thats not the way to be a man.
@FrankDTank More likely he realized it was an unneeded impulse buy.
@Peter Church
wow peter you really pwned those Appel haters there... what a guy.
I don't think sales figures actually say much, it's whether the buyer can put their hand on their heart 6mths later and say, 'this was a great buy!' and that really is in the eye of the beholder, any fool can buy a product just look how many people read The Sun ;-)
right now i have alienated myself from virtually the whole population of England... I'll get my coat :D
btw windows 7 os ftw! ;-) only kidding i'm android until some thing better comes along.
I started trying to order my iPhone 4 at 8am (Mountain Time) and finally was able to get it ordered at around 4:30 pm. Im glad I am one of the 600,000 to be getting their phones on the 24th!
Thats a lot of future jailbreaking...
@andyg8180
The vast majority (vast VAST majority) of iPhone owners don't jailbreak. So not really.
@Jack
esp with iOS4 improvements (backgrounds, multitasking, etc.) I expect there will be less of a need to jailbreak.
Although I think I still will just for the wifi-hotspot functionality for my iPad, and to change the color of the SMS bubbles :-)
I wonder if this includes all the people who double ordered from difrent vendors because they could not get through. 600,000 Is a lot, But EVO had 400,000. Of course I'm sure apple will actual make the phones they take orders for, unlike HTC.
@crawdaddct Nope, EVO only had
@crawdaddct Nope, EVO only had < 150,000 in sales (Sprint admitted they had it wrong after an employee outed them).
This 600,000 are just pre-orders. There will also be launch-day units for sale at the Apple stores, Best Buys, Radio Shacks, AT&T stores, and Walmarts. First weekend sales are going to be way above 1 million.
(don't know why my previous post was clipped)
@rbgaynor Don't get me wrong 600,000 is impressive no doubt but the 150,000 quote from sprint only included units sold at the sprint stores, not counting the third party sellers
i was expecting that. iPhone 4 is a great upgrade for those who love Apple, and with that early eligibility thingie a lot of people who owned previous iPhones could jump to the new one faster. This means way more phones sold at launch. The other side of the coin is that future sales wont be that great, since people who would have bought the iPhone in the next months ( since they wouldnt have been eligible at launch), will already have the device :). But who knows :)
@balena
True, except for people like me who have purchased the new iPhone every year on launch day regardless of eligibility.
@Moisture my wife does the same :). i stick to my 3gs and see how ios 4 is doing on it, compare it to the 4g and i might jump the ship too.
Funny thing is out of the 600,000 how many of those are for resale? Meaning people reselling them on E-bay to say international countries for over $1,000? I would say more than half at least, just out of my friends a lone I know a good 30 of them that bough 1 or 2 for resale.
@webdesignlab
That is true for any launch! How many people bought multiple Evos? Multiple xbox 360's and wii's? That will happen regardless.
@Moisture
True, but an EVO wont do you much good for international sales, like the original poster was suggesting.
@webdesignlab Likely not many. I don't think Apple was even taking pre-orders for unlocked phones. Anyway when you look at the number that show up on Ebay it's just noise when the sales are 1 million+.
I'm pissed I had to wait for a white one for my wife.
i bet ballmer ate his necktie yesterday.
@shizzledmg You know how get gets (on stage) when he's excited. Wouldn't want to see him when he isn't happy.
600K pre-sold in 1 day... that's it? 2M-3M in a week or two?
of course Apple may have a pre-sell cap where they can't
guarantee to have enough units in stock and may have to
end pre-selling altogether... these #s are quite impressive
That beard guy totally ordered one.
N, n, n, n, n. You guys are telling this all wrong. You're supposed to lead with a picture of an iPhone being blasted with a fiery blowtorch and a headline something like "iPhone Fuster Cluck Complete Failure" and never mention the fact that this one item sold more dollars worth than sliced bread did, prompting a popularity metaphor.
Take a peek at Gizmodo. Those guys know how to be fair and balanced.
dammit where's my white iPhone???????
Goodness! Is there no stopping the iPhone? 2 million 72hrs? At this rate, its very possible.