Let’s hold off on those gloomy pronouncements about the iPhone’s adoption rate for just a little while longer, OK? In the wake of Tuesday’s news that AT&T activated 146,000 iPhones at launch, the “Apple-is-doomed” crowd began its predictable round of panicky pronouncements about the iPhone failing to meet expectations. Nice story, but it overlooks two important things:
1. The activation figures only represent the first 30 hours of the iPhone’s release, and we already knew there were some activation delays that first weekend; and
2. Activations ain’t sales.
Apple addressed that second point Wednesday, announcing its fiscal third quarter results. The company says it sold 270,000 iPhones, again for the 30 hours that the iPhone was on sale during the third quarter. That’s still short of the more fanciful forecasts, but it’s still nothing for Apple to hang its head over.
To put that 270,000 figure in context, Apple Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook told analysts in the subsequent phone briefing that AT&T informed Apple it had sold more iPhones in that first weekend than it had sold in the first month of any other wireless device in the company’s history. Furthermore, Apple expects to sell its 1 millionth iPhone by the end of the September quarter — it took the company seven quarters to reach that figure with the iPod, and nobody would seriously argue that device was a disappointment.
That’s one man’s take, of course. What do you think of the iPhone sales figures? A strong showing for the first day or so or a sign of trouble on the horizon for Apple?
I think it will really pick up over time. As more people's contracts run out. I've had all kinds of people ask for demos. And I've obliged. Every single person who has seen it has wanted one. Whether or not they actually buy is another story. My wife will get one because of seeing mine, and has never liked a gadget before. I've actually had to talk a couple people out of it because it really wouldn't suit their needs as a business user. I knew they were going after it because of the coolness, and not because it can't edit office documents. I have to remind them of that.
The reason I hear most for not buying is because of no insurance. These are folks who *have* to replace their phones at least 4 times a year because they drop it and it breaks, or gets wet (toilet...ewwww). They wouldn't have the luxury of peace of mind.
I played with my friend's iPhone and the one thing that stuck out was how slow that thing was. It was cute but it just wasn't for me.
Not only was the iPhone's demise over reported - it's "SECURITY" weakness claims were never thought through by those who chose to blindly blast the iPhone.
Take a few score of dedicated "HACKERS" mainlining caffeine and sugar, give them unlimited mechanical and code access to as many iPhones as they could dismantle and query and what do you get after thousands of hours? A group of frustrated head scratching programmers. YES, a few HACKS have made their way into the public arena, but for the most part the iPhone holds tight to it's primary secrets.
HEADLINE - iPhones can be taken over by evil web sites and then the phone can be used to attack AOL servers and shut down the entire Duke University communications infrastructure.
HOW? Oscar Meyer wished they had that much bologna!
That's just my take - Thanks for the news!
That Ray Guy - 3 W's then insidetheboom followed by dot com
Wait a minute--weren't most of the big estimates measuring iPhone sales in its first weekend, not its first 30 hours? 270,000 sales in the first 30 hours (Friday night and Saturday)is fantastic, and I'll bet at least another 100,000 were sold on Sunday.
It seems to me that there is some goal-post moving going on here.
Yeah Phillip. When I made this point I got called a fanboy and delusional on my blog by readers who were hoping to slam the sales figures. Funny, none of those folks have been back since the real sales figures were released.
Does anuyone know how the Razor, walkman phone, pearl, curve or N95 did on their launch in terms of sales? Keep in mind that most of those were worldwide launches free of a captive carrier!!