Half a Million iPhones Sold in Two Days

According to one analyst's estimate, Apple may have sold as many as 500,000 iPhones this weekend.

Update: On July 26, Apple released the firgures on the first two days of iPhone sales. This smartphone did well, but did not live up to this early prediction. More information is available in this article:Initial iPhone Sales Good, But Not as Good as Some Thought

The new combination iPod and smartphone only debuted at 6:00 pm on Friday, but Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster says that between that time and when AT&T stores closed on Sunday, about half a million iPhones were sold.

First Generation iPhone (view large image)

A survey conducted by Piper Jaffray in San Fransisco found that 95% respondents got the 8 GB model for $600, rather than the 4 GB model for $500.

Sales were certainly helped by the enormous amount of news coverage the iPhone received in the days leading up to its launch. It would be difficult, if not outright impossible, to find a major source -- TV, newspaper, web site, or magazine -- that didn't run a story about the impeding release of Apple's first smartphone.

Activation Problems

Typically, when a new phone is purchased, it is activated by an employee of the carrier that is offering it. Apple and AT&T were anticipating there would be tremendous initial demand for the iPhone, and knew the regular system wouldn't work. That's why they developed an automated system that allows new iPhone users to activate their device themselves.

However, demand appears to have exceeded these company's expectations, causing delays for some of those trying to activate their new device over the weekend.

Apple says only a small percentage of users had problems, but a small percentage of half a million people adds up.

It appears that a majority of the people who have had problems are current AT&T customers who are switching to the iPhone, rather than those who are signing up with this carrier for the first time.

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Via Crave