Given the years of speculation and dreaming, we knew the Verizon iPhone was going to be big. In fact, Verizon says that the Apple smartphone helped set a new record in first day sales for the carrier – its biggest ever. Pre-order stock was completely sold out, and there are plenty of customers and would-be customers waiting for February 9 where they can order the CDMA iPhone for the February 10 general public launch.
However, Verizon was reluctant to disclose exact figures of its sales so far. A new rumor says that the carrier managed to top 500,000 iPhone 4 units sold during its first day, which would explain the very quick sell-out.
According to the hit-or-miss publication, The Street:
After breaking its previous phone sales record in the first two hours of pre-orders, Verizon continued to take orders for 15 more hours until 8:10 p.m. ET, wrote JPMorgan analyst Phil Cusick in a note Monday. Based on the pace of sales, Cusick estimated that more than 500,000 Verizon iPhones were sold on day one.
The previous record was held by the Motorola Droid, in which over 100,000 units were sold the first day. The rate at which the Verizon iPhone had sold so far puts it on track to surpass the Motorola Droid’s first week performance at Verizon. Let’s also not forget that non-Verizon customers looking to switch still haven’t had the chance to pick up their smartphone.
It’s hard to confirm whether the numbers are true, of course, but they don’t seem far off. One thing is certain: the CDMA version of the Apple smartphone is going to be huge and may give Verizon the boost it needs to surpass AT&T’s subscriber numbers and keep it that way for months or years to come. Initial reviews already gave it praise for doing what the GSM iPhone seemingly can’t – initiate, receive and sustain phone calls. So far, so good.
[Via: The Street]
