Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Only 146,000 iPhone activations Opening Weekend

skellener said:
You know...I love Apple products...I love the Mac...but please....

STOP WITH THE 'EFFING iPHONE ARTICLES ALREADY!!!! :mad:

146,000 iPhone activations Opening Weekend - no one cares! It's out. It sold well. Enough!

Will there be any Mac articles here on MacRumors anymore?
Click to expand...

Were people this freakish when apple released the rokr, ipod hifi, or any of their video-production equipment? I don't seem to remember the "apple doesn't make computers anymore" voices being so pronounced. Hasn't apple sold more computers at a faster rate than ever in their history over the past year?
 
williedigital said:
Does it bother you that most carriers make products that are proprietary then? From auto repair parts to vacuum cleaner bag replacements to everything in between, I think it's somewhat disengenuine to expect every device to have the same level of interoperability as, say, linux. Most people in the US are stuck with one service provider for electricity, water, cable, natural gas, and in some cases even food (small towns often have only one grocery store). Some times you have to accept a limited monopoly to ensure quality of service.
Click to expand...

While this statement may be somewhat true, If I need a new bag for my Hoover I can get one made by Hoover, or one made by any number of other manufactures, can you say the same with Apple Products and parts?

The idea of just going with one provider is a bad one on Apples part, it will come to bite them in the butt later. I would of thought of getting an iPhone if I could stay with Verizon where I have been for nearly 10 years. Iwill not give up that kind of clout I have with my provider just to get a new gadget, my Palm Treo works perfectly thank you and it did not cost me nearly as much.

Peace said:
Based on users on MacRumors these "troubles" were NOT "very minor" nor were they fixed quickly.For most people trying to change over from a different carrier it took anywhere from 18 hours to 3 days to activate.
Click to expand...


Well I am going by the reports from AT&T and Apple. So if you want to say that the providers of teh phone and service are lying about it, is that really much better?
 
filmfx66 said:
While this statement may be somewhat true, If I need a new bag for my Hoover I can get one made by Hoover, or one made by any number of other manufactures, can you say the same with Apple Products and parts?

The idea of just going with one provider is a bad one on Apples part, it will come to bite them in the butt later. I would of thought of getting an iPhone if I could stay with Verizon where I have been for nearly 10 years. Iwill not give up that kind of clout I have with my provider just to get a new gadget, my Palm Treo works perfectly thank you and it did not cost me nearly as much.
Click to expand...

Well, it's a GSM phone so you would have to be with T-mobile anyway. Why should they build a CDMA model when most of the world is on GSM? Even unlocked it wouldn't work with Verizon. If your palm treo works perfectly and was less, you weren't going to get an iPhone anyway so why complain? I doubt you have any real clout with Verizon.
 
Yankees 4 Life said:
wtf mate! my AAPL stock is down $8.00!!!!!! What the hell is this! Why did ATT have to release this info before apple released sales figures? Jesus Christ can't the shareholders wait until apple gets its info in tomorrow?
Click to expand...

Over $9 down now, keep the thread going, it AAPL hits 133 I am buying.

With stories like this, hopefully it will soon!
 
MacSA said:
Now the iPhone is a total flop... they can get back to concentrating on computers and software instead of this gimmicky c***
Click to expand...

Amazing how it's only people who don't have an iPhone who complain about it. :) Jealousy is not flattering.

BTW, I had absolutely no trouble whatsoever activating my iPhone on my MacBook Pro while seated at the iPod counter on Saturday, the 30th, in an Apple Store in Sugarland. The sales folks were friendly.

However, I did return the iPhone I had ordered the day before at an AT&T store which arrived a week later. That AT&T store had sold out two folks in front of me, was promising next day delivery of phones, which didn't happen. They sold out of 8GB phones, not a single person bought a 4GB that day. Both AT&T stores in town had the same thing happen; they both sold out, about 50 8GB, and sold zero 4 GB.
 
When you consider all the charities, organizations, and businesses that sent people down to get phones for promotional uses I am not surprised that the number of activations are low. The local radio Station in Denver alone gave away 8 handsets they got during the weekend. My bet is that the first month of activations will tell us far more than two weekend days.

One interesting point is ATT released some problems with activation over the first week; good thing more people didn't try to activate.

Sobe said:
Over $9 down now, keep the thread going, it AAPL hits 133 I am buying.

With stories like this, hopefully it will soon!
Click to expand...

Good buy time, I am :D
 
I am the only one out of about 6 people I know that bought the iPhone in the first 2 days. I am a nerd and waited in line. My 5 friends got it after June 30th, after they saw me with it.

The initial number is dissappointing, but I believe it doesn't reflect the fact that majority of iPhone owners (80% I personally know) didn't get it in the first days. They got them Monday Tues and Weds, and another got one last week.

But those are just the people I know. Anybody else have "biter" friends that got one after they saw you with it?
 
Appleinsider says Apple lost 4% of its earnings because of this news.

Can we get back to making computers and software now?
 
jholzner said:
Well, it's a GSM phone so you would have to be with T-mobile anyway. Why should they build a CDMA model when most of the world is on GSM? Even unlocked it wouldn't work with Verizon. If your palm treo works perfectly and was less, you weren't going to get an iPhone anyway so why complain? I doubt you have any real clout with Verizon.
Click to expand...

I was going to buy it because I still like the Phone, I used to work for Apple for 4 years and I like a lot of the products, I own several mac now, I am not a PC guy here trying to blast Apple. I am being a realist.

As for GSM and CDMA, the majority of the phone using public has no idea what those are or what they mean. All they know is they can;t get an iPhone. It's like Ford building a car that runs on only 10% of the roads, how many people are going to buy that?

Peace said:
Yes.I am saying AT&T is downplaying if not outright lying about it's "activation process" during the first week-end.
Click to expand...


Why would they do that? If they knew the numbers were going to be low then why not state the truth about the techinical problems? That would then explain at least in part the piss poor numbers for the first 2 days.
 
filmfx66 said:
I was going to buy it because I still like the Phone, I used to work for Apple for 4 years and I like a lot of the products, I own several mac now, I am not a PC guy here trying to blast Apple. I am being a realist.

As for GSM and CDMA, the majority of the phone using public has no idea what those are or what they mean. All they know is they can;t get an iPhone. It's like Ford building a car that runs on only 10% of the roads, how many people are going to buy that?
Click to expand...

NO it's like Ford building a car that runs on 90% of the roads. But really how can you compare Ford to Apple???????????
 
Remember this number definitely does not include any online sales at all. Those were definitely not activated on Saturday or Sunday as they were not received until the following week.

Also, remember that even if the total number sold to date is only 300K-500K, consider that the iPod only sold 11K units in its entire first quarter on the market; this is a success for Apple and as more and more people reach the end of their two year contracts the iPhone will get more and more sales.

Don't Panic.
 
Exactly flimfxx66, AT&T is not going to lie about 146K and related info. This release is attempting to put the best possible truthful spin on their quarter. The goal of these kinds of things is to prop up their stock, not knock it down. If anything 146K is "best case" max-possible spin to get a number as big as they can (and still be able to call it defendable "truth").

It's cracking me up reading all of these posts that seem to imply AT&T is conspiring against Apple, or releasing information that is hurting Apple (before Apple gets to release their own version of first 2 day numbers), etc. AT&T would absolutely love to "positively surprise" much more so than publish 146K. There is no reason whatsoever for them to downplay activations. These reports are always about maximizing "truthful" spin.
 
slughead said:
Appleinsider says Apple lost 4% of its earnings because of this news.

Can we get back to making computers and software now?
Click to expand...
No NOT earnings... market cap, yes.

Also nice to see folks beating the old dead horse about Apple not making computers.
 
HobeSoundDarryl said:
Exactly flimfxx66, AT&T is not going to lie about 146K and related info. This release is attempting to put the best possible truthful spin on their quarter. The goal of these kinds of things is to prop up their stock, not knock it down. If anything 146K is "best case" max-possible spin to get a number as big as they can (and still be able to call it defendable "truth").

It's cracking me up reading all of these posts that seem to imply AT&T is conspiring against Apple, or releasing information that is hurting Apple (before Apple gets to release their own version of first 2 day numbers), etc. AT&T would absolutely love to "positively surprise" much more so than publish 146K. There is no reason whatsoever for them to downplay activations. These reports are always about maximizing "truthful" spin.
Click to expand...


If this is all true can you please explain to me why AT&T failed to mention the actual number of iPhones they sold in those 2 days?
 
newportnews said:
Remember this number definitely does not include any online sales at all. Those were definitely not activated on Saturday or Sunday as they were not received until the following week.

Also, remember that even if the total number sold to date is only 300K-500K, consider that the iPod only sold 11K units in its entire first quarter on the market; this is a success for Apple and as more and more people reach the end of their two year contracts the iPhone will get more and more sales.

Don't Panic.
Click to expand...

Yeah, this whole million phones in a month idea is pretty crazy. One out of 300 people bought a new $500 phone along with service contract? That would be truly stunning. Something can be a cultural phenomenon without EVERYONE buying one--consider the Toyota Prius, which is still nowhere near selling a million units, and it's a product that almost every person in the US has a need for (car).
 
williedigital said:
Yeah, this whole million phones in a month idea is pretty crazy. One out of 300 people bought a new $500 phone along with service contract? That would be truly stunning. Something can be a cultural phenomenon without EVERYONE buying one--consider the Toyota Prius, which is still nowhere near selling a million units, and it's a product that almost every person in the US has a need for (car).
Click to expand...


you're actually comparing a $500 cellphone to a $20,000 car?
 
Because Peace, AT&T revenues are heavily weighted to the contract revenues, not how many pieces of phone hardware they sell. They are reporting to people interested in investing in stock and, as a wireless carrier, the main message stock buyers want to see is how many 2-year contracts were activated (and how many of those contracts went to brand new customers).
 
izzle22 said:
NO it's like Ford building a car that runs on 90% of the roads. But really how can you compare Ford to Apple???????????
Click to expand...

Apple and Ford are more alike than you think, if you know anything about history you will undersatnd what Iam talking about.

Also, if you do not understand the analogy of raods to cell phone providers I don't have the time to really explain it in depth to you.

But in simple terms, Apple's original plan of a closed environment nearly killed the company in the early days. The only thing that really ended up saving the company from an eventual disaster was the adoption of a "more" open device, the iPod. Thanks to the fact you can run it on a PC OR a Mac made it avaialble to just about everyone.

But when you close your doors to the majority of the cell phone public, unless of course they go through teh trouble of changing carriers, you run into the same isues Apple did early on. You make it difficult for people to adopt your technology.
 
Peace said:
you're actually comparing a $500 cellphone to a $20,000 car?
Click to expand...

It's not totally off base. User penetration rates are similar in the US. Both are long term purchasing commitments. When a person wants/needs a new phone, they get one, and both are unique models on the market, who's cultural significance far outweighs their actual usage rates.

filmfx66 said:
But when you close your doors to the majority of the cell phone public, unless of course they go through teh trouble of changing carriers, you run into the same isues Apple did early on. You make it difficult for people to adopt your technology.
Click to expand...

You're right in the short term, but I know very few people that haven't changed cell providers in the last five years, and when the time comes to change, they will have little disincentive to go with the iphone, which has very reasonable contract terms and the largest carrier in the US. It's kind of like SUV's. Still tons on the roads from the trend during the late 90's, but wont be the case forever. Appl is looking long-term here.
 
steve, give us the touchscreen ipod and all will be fine ...

... millions will be sold the first days (me will get one too)
 
stock prices people

It seems like some people here are just too ignorant/young to know what stock prices are, and that even falling this much (based on BAD AT&T numbers that do not represent sales, but are being interpreted as such by many parties who should know better) means NOTHING. Apple is not losing "earnings." Their market cap is dipping. A little. Going back to what it was a few days ago or some such. NOT A BIG DEAL AT ALL.

Personally, I wonder if someone is trying to move AAPL down on purpose, to buy in, knowing that reporting activations as sales will give them a short-term buying possibility when IDJITS can't interpret the difference.

Oh well -- I am holding my lowly number of shares, probably for at least a few years, and likely longer than that. I am fully expecting AAPL to hit 350-500/share (not accounting for potential splits) by the end of the decade. Why, you ask?

Macintosh -- the Intel transition went smoothly, real smoothly, and 10.5 is on the way. Mac sales keep going up up up, and new models will keep getting better.

iPod/digital music -- not much to say, they own the digital music market, and I doubt that will change any time soon. 3rd largest music reseller in USA? Even I never would have guessed they'd hit that mark this quickly.

iPhone -- it is going to OWN portable communications/media in 5 years, mark my words. Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Nokia, Motorola -- watch your backs!

AppleTV -- kind of the sleeper-hit right now, but you know what -- if they implement on-demand rentals, HD content, and just a feeeew little other tidbits (which seem obvious), they are going to have a winner hear. Another friend of mine is canceling Comcast Cable TV tonight (I already did this a month or two ago.) We'd never think of canceling cable internet/broadband though. Guess what? A slightly tuned AppleTV is just what we're looking for. My guess is Apple is smart enough to realize there are MANY like us who can't justify $50-$100/month cable TV bills, Netflix bills, etc.

Final Cut Studio/Pro Market/Enterprise -- Apple has pretty much scared the CRAP out of Avid, and is becoming, very quickly, a standard for content creation. This will only accelerate. Apple can ONLY grow in the enterprise realm/SMB.

And this doesn't account for any NEW stuff Apple might have in the works. Which, knowing them, they are up to.

Why all the smack talk, again? Sheesh.
 
Peace said:
If this is all true can you please explain to me why AT&T failed to mention the actual number of iPhones they sold in those 2 days?
Click to expand...

Maybe because they have no way of tracking sales outside of their own distribution/sales channel? Either operationally or legally?
 
Frisco said:
It does appear that the iPhone is going to a major flop. Apple's greed for not going with Verizon and 3G is going to cost them big. Yeah Apple got a percentage of the monthly bill with At&t, but this decision is going to cost Apple billions.

That's what happens when you get greedy folks!!
Click to expand...

Can I have what you're smoking?


Has any other phone had bigger sales in the first day and a half of availability? Not to mention that we don't know if the various numbers are comparable since some say two day (friday/saturday) and some say weekend (fri/sat/sunday?). If it turns out that some bozo way overestimated before the facts were out, that doesn't make it a flop.

And why so much obsession with sales from two days? Seems idiotic to me.
 
newportnews, I've seen that "Apple only sold 11K ipod units in their first quarter", but I've never found the source for that. Am I wrong to believe that the numbers over a wikipedia showing 125K units as of Q1 2002 is not the representation of the 1st quarter of ipod sales? See
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Ipod_sales.svg#_note-0

And either way, I was one of those 11K or 125K buyers, having done the homework to figure out that the ipod was going to be great, had to have one, etc, with no 6-month pre-launch hype, with no national news coverage, with a much fainter "halo" around Apple, no overnight lines waiting to buy it at the stores, and with no friends selling me on why this little box is going to be so great.

iPhone had all of that- way, way more exposure than the 1st-gen ipod. That's what made commercial messaging like "there's never been an ipod that could do this..." so powerfully strong in concept. Combined with a long gap since a significant ipod update, I would have expected a much stronger first 2 days.

So even if it was 11K and not 125K, I wouldn't be so quick to argue that 146K activations is simply iPod sales V2.

That said, do I think Apple will sell millions of iphones over time? Yes. But 146K activations after that buildup is definitely disappointing.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back