“According to a report in the LA Times that has since been echoed by CNN Money and Reuters, 525,000 iPhones were sold on the first weekend. As we’ve noted previously, iPhone first weekend sales now represent the largest consumer electronics product launch in history as measured by dollar value. As of today, 59 of the 162 Apple Stores do not have iPhones available, having sold out over the weekend,” Carl Howe reports for SeekingAlpha.
Some quick impressions from the limited time I had with the phone:
• No manual is no problem
• The iPhone processor is FAST
• The iPhone experience is incredibly addictive
“This is an experience sale akin to driving a BMW; people who take a test drive will want to buy the device. And the overall look of the device just screams taste and design. I fully expect the iPhone to be one of the first electronic devices to be placed in the Museum of Modern Art. It’s that beautiful,” Howe writes.
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “JadisOne” for the heads up.]
@ jay
The iPhone is certainly subsidized to some extent, though not as heavily as most smart phones. But the real reason for locking the phone to the service may be Apple’s desire to control the UI. Most carriers demand a lot of control of the user experience and they love to put links to their crappy services all over, and Apple would never go for that. Also, a technology like Visual Voicemail requires cooperation from the network, and other carriers would have to change as AT&T did to accommodate this.
An unlocked iPhone would be a crippled iPhone, and Apple is far too protective of their brand to allow something like that to poop on it.
That’s my guess anyway.
-c
MW: ‘art’ (for art’s sake)
No, don’t compare Apple products to anything from BMW – They can logically be compare to products from Audi AG.
Audi’s products, like Apples are very tastefully and classically designed.
Both companies thrive on and are known for designing the most lustful products.
@ChrissyOne
That’s an interesting point. Apple gets to call everything related to the UI, and AT&T gets to be the exclusive service provider. No doubt beneficial to both parties, and you can just imagine the “smoke filled room” conversations Apple and AT&T might have had when their negotiations were underway under this scenario.
I think though it’ll be a year or two before we are sure that we end users benefit as much as Apple/AT&T might have.
@ Mac n’ Cheese and DJ…
My God are the two of you dense….
The reviewer is talking about DRIVING a BMW. Maybe the clue could be the part where he says “People who take a test DRIVE” he is not referring to the iDrive interface.
People like the two of you.. who cannot understand the simplest of comparative discourse, even when written in such clear language, scare the hell out of me…
sad
Why…what happened?
MW:’basis’ My boy is the catcher cause he isn’t good at playing the basis.
I second that, Willie G
MW: english. heh heh. No shit.
Some math, in case you haven’t realized how much money this is. 525,000 seems to be a conservative estimate for phones sold to this point. Assuming every single one of them was the $500 version thats $262 million revenue. If we trust the numbers from the iPhone tear downs, which estimate profit at $300 per phone before final assembly and distribution that’s $157 million in PROFIT in one weekend.
Yep, that’s it. Everyone who is ever going to buy an iPhone has already done so. There was a magical three day window of opportunity to capture a dominant market share, and Apple missed it. The fact that some stores still have a few boxes of the 4 gig model tells me that this launch was an unparalleled disaster. Tomorrow’s headline: “iPhone discontinued for lack of interest and poor sales numbers”
“There are plenty of Apple devices in the Museum of Modern Art. The cube and the iPod are two I can name right off the top of my head”
A Cube!!!
I am on the next train to New York to see the MOMA!
TESTING, my iPhone!