Hardware 2.0

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

iPhone 4S weekend sales top 4 million

By Adrian Kingsley-Hughes | October 17, 2011, 6:14am PDT

Summary: … and 25 million devices already running iOS 5.

Apple has announced that weekend sales of it’s new iPhone 4S topped 4 million.

Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing, breaks the good news [emphasis added]:

iPhone 4S is off to a great start with more than four million sold in its first weekend-the most ever for a phone and more than double the iPhone 4 launch during its first three days. iPhone 4S is a hit with customers around the world, and together with iOS 5 and iCloud, is the best iPhone ever.

Wondering why downloading iOS 5 has been a little flakey over the past few days? Maybe this will explain:

In addition, more than 25 million customers are already using iOS 5, the world’s most advanced mobile operating system, in the first five days of its release.

What about iCloud?

… more than 20 million customers have signed up for iCloud …

While the iPhone 4S didn’t live up to the blogosphere-generated hype that preceded it, and it wasn’t called the iPhone 5, it looks like none of this put a damper on sales.

What do you think the big selling point was? Siri? Better camera? Or is it that the competition is so severely lacking?

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Topics

Apple iPhone, Apple iPhone 4S, Sales Strategy, Sales Force Management, Sales, Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes is an internationally published technology author who has devoted over a decade to helping users get the most from technology.

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RE: iPhone 4S weekend sales top 4 million

dheady@... 18th Oct

Adrian, I suspect it was a combination of all that you mention. On top of which now we don't have to line up at our local Apple store to get one. The online ordering went smoothly considering the volumes involved and the availability at so many big box stores as well as three major carriers allowed the flood gates to open up more than last year when ATT and Apple were the only two places you could get one. That speaks to the availability issue actually more than the fact that people were buying them. IHOP is wishing hotcakes sold like iPhones! In spite of the well done efforts of Samsung, Motoroogle, HTC and others Android's numerous permutations and configurations continue to put off the average consumer (AC). When that AC wants a smart phone they don't really want to wade through the broken field that is Android and Android phones. With an iPhone you have it all (remember oh geekdom that the average user could care less what 'flavor' of Android is running, how much RAM is in the phone, whether an SD card (what's that?) works, or whether you can carry five extra batteries in your utility belt holster) and it just works.

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The biggest selling point?

toddybottom 17th Oct

The biggest selling point is that all the other smartphone suck.

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Correction

ego.sum.stig@... 17th Oct

All mobile phones suck. They're mostly a ball and chain provided by the office, to make sure they can beg/bribe/threaten you to work out of hours.

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RE: iPhone 4S weekend sales top 4 million

themarty 17th Oct

@ego.sum.stig@... My mobile phone doesn't suck.

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RE: iPhone 4S weekend sales top 4 million

msalzberg 17th Oct

@ego.sum.stig@...

I don't get one from the office. Mine, all mine.

By the way, are you really the Stig?

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RE: iPhone 4S weekend sales top 4 million

vikkigirlliee 17th Oct

I got my free black macbook at http://getamacboook.gu.ma/

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RE: iPhone 4S weekend sales top 4 million

LoverockDavidson_-24231404894599612871915491754222 17th Oct

The biggest selling point was that it had Apple's name on it. That's it, nothing more. The 4 million number isn't anything to brag about when it was spread across 3 carriers and smart phone usage is constantly rising. Lets see the ration of people using it from 2 years ago to now. The sales are underwhelming.

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Smartphone market shows about 85% Y-Y growth, so 140% growth for iPhone ...

DeRSSS 17th Oct

@LoverockDavidson_: ... is impressive.

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RE: iPhone 4S weekend sales top 4 million

LoverockDavidson_-24231404894599612871915491754222 17th Oct

@DeRSSS
No its not impressive. Its the same, just have more people using smart phones now.

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If it would be 'the same', then iPhone 4S' sales would be 85% growth ...

DeRSSS 17th Oct

@LoverockDavidson: ... comparing to last year, not 140% growth.

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RE: iPhone 4S weekend sales top 4 million

dheady@... 18th Oct

@DeRSSS You're wasting your breath. Math is beyond him.

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Like how stupid American forget that there are other countries in world..

doctorSpoc 17th Oct

@LoverockDavidson_ iPhone 4S was released in US, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, and UK.. how much do you think Sprint really added to the mix .. Given all those countries where every carrier already had access to iPhones previously.. get a clue.. there is a world outside of the US...

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RE: iPhone 4S weekend sales top 4 million

LoverockDavidson_-24231404894599612871915491754222 17th Oct

@doctorSpoc
Funny, no one is saying anything about countries. Get a clue.

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RE: iPhone 4S weekend sales top 4 million

dheady@... 18th Oct

@doctorSpoc Actually, the US market exceeds that of all of the countries you listed combined, so yes, Sprint's addition did have a significant impact on the number of iPhones sold this past weekend. And characterizing any nationality as being 'stupid' only reflects upon yourself, not Americans or any other nationality you wish to denigrate.

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Not impressive?

A Grain of Salt 17th Oct

@LoverockDavidson_

Name the last company to sell 4 million phones in 3 days.

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RE: iPhone 4S weekend sales top 4 million

ssaha 18th Oct

@LoverockDavidson_ There's no point engaging with LD on this, since he's a dyed in the wool Apple hater. Whatever Apple did, would underwhelm him. If Apple sold 40 million iPhones rather than 4 million, he would say it sucked. If iPhones cured cancer, he would say "why not the common cold?" For the rest of us, the growth in sales is a good sign that the products we buy are supported by a huge, growing ecosystem that shows no sign of slowing down.

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I think it was mostly pent-up demand for a new model.

rlorenz 17th Oct

Seems to me like people were waiting for the new model, and planned to get the new iPhone__, whatever it may be. Remember, the 4 has been out for well over a year now. I don't think these sales were based on specs or surprise features, just pent-up Apple demand.