Was the Verizon iPhone 4 a launch day flop?

Was the long-awaited, much rumored Verizon iPhone 4 a launch day flop? UPS shipping data received by ConceivablyTech suggests that it might.

Kurt Bakke received details from UPS outlining how Verizon had asked UPS to set up a special shipping system to handle the pre-order volume and that the shipping company is now 'upset' that the expected volume did not materialize.

We only received numbers referring to one of the three shipping centers. It seems that Verizon asked for a shipping capacity of 30,000 iPhone 4s on the first day and up to 50,000 packages on the following days for at least one week. As it turned out, the Verizon iPhone 4 shipped less than 15,000 units on the first day (in one of the three regions) and the volume dropped well below 10,000 units on the following days, we were told.

After the first few days the special shipping arrangement was abandoned and Verizon iPhone 4 handsets were handled as part of the normal shipping system.

As ConceivablyTech points out, these numbers are at odds with Verizon's claims that the iPhone 4 had set a pre-order record for the carrier. I guess we'll have to wait for some firm numbers to come out of Verizon or Apple.

Just how much excitement did Verizon think it could drum up for a handset that was more than six months old?