Despite apparent light demand for the Verizon iPhone 4 on launch day, estimates suggest Verizon and Apple sold around one million of the devices by the end of its weekend. Scott Moritz of The Street reports that analyst estimates put the number of Verizon iPhone 4 sales on launch weekend to one million, 600,000 of which were preorders.
The estimate comes after Dan Mead, chief executive of Verizon Wireless, reportedly said that 60 percent of the carrier's iPhone sales were preorders. This makes sense considering Verizon sold out its first batch of CDMA iPhone 4s in less than 24 hours since it started taking pre-sale orders for current customers only, several days before public availability.
One million Verizon iPhones sold by the end of the launch weekend is particularly surprising, as the traditional lines outside stores to buy a new iPhone never occurred. The numbers are particularly respectable, too, as the iPhone, an eight-month-old device, is still selling in large volumes. Combined with the fact that in three months a new iPhone model would be out simultaneously on AT&T and Verizon, if indeed one million Verizon iPhone 4s were sold, this should be considered a success.
When the iPhone 4 debuted on AT&T last year, it sold 1.7 million during the launch weekend, so Verizon is not too far off considering the age of the device. However, the figures will be even more interesting to compare when the iPhone 5 arrives on both networks this summer. Will Verizon be able to steal a total of 9 million AT&T customers in 2011, as analysts predicted late last year?
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