Apple shares slid almost 5 percent this morning after AT&T disclosed an interesting fact in its earnings report: Only 146,000 people signed up for iPhone service during the device's first two days of sales. The number is far below previous estimates of iPhone sales; some analysts had guessed that Apple sold more than 400,000 in its opening weekend.
The iPhone was on sale for just two days during AT&T's third quarter, for which the company released sales numbers today; consequently we only know how well the iPhone did on Friday, June 29 -- "iDay," the day the earliest adopters lined up to get one -- and Saturday, June 30. Moreover, the numbers only tell us about activations, which may not track with sales; as I've pointed out before, it's possible that many people bought opening-day iPhones and, instead of activating them, put them up on eBay. (These auctions, we know, didn't make very many people all that rich, as it's still possible to get the iPhone from Apple directly.)
Still, AT&T's numbers are the first hard data we've seen on iPhone sales, so they aren't completely irrelevant. Selling 150,000 of anything in two days seems a marvelous trick, but considering the stratospheric iPhone expectations -- drummed up all over the place, including this page -- the iPhone, now, looks a little earthbound. But perhaps the picture will be different tomorrow: Apple releases its third-quarter numbers when the market closes.
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Steve Jobs accepts the inevitable -- and embraces the CEO title.
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Steve Jobs' iTunes dance
Now the Apple CEO says he would gladly sell songs without digital restrictions, if the record companies let him. That's hardly a brave defiance, and besides, I don't believe him.
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Apple's iTunes sells 5 billion songs, but you don't own them
Why DRM means your music isn't really yours.
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Steve Jobs’ 2009 letter to the community about his health.
Terse and obfuscatory, this thing is Jobs all over.
Apple's obsession with secrecy grows stronger
Apple’s decision to limit communication with the media, shareholders and the public is at odds with the approach of other companies, which are embracing online outlets like blogs and Twitter.
By Brad Stone and Ashlee Vance, The New York Times
The Untold Story: How the iPhone blew Up the wireless industry
This 4.8-ounce sliver of glass and aluminum is an explosive device that has forever changed the mobile-phone business.
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A list of Steve Jobs' best quotes
An example: "The cure for Apple is not cost-cutting. The cure for Apple is to innovate its way out of its current predicament."
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The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs
Fake Steve Jobs tells all in this hilarious and often informative act of fraudulent auto-blography.
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