Carphone sells 11,000 iPhones
It was never going to live up to the hype, unless every single person in Britain shivered in the cold outside their nearest Apple, O2 or Carphone Warehouse store eager to get their hands on the most-hyped consumer product, possibly of all time.
Eight thousand iPhones were registered on Friday 9 November and Carphone claimed to have sold 11,000 devices over the weekend – more than a fifth of its initial allocation.
All eyes were on Apple's flagship store on Regent Street on Friday at 6:02pm, with a queue winding back to Hanover Square.
O2 and Carphone stores elsewhere in the West End had much smaller queues.
Apple had planned to keep the store open until midnight, but closed at 11pm as die-hard fans had dried up, while others looked to the far less busy O2 and Carphone stores.
O2 sent an email to stores an hour after the launch, claiming that 2,000 customers who bought iPhones from O2 stores had registered by 7:02pm.
Store sales vary considerably from store to store, with anecdotes of disinterest from some, disbelief at the price tag from others and queuing in the snow at O2's Aberdeen store.
O2 chief Peter Erskine is reported to have said that two thirds of iPhone customers have come from other networks, with three quarters anticipated over the longer period.
Rivals expect interest in the iPhone to die down. 'You've had all the Apple geeks get one in the first week, now normal customers will look at the pricing and find it quite unattractive,' said a source from a rival manufacturer.
Vodafone said it was happy with trading over the weekend. CEO Nick Read said: 'It has been fine. I didn't see chaotic scenes [at Carphone or O2 stores] anywhere.'
Phones 4u's marketing chief, Jim Slater, said: 'We are delighted with the weekend's trade – it was our best of 2007. A combination of the iPhone launch generally invigorating consumer interest, strong propositions and an outstanding effort in our stores ensured that we delivered excellent performance. We're hoping for another iPhone launch as soon as possible!'
Dial-A-Phone has published pictures on its website of Carphone and O2 stores with a distinct lack of crowds.
source
Eight thousand iPhones were registered on Friday 9 November and Carphone claimed to have sold 11,000 devices over the weekend – more than a fifth of its initial allocation.
All eyes were on Apple's flagship store on Regent Street on Friday at 6:02pm, with a queue winding back to Hanover Square.
O2 and Carphone stores elsewhere in the West End had much smaller queues.
Apple had planned to keep the store open until midnight, but closed at 11pm as die-hard fans had dried up, while others looked to the far less busy O2 and Carphone stores.
O2 sent an email to stores an hour after the launch, claiming that 2,000 customers who bought iPhones from O2 stores had registered by 7:02pm.
Store sales vary considerably from store to store, with anecdotes of disinterest from some, disbelief at the price tag from others and queuing in the snow at O2's Aberdeen store.
O2 chief Peter Erskine is reported to have said that two thirds of iPhone customers have come from other networks, with three quarters anticipated over the longer period.
Rivals expect interest in the iPhone to die down. 'You've had all the Apple geeks get one in the first week, now normal customers will look at the pricing and find it quite unattractive,' said a source from a rival manufacturer.
Vodafone said it was happy with trading over the weekend. CEO Nick Read said: 'It has been fine. I didn't see chaotic scenes [at Carphone or O2 stores] anywhere.'
Phones 4u's marketing chief, Jim Slater, said: 'We are delighted with the weekend's trade – it was our best of 2007. A combination of the iPhone launch generally invigorating consumer interest, strong propositions and an outstanding effort in our stores ensured that we delivered excellent performance. We're hoping for another iPhone launch as soon as possible!'
Dial-A-Phone has published pictures on its website of Carphone and O2 stores with a distinct lack of crowds.
source
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