Edible Apple

The well connected Boy Genius Report relayed some sensitive sales information last week relating to the iPhone 4 on Verizon.

We’re being told sales are performing a little under what Apple and Verizon anticipated, and we have the data to show it. Below are unit sales totals from five Apple stores combined (including two very, very prominent Apple stores) showing both Verizon and AT&T iPhone 4 sales during the Verizon iPhone’s first five days of availability:

• Thursday: Verizon = 909, AT&T = 539
• Friday: Verizon = 916, AT&T = 680
• Saturday: Verizon = 660, AT&T = 471
• Sunday: Verizon = 796, AT&T = 701
• Monday: Verizon = 711, AT&T = 618

Moreover, BGR’s source indicated that online pre-orders of the device topped out at around 550,000 units, though it did set an all-time Verizon’s pre-launch day record in just under 2 hours. Interestingly, BGR has some info about just who exactly is purchasing the iPhone 4 – 30% are Android users, 25% were former BlackBerry users, while 14% were AT&T transplants. The remaining percent of folks either didn’t indicate their former smartphone of choice or were buying their first.

It stand to reason, however, that the pool of folks interested in an iPhone either a) already own one b) want to switch to Verizon but are in the middle of a contract or c) are waiting until the iPhone 5 comes out this Summer. Moreover, the CDMA iPhone wasn’t ushered in with the same amount of hoopla, buzz, and hype that typically surrounds a new Apple iPhone. Indeed, all of the Verizon iPhone 4 reviews were blunt in their assessment that the Verizon iPhone 4 is the exact same iPhone available from AT&T, network differences aside. All in all, the launch of the iPhone on Verizon was a necessity, and we’ll probably have to wait until the iPhone 5 before we see sales really start to pick up.

Lastly, remember that the iPhone 4 was the most successful iPhone launch in Apple history. The iPhone 4 attracted a lot of new iPhone users who are still tied up in an AT&T contract, and the long list of new iPhone 4 features enticed a large number of previous iPhone owners to upgrade and sign up for a new 2-year contract. Not only that, but AT&T even offered users not immediately eligible for an upgrade subsidized pricing on the iPhone 4 in order to tie them into a brand new 2-year deal, presumably in anticipation of a Verizon iPhone launch 7 months later.