Despite a lukewarm reception to the iPhone 4S by some, Apple, AT&T and Verizon Wireless all announced they had exhausted supplies of pre-orders of the phone. Sprint, meanwhile said they had run out of inventory of the 16GB iPhone 4S, though they still had 32GB and 64GB phones available.
“Amazing,” said Ezra Gottheil, an analyst with Technology Business Research. “It shows that the iPhone 4S is not necessarily for the leading edgers. Apple has become very, very mainstream.”
Apple revealed that iPhone 4S pre-orders have topped 1 million in the first 24 hours, a 66 percent increase over the first-day sales of the iPhone 4 in the summer of 2010. Many on the Internet were disappointed that the screen size of the iPhone and lack of support for the LTE networks of AT&T and Verizon caused some disappointment, but clearly it was easily dissipated.
“This was a great upgrade if people weren’t waiting for a rabbit to come out of the hat,” said Gottheil. “People who were disappointed are the ones who are always very interested in being surprised [by the latest Apple move]. They’re always looking for that ‘I never would have thought of that’ moment.”
“There has been lots of buzz in China surrounding last week’s unveiling of the iPhone 4S and we believe the product will be available in China during December,” said White, who is currently in that country on business. “We believe the iPhone 4S will take Apple fever to the next level in China.”
“While the unveiling of the iPhone 4S received a muted response, both from the market and tech blogs, the customers have the final word, in our view, and they have spoken with resounding enthusiasm for the iPhone 4S,” said Brian White, an analyst with Ticonderoga Securities. “There has been lots of buzz in China surrounding last week’s unveiling of the iPhone 4S and we believe the product will be available in China during December. We believe the iPhone 4S will take Apple fever to the next level in China.”
Source: computerworld.com
