8 ms·

iPhone 4S Pre-Orders Top One Million in First 24 Hours

107 points by dongsheng 15y ago

ZeroGravitas 15y ago
Up 66% percent, roughly the same rate that the entire market is growing. It's almost uncanny how the iPhone manages to maintain its near-constant share of this rapidly growing market. A visual chart of this phenomenon: http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/smartphone-OS-share1.png http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/wp-content/uploads/2011/...
- jgrahamc 15y ago
  What's more amazing is that Apple does this with one phone. Whereas Android and BlackBerry are split across many, many devices and/or manufacturers.
  - wgx 15y ago
    >What's more amazing is that Apple does this with one phone. I think that's part of how Apple do it. Focus.
  - ZeroGravitas 15y ago
    I'm not sure if this is pedantic in context but actually Apple have been selling 3 or 4 phones for the last year. (The 3G was still available in some markets after the 4 was introduced just as the 3GS remains now in the US. Whether you count the Verizon iPhone seperately is debatable, but Samsung's American network exclusives seem to be counted that way, even if they share 99% of their make-up, though Apple has unified those now to some degree).
    - maximilian 15y ago
      I'm thinking about picking up the 3GS here in Switzerland with a pretty cheap subscription plan, which is essentially a subsidized pay-as-you-go plan. (with a $20 subsidy over 2 years). So there definitely is a market for the older 3GS.
  - smackfu 15y ago
    Well, now you have 3 distinct models out there, with significantly different hardware, so it's not really one phone.
    - quellhorst 15y ago
      Sure it is, its the same phone, but different model years.
      - jarek 15y ago
        That must be why they all have different names. But hey, at least that is better than "Macbook Pro (early 2009)".
- philfreo 15y ago
  This graph is quite old now. Updated version?
  - btmorex 15y ago
    2011 Q2 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Smartphone_share_current.png http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Smartphone_share_current.p...
    - ZeroGravitas 15y ago
      That's a different source though, and figures for the world not the US, so not directly comparable. Neilsen do update the figures every so often in items on their blog, but that was the latest historical graph. This entry from last month has the figures for June (so six months since the last figures shown on the graph) Android up 14 points to 40%, RIM down 8 points to 19% and Apple still steady at 28%: http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/40-percent-of-u-s-mobile-users-own-smartphones-40-percent-are-android/ http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/40-percent... I believe someone on hacker news was copying these monthly updates into a spreadsheet so they could make their own graphs without having to buy the full report and sharing the results, you might be able to find a link if you search.
antr 15y ago
Good for Apple. I'm happy that internet 'gurus' and Wall St are proven wrong again when saying that the 4S was a disappointing product...
- corin_ 15y ago
  They haven't necessarily been proven wrong. Firstly, disappointing is subjective, not objective, so the people who were disappointed might not be the ones ordering it, and neither of those choices is right or wrong. But more importantly, when the Blackberry 9000 was released I was disappointed with it, I'd hoped for more. I still got my pre-order in, because I wanted to upgrade and it was better than the phone I had at that time. And I have friends now who say they are disappointed with the 4S, but they are still upgrading from their 3/3S/4, just because it's still better and they've had their current phone for a while.
  - tolmasky 15y ago
    I think this is a stretch. This is the absolute best product launch in the history of Apple in terms of pre-order. We still have all the people that are actually going to go in and buy the thing on Friday in real life! Not to mention it has been more than 24 hours so who knows how big the total number of pre-orders is. So you got a Blackberry 9000 despite it not being everything you wanted? But did you get it in the first 24 hours? Did you do it first thing in the morning as many people must have since at least 200,000 were sold in the first 12 hours by ATT? These are not the actions of disappointed people. And sure, I guess technically no matter how well it performs the product could still be "disappointing" under some definition, but then the word starts to lack meaning.
    - corin_ 15y ago
      Disappointing just means it didn't meet expectations - there's plenty of scope for something to fall below expectations yet above the level which makes you want it badly. Yes, with the Bold 9000 I pre-ordered the instant it was available.
    - thatjoshguy 15y ago
dr_ 15y ago
Even before this announcement, it is beyond me how anyone can argue that this is not the best smartphone on the market. It has an incredibly fast processor, fantastic camera, one of the most popular music hubs (iTunes), the largest app store and probably the most advanced AI technology in a phone. When the technorati (and, to be honest, most bloggers have been supportive of the product) diss this phone, are they actually suggesting someone would be better off with a Android, Blackberry or Windows 7 phone? It's a plain and simple fact that people refuse to accept - people purchase Android because it's available on many different carriers and comes in many different price points. People choose blackberry cause sometimes their work requires it or they want blackberry messenger. And no one chooses Windows phones. With the iPhone now available on more carriers at different price points, the game will continue to change.
- tybris 15y ago
  Best is a term that suggests there is no subjectivity to preference.
- Cushman 15y ago
  There was a time, not too long ago, when Apple stuff was legitimately a worse deal than the equivalent brown-box product. It got ingrained into our cultural consciousness: Macs are overpriced, they underperform. They claim to put design first, but they still break. Not worth it unless you really like the OS. That hasn't been true for a while, of course; Apple has made all the deals they needed to be competitive or untouchable on price and performance, and their revolutionary design philosophy has outgrown puberty and started changing the world. But, of course, the mythos continues.
  - deleted 15y ago
    [deleted]
  - drivingmenuts 15y ago
    What drives some people away is the price tag, regardless of quality and features. I just dropped $1800 and change on an iMac, which really doesn't have any more mojo than an equivalent PC. If I need support, someone will say: "How can I help you?" no matter how inane the question, instead of (Linux) "RTFMNoob" and (Windows): "Google, install driver, visit MSDN, etc.". The difference (in my mind) is that I didn't buy a personal computer, I bought a Mac. I didn't buy what I needed, I bought what I want.
protomyth 15y ago
The iPhone 4S will probably be my mom's first cell phone. She doesn't like tech and likes her big button home phone (as in 3/4" button big button). My father and her just moved and my Dad doesn't really want a home phone anymore. He has been looking at getting her a JitterBug. She uses and Apple TV fine (netflix, mlb, and iTunes), so it isn't like she cannot use technology. She just has a phobia of current cellphones. I think it is more from her not wanting to wear her glasses and not being able to read the phone (she sees the TV fine). Given Siri, Mom will be getting the iPhone 4S.
- jarek 15y ago
  Serious request: please report back on the experience after about three months.
  - protomyth 15y ago
    I'm already way behind on one HN request (the postfix dovecot OpenBSD e-mail server), but I will try to write something on this. Guess I should get a blog.
andrewljohnson 15y ago
Me and the rest of the developer community laugh at the contrary blog posts, all the way to the bank. This weekend, there will be hundreds of thousands more iPhone owners, and the developer community will make a fortune. I applaud Apple for focusing on what's important - speed and sex, not features and fapping. Because when they do, all my apps get faster and all my customers get happier, and I don't have to do much work at all. Integrating with new APIs and hardware is a necessary evil, but we just want the devices to keep getting smaller and faster, as do the consumers.
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]
- jarek 15y ago
  The contrarian community wonders where your data regarding the percentage of iPhone 4S orders that represent new customers comes from. Is this based on past launches? What were the percentages then?
  - ugh 15y ago
    It’s a pretty safe bet. Apple has had a stable marketshare in this rapidly growing market for a long time.
  - andrewljohnson 15y ago
    I don't know the percentages, but when iPad2 and iPhone4 hit, we made a lot of money. Those days were like Christmas spikes. Industry wonks will probably estimate the % who are new customers this week though.
  - cyggie 15y ago
    "Every customer who buys an iPhone 4S at an Apple retail store will be offered free Personal Setup service, helping them customize their iPhone 4S by setting up email, showing them new apps from the App Store™ and more, so they’ll be up and running with their new iPhone before they leave the store." They don't need to be new owners. Imagine a sale team that will sit down with millions of your users (existing or new), showing them what new apps are out there, reminding them to buy from your store and walking them through on purchasing your product again. This will sure generate a big spike overall.
amartya916 15y ago
Are these numbers from worldwide pre-orders? I might be wrong but I thought that this was their biggest launch (different countries same date). Even if that's the case, the significantly higher (~66%) orders is something that people in Apple can take a bow for. Well done.

107 points by dongsheng 15y ago

Up 66% percent, roughly the same rate that the entire market is growing. It's almost uncanny how the iPhone manages to maintain its near-constant share of this rapidly growing market. A visual chart of this phenomenon: http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/smartphone-OS-share1.png http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/wp-content/uploads/2011/...

jgrahamc 15y ago
What's more amazing is that Apple does this with one phone. Whereas Android and BlackBerry are split across many, many devices and/or manufacturers.
- wgx 15y ago
  >What's more amazing is that Apple does this with one phone. I think that's part of how Apple do it. Focus.
- ZeroGravitas 15y ago
  I'm not sure if this is pedantic in context but actually Apple have been selling 3 or 4 phones for the last year. (The 3G was still available in some markets after the 4 was introduced just as the 3GS remains now in the US. Whether you count the Verizon iPhone seperately is debatable, but Samsung's American network exclusives seem to be counted that way, even if they share 99% of their make-up, though Apple has unified those now to some degree).
  - maximilian 15y ago
    I'm thinking about picking up the 3GS here in Switzerland with a pretty cheap subscription plan, which is essentially a subsidized pay-as-you-go plan. (with a $20 subsidy over 2 years). So there definitely is a market for the older 3GS.
- smackfu 15y ago
  Well, now you have 3 distinct models out there, with significantly different hardware, so it's not really one phone.
  - quellhorst 15y ago
    Sure it is, its the same phone, but different model years.
    - jarek 15y ago
      That must be why they all have different names. But hey, at least that is better than "Macbook Pro (early 2009)".
philfreo 15y ago
This graph is quite old now. Updated version?
- btmorex 15y ago
  2011 Q2 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Smartphone_share_current.png http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Smartphone_share_current.p...
  - ZeroGravitas 15y ago
    That's a different source though, and figures for the world not the US, so not directly comparable. Neilsen do update the figures every so often in items on their blog, but that was the latest historical graph. This entry from last month has the figures for June (so six months since the last figures shown on the graph) Android up 14 points to 40%, RIM down 8 points to 19% and Apple still steady at 28%: http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/40-percent-of-u-s-mobile-users-own-smartphones-40-percent-are-android/ http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/40-percent... I believe someone on hacker news was copying these monthly updates into a spreadsheet so they could make their own graphs without having to buy the full report and sharing the results, you might be able to find a link if you search.

antr 15y ago

Good for Apple. I'm happy that internet 'gurus' and Wall St are proven wrong again when saying that the 4S was a disappointing product...

corin_ 15y ago
They haven't necessarily been proven wrong. Firstly, disappointing is subjective, not objective, so the people who were disappointed might not be the ones ordering it, and neither of those choices is right or wrong. But more importantly, when the Blackberry 9000 was released I was disappointed with it, I'd hoped for more. I still got my pre-order in, because I wanted to upgrade and it was better than the phone I had at that time. And I have friends now who say they are disappointed with the 4S, but they are still upgrading from their 3/3S/4, just because it's still better and they've had their current phone for a while.
- tolmasky 15y ago
  I think this is a stretch. This is the absolute best product launch in the history of Apple in terms of pre-order. We still have all the people that are actually going to go in and buy the thing on Friday in real life! Not to mention it has been more than 24 hours so who knows how big the total number of pre-orders is. So you got a Blackberry 9000 despite it not being everything you wanted? But did you get it in the first 24 hours? Did you do it first thing in the morning as many people must have since at least 200,000 were sold in the first 12 hours by ATT? These are not the actions of disappointed people. And sure, I guess technically no matter how well it performs the product could still be "disappointing" under some definition, but then the word starts to lack meaning.
  - corin_ 15y ago
    Disappointing just means it didn't meet expectations - there's plenty of scope for something to fall below expectations yet above the level which makes you want it badly. Yes, with the Bold 9000 I pre-ordered the instant it was available.
  - thatjoshguy 15y ago

dr_ 15y ago

Even before this announcement, it is beyond me how anyone can argue that this is not the best smartphone on the market. It has an incredibly fast processor, fantastic camera, one of the most popular music hubs (iTunes), the largest app store and probably the most advanced AI technology in a phone. When the technorati (and, to be honest, most bloggers have been supportive of the product) diss this phone, are they actually suggesting someone would be better off with a Android, Blackberry or Windows 7 phone? It's a plain and simple fact that people refuse to accept - people purchase Android because it's available on many different carriers and comes in many different price points. People choose blackberry cause sometimes their work requires it or they want blackberry messenger. And no one chooses Windows phones. With the iPhone now available on more carriers at different price points, the game will continue to change.

tybris 15y ago
Best is a term that suggests there is no subjectivity to preference.
Cushman 15y ago
There was a time, not too long ago, when Apple stuff was legitimately a worse deal than the equivalent brown-box product. It got ingrained into our cultural consciousness: Macs are overpriced, they underperform. They claim to put design first, but they still break. Not worth it unless you really like the OS. That hasn't been true for a while, of course; Apple has made all the deals they needed to be competitive or untouchable on price and performance, and their revolutionary design philosophy has outgrown puberty and started changing the world. But, of course, the mythos continues.
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]
- drivingmenuts 15y ago
  What drives some people away is the price tag, regardless of quality and features. I just dropped $1800 and change on an iMac, which really doesn't have any more mojo than an equivalent PC. If I need support, someone will say: "How can I help you?" no matter how inane the question, instead of (Linux) "RTFMNoob" and (Windows): "Google, install driver, visit MSDN, etc.". The difference (in my mind) is that I didn't buy a personal computer, I bought a Mac. I didn't buy what I needed, I bought what I want.

protomyth 15y ago

The iPhone 4S will probably be my mom's first cell phone. She doesn't like tech and likes her big button home phone (as in 3/4" button big button). My father and her just moved and my Dad doesn't really want a home phone anymore. He has been looking at getting her a JitterBug. She uses and Apple TV fine (netflix, mlb, and iTunes), so it isn't like she cannot use technology. She just has a phobia of current cellphones. I think it is more from her not wanting to wear her glasses and not being able to read the phone (she sees the TV fine). Given Siri, Mom will be getting the iPhone 4S.

jarek 15y ago
Serious request: please report back on the experience after about three months.
- protomyth 15y ago
  I'm already way behind on one HN request (the postfix dovecot OpenBSD e-mail server), but I will try to write something on this. Guess I should get a blog.

andrewljohnson 15y ago

Me and the rest of the developer community laugh at the contrary blog posts, all the way to the bank. This weekend, there will be hundreds of thousands more iPhone owners, and the developer community will make a fortune. I applaud Apple for focusing on what's important - speed and sex, not features and fapping. Because when they do, all my apps get faster and all my customers get happier, and I don't have to do much work at all. Integrating with new APIs and hardware is a necessary evil, but we just want the devices to keep getting smaller and faster, as do the consumers.

deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
jarek 15y ago
The contrarian community wonders where your data regarding the percentage of iPhone 4S orders that represent new customers comes from. Is this based on past launches? What were the percentages then?
- ugh 15y ago
  It’s a pretty safe bet. Apple has had a stable marketshare in this rapidly growing market for a long time.
- andrewljohnson 15y ago
  I don't know the percentages, but when iPad2 and iPhone4 hit, we made a lot of money. Those days were like Christmas spikes. Industry wonks will probably estimate the % who are new customers this week though.
- cyggie 15y ago
  "Every customer who buys an iPhone 4S at an Apple retail store will be offered free Personal Setup service, helping them customize their iPhone 4S by setting up email, showing them new apps from the App Store™ and more, so they’ll be up and running with their new iPhone before they leave the store." They don't need to be new owners. Imagine a sale team that will sit down with millions of your users (existing or new), showing them what new apps are out there, reminding them to buy from your store and walking them through on purchasing your product again. This will sure generate a big spike overall.

amartya916 15y ago

Are these numbers from worldwide pre-orders? I might be wrong but I thought that this was their biggest launch (different countries same date). Even if that's the case, the significantly higher (~66%) orders is something that people in Apple can take a bow for. Well done.