According to early news reports, the Verizon iPhone has already sold out pre-orders in less than a day. Verizon is crediting the iPhone with the “most successful first day sales in the history of the company”, stating that it broke all previous records in the first two hours. “…when you consider these initial orders were placed between the hours of 3 a.m. and 5 a.m., it is an incredible success story,” said Verizon Wireless CEO Dan Mead. Another point to note is that these sales were only made to existing Verizon customers. Customers new to Verizon have yet to be able to purchase a Verizon iPhone.
So the questions of how well the Verizon iPhone would sell seem to have been answered. And it does not appear many people are holding off buying an iPhone until the summer.
The next important question will be how many people defect from AT&T (and other providers) when the general public is able to purchase Verizon iPhones on the 10th (with pre-orders on the 9th).
Another question that has been brought up is what Verizon will do with their customers who are not eligible for upgrade or promotional pricing for the iPhone. For many customers, it will be cheaper to switch to AT&T than to pay full price for a Verizon iPhone. Verizon may have a customer satisfaction crisis on their hands if they don’t tread carefully. It will be interesting to see how they deal with that.
