[ilovedessert]

I JUST FOUND THIS ONLINE AND THOUGHT IT PROVES THAT AT&T STINKS AND THE IPHONE IS A DUD!

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Apple falls on initial iPhone activation numbers
Tue Jul 24, 2007 11:38AM EDT
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Shares of Apple Inc (AAPL.O: Quote, Profile, Research) fell 4 percent on Tuesday after AT&T Inc (T.N: Quote, Profile, Research) issued initial subscriber numbers for customers of Apple's iPhone that were below analyst estimates.

Shares of Apple were off $5.70 to $138.02 on Nasdaq after AT&T, the exclusive service provider for iPhone, said it signed up 146,000 iPhone customers as subscribers in the first two days of iPhone sales, well below analyst estimates for sales.

Pacific Crest analyst Andy Hargreaves said that while iPhone sales figures for coming months would be more telling than the first few days, AT&T's number had disappointed investors as some analysts estimated sales "north of 500,000."

Hargreaves had himself estimated 400,000 iPhone sales for the first two days, he said.

"The difference (between sales and activations) is going to be what was sold on eBay or activations that didn't happen immediately. There were some problems with activations but from what we heard it was minimal," the analyst said.

Apple and AT&T had attracted long lines of gadget enthusiasts to their stores when the much-hyped iPhone first went on sale in the evening of June 29.


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[zelgo#IM]

Thankfully you're not a scientist.
A report of stock going down doesn't prove anything...

Knowing how Palm has a strong history of dropping stock, I guess it's a dud and it stinks too.

[surur]

Apparently we will get a better picture on Wednesday when Apple releases its figures. I try not to crow too soon.

Surur

[Crimson]

Apple succeeding only helps push other players like Palm to innovate more.. which is a good thing. The iPhone is not a failure by any means, it might not live up to the hype but it pushes the envelope in many ways.

[ilovedessert]

I am not calling it a dud because the stock dropped I am calling it a dud, b/c with all of the hype they sold only 146,000 which is not much considering the hype. The biggest problem as I see it is they are tied to AT&T which is the pits! I was with AT&T and with Cingular and they both STINK! Down at the bottom of Consumer Reports along with Sprint. The selected AT&T b/c they would let apple do what ever it wanted. The should have selected verizon and used Verizon's expertise in customer service, not AT&T who treats you like CRAP! For GOD'S sake you there were so many reports of not being able to sign on with AT&T!

[braj]

Can a mod move this somewhere relevant?

[tony bag o donuts]

They wanted verizon and verizon said no. That is why they went with ATT

[taylorh]

I'm glad. I really dislike Verizon in a lot of ways. Just one of many examples is forcing you to sign a new contract if you merely change your rate plan. There's no justification for that.

[davidg4781]

I am not calling it a dud because the stock dropped I am calling it a dud, b/c with all of the hype they sold only 146,000 which is not much considering the hype. The biggest problem as I see it is they are tied to AT&T which is the pits! I was with AT&T and with Cingular and they both STINK! Down at the bottom of Consumer Reports along with Sprint. The selected AT&T b/c they would let apple do what ever it wanted. The should have selected verizon and used Verizon's expertise in customer service, not AT&T who treats you like CRAP! For GOD'S sake you there were so many reports of not being able to sign on with AT&T!

Read buddy. 146,000 were ACTIVATED in the first TWO days. A lot more were sold and put up on eBay, or weren't activated because of either long wait times or just wanted to wait until they got home. And remember, it went on sale at 6pm, so it's really just a little over 1 day of sales, and many places sold out, so there are a lot more on back order.

But, I do agree with you on AT&T/Cingular's service. I had horrible reception and the customer service was bad. Don't get me wrong, Sprint's customer service is really hit or miss, and usually it's a miss, but at least I don't have to call in so often.

[ronbo2000]

Can a mod move this somewhere relevant?

Are you sure this is not a case of iPhone envy? Despite of its shortcoming, it will still sell. Lots of Apple fans out there.
<moved>

[braj]

Are you sure this is not a case of iPhone envy? Despite of its shortcoming, it will still sell. Lots of Apple fans out there.
<moved>

I think 150,000 opening is huge, whether it met Apple's predictions or not.

[tony bag o donuts]

I'm glad. I really dislike Verizon in a lot of ways. Just one of many examples is forcing you to sign a new contract if you merely change your rate plan. There's no justification for that.

Doesn't ATT do this as well now?

[KStewart]

They wanted verizon and verizon said no. That is why they went with ATT

Verizon would not give them complete attorney over the device.

[KStewart]

I'm glad. I really dislike Verizon in a lot of ways. Just one of many examples is forcing you to sign a new contract if you merely change your rate plan. There's no justification for that.

Sprint does the same.

[KStewart]

Doesn't ATT do this as well now?

All carriers do it except Alltel.

[Freak4Dell]

The iPhone isn't a dud, although I'm glad to see that users are being smart for the most part and not jumping over cliffs to get this POS.

davidg4781, the article said Apple expected sales of 500,000. I'm pretty sure the analyst is not just switching back and forth between definitions of sales. Apple probably expected 500,000 activations, not just sales.

[taylorh]

Doesn't ATT do this as well now?

If you change plans from say family to single, or standard to universal, then yes. But if you just change your rate within a plan (move up or down rates/buckets) then absolutely not. Then again maybe Verizon allows this also but I had heard differently along with things like if you cancel you data plan, you can't re-subscribe to one until the next billing period.
Ironically AT&T mandated a 2 year contract with the iPhone which is one of those very things I'm essentially bashing Verizon for. However $20 data plan was a nice surprise. It's one reason I didn't even consider the iphone. Forced contract with no subsidy, no-return policy after 15 days, no FAN discounts on the plan. So AT&T isn't exactly better necessarily.
I've had both and I honestly say although there is not as wide of a coverage area, I like AT&T a lot more. But each person has their own preference. Like I like Sirius but really don't like XM's programing while others are reverse.

If the iPhone had come out on Verizon, though, it would most likely be 3G I believe. So being (stuck) with AT&T could have a lot to do with why it's on 2(.5)G data.

[marcol]

Are you sure this is not a case of iPhone envy? Despite of its shortcoming, it will still sell. Lots of Apple fans out there.
<moved>

Interesting that you moved it here rather than to the dedicated iPhone forum at Phone Different.

I actually posted the same news at PD a couple of hours before the first post in this thread, but I guess it went pretty much unnoticed

[Malatesta]

And if the profits "soaring" is any indication, whatever happened post the initial 2 days must have been good.

Well, that Engadget interpretation of stocks is interesting.

At least one commenter disagreed saying:

AT&T profits were not up largely on iPhones sales. It was earnings related to the Bell South acquisition that caused profits to ride high.

Now I don't pretend to know enough about the matter to pass judgment, but it seems like there are either alternative explanations or correlating factors for the rise in stock price...

[taylorh]

When I read it carefully, it does say those great profits are based on the 176,000 activations or whatever. So it's not as if it reflects anything above and beyond the revelation of 176k acts. Therefore a moot point. The same information being both disappointing and positive at the same time.

[mobileman]

Wasn't the first shipment completely sold out over the first weekend? 146,000 sold doesn't sound so bad if only 150,000 were available. We need more info.

[treobk214]

Wasn't the first shipment completely sold out over the first weekend? 146,000 sold doesn't sound so bad if only 150,000 were available. We need more info.

The gloating over this news is pretty funny. How many treo 180s or 300s were sold on the first few months? How many of HTC`s earliest devices were sold in the first few weeks? Wouldn`t HTC and palm have LOVED to have been able to boast such numbers with their initial offerings?
Oh, I certainly think so.

150,000 to 200,000 sold over the first few weeks? Not bad at all for apple`s first step into the cellphone arena - with their expensive HIGH END model no less. Wait until the low to mid level iphone nanos arrive at $199 to $299 price tags. Folks will be dumping their razors for these babies like crazy.

Please. Let the apple haters blow their hot air. Give it some time and apple will relandscape the mobile industry for them.

[ronbo2000]

Interesting that you moved it here rather than to the dedicated iPhone forum at Phone Different.

I actually posted the same news at PD a couple of hours before the first post in this thread, but I guess it went pretty much unnoticed

Until the new site comes up, I can not do it. The links breaks between here and PhoneDifferent.

It will be addressed in the future.

[Malatesta]

The gloating over this news is pretty funny. How many treo 180s or 300s were sold on the first few months? How many of HTC`s earliest devices were sold in the first few weeks? Wouldn`t HTC and palm have LOVED to have been able to boast such numbers with their initial offerings?
Oh, I certainly think so.

150,000 to 200,000 sold over the first few weeks? Not bad at all for apple`s first step into the cellphone arena - with their expensive HIGH END model no less. Wait until the low to mid level iphone nanos arrive at $199 to $299 price tags. Folks will be dumping their razors for these babies like crazy.

Please. Let the apple haters blow their hot air. Give it some time and apple will relandscape the mobile industry for them.

I don't recall the hype when a Treo or HTC device was released. Were there commercials on every channel every 10 minutes? News stories? Articles?

Please. These numbers, if accurate, are the least that Apple could have done with this device considering how it was "reinventing the phone".

As stated like 20 times already (especially in the other iPhone thread): no one is denying that a couple hundred thousand sold phones is not a lot or is not impressive.

But in comparison to expectations of the market, it may have under-performed, hence the gloating. Very different things.

One could also argue that the iPhone will be "just another device" on a single carrier in the U.S., limiting it's impact.

[tony bag o donuts]

When I had Cingular for a year I always changed plans without penalty, but now I hear that they operate the same. Verizon allows you to add features without penalty, i.e. data, sms, mms. But thats it. If you are modifying your plan, that to me is changing your contract and they have every right to extend it two years.