Boy Genius Report claims to have gotten ahold of early sales figures for the Verizon iPhone. According to GBR's anonymous sources, the results are a bit of a let-down.
The sources came forward with what is reportedly the total number of iPhone units sold at five Apple locations during the Verizon iPhone's first five days in stores. According to the figures, Verizon models outsold AT&T's models every day. On Thursday, for example, Verizon sold 370 more units than AT&T. But the gap in sales narrowed a little each day. On Monday, 711 Verizon iPhones were sold, compared to 618 AT&T units. While this still sounds like a win for Verizon, some apparently expected a stronger first week for the CDMA iPhone.
Presale orders for the device sold out in 17 hours, and BGR reports that 550,000 units were reserved from Apple and Verizon during that time. However, stores looked a little sleepy on the Verizon iPhone's official launch day. Where were the giant queues and teeming crowds that had flocked to Apple stores when the iPhone 4 initially launched last June?
Furthermore, folks may not be as eager to switch from AT&T as was previously thought. Indeed, Boy Genius Report writes that "only 14% of people buying the Verizon iPhone were AT&T iPhone owners." According to BGR's figures, more people were willing to make the switch from competing platforms like Android and BlackBerry. "30% of people buying Verizon iPhones were Android users, [and] just over 25% of people buying iPhone 4 were BlackBerry users [...] The remaining percent didn't want to say, didn't have a smartphone, or didn't have a phone prior to making their iPhone 4 purchases last week," BGR's sources reported.
While Boy Genius Report's data reflects only five Apple stores (two of which are said to be "very, very prominent"), the report has a pretty limited focus. "Even if true, this is just one glimpse of five of the more than 230 Apple Stores selling the Verizon iPhone," CNET points out, "and it doesn't include any Verizon store data."