A visual representation of iPhone launches

I guess I'm surprised at this and other similar articles. It seems a little like articles are saying "Harold and Kumar sold more tickets on opening weekend than Gone with the Wind..." The last 4 releases have had only 1 service provider at launch. The 1.7 million listed here for Iphone 4 doesn't seem to include the Verizon opening. If you add those two together and then compare them to this weekends #s? I think it's not nearly as "amazing." Of course the best anyone can do is guesstimate so I'll avoid doing that here I just think at this launch you had 1 service provider with pent up upgrade demand (AT&T), one service provider with "9 month" contracts under their belt, and Sprint with a real true roll out. That's a lot more theaters showing the movie.

Did I rush out and buy a new phone? Yes. Did I do it for my whole family (upgrade the other 2 phones on my plan) No.

I am sure the iphone 4S i ordered on October 7th that I still havent received is included in the 4 million sold so far. For some reason i have to wait 14 to 21 days to get my device when i could just walk into a store today and get one...not pleased.

If the reason for the delay in launch was to make enough units to meet demand, Apple failed.
My employer ordered the phone on Monday 10th, four days before launch. The product was already on a 21-28 day backorder

Note that early adopters who signed two year contracts then bought the 3GS for another 2 year contract are now safely out of contracts due to the delay in the release. Plus they can jump ship to any provider they choose. That aspect of the timing definitely plays a role in the success of this release.

I was a naysayer. Its not that I thought the 4S wouldn't be successful just that it wasn't for me. Now I'm sitting here listening to one of co-workers talk to Siri and I have iPhone envy!! Can't wait till nov 25 when I become eligible!!

This seems slightly misleading in that this is the first time an iPhone launch has had three providers. iPhone 4 launch was still only AT&T, then they added Verizon after the iPhone 4 launch and now with the iPhone 4S they also have Sprint. They're still huge numbers, but of course they're going to sell more because they have more outlets to sell them...