There’s no doubting that there has been huge demand for the iPhone 4 and the iPad, and that Apple are having trouble keeping both devices in stock. AT&T has just announced activation figures for the new iPhone 4, and preorder sales were a whopping ten times higher than those of the iPhone 3GS a year ago. Meanwhile, BGRhas heard that Apple is ramping up for a barnstorming weekend where it will try to work through the “Priority Lists” of customers waiting for either an iPhone 4 or an iPad.
“On June 24, AT&T began offering iPhone 4, the most powerful iPhone yet. Preorder sales of iPhone 4 were 10 times higher than the first day of preordering for iPhone 3GS a year earlier. For the full second quarter, AT&T iPhone activations totaled 3.2 million, the most quarterly iPhone activations ever. Approximately 27 percent of those activations were for customers who were new to AT&T” AT&T
AT&T made $30.8bn in revenue over the past three month period, activating a full 3.2m iPhone handsets (presumably a mixture of iPhone 4 and 8GB iPhone 3GS devices). Meanwhile 3G-capable postpaid devices on the network rose to 29.7m, a huge 98.2-percent increase year-on-year.
Meanwhile, if Apple’s plan to clear its waiting lists works out, it could see an estimated 500,000 to 1,000,000 iOS based devices sold over the course of the weekend. Apparently stores are currently managing Priority Lists of 250 to 750 people still waiting for their choice of iPad configuration, and 500 to 1,500 or more waiting for iPhone 4 handsets. Employees have supposedly been told to prepare for a busy few days, with Apple considering opening early on Sunday to accommodate the extra shoppers.