AppleInsider Staff
First day sales of Apple's iPhone on T-Mobile's network have the carrier's executives beaming, with T-Mobile's Chief Marketing Officer calling the day "gangbusters" for the carrier.
Customers line up ahead of T-Mobile's iPhone launch. Image via BTIG Research's Walter Piecyk (@piecykw)
"Today has been gangbusters for T-Mobile," CMO Mike Sievert told AllThingsD last week. "We experienced lines out the door this morning at nearly all of our almost 3,000 stores nationwide."
The iPhone 5, iPhone 4S, and iPhone 4 debuted on T-Mobile on Friday, and Sievert's comments back up reports from multiple outlets that customers had lined up at T-Mobile locations around the country to get their hands on Apple's smartphone. Sievert provided no estimate of first day sales or any indication that the stores had sold through their iPhone stocks.
AllThingsD notes, though, that some reports had those lines dissipating as the day wore on, with the crowds mostly gone by midday.
Up until Friday, the iPhone wasn't officially offered by T-Mobile. Instead, the carrier encouraged iPhone owners on other networks to switch to T-Mobile and bring their devices along. Those users, though, were stuck with slower data speeds due to the Apple handset's incompatibility with T-Mobile's higher-speed offerings.
T-Mobile is the last of the big four U.S. carriers to get the iPhone. The company hopes to siphon customers from its competitors by offering a novel pricing structure and a no-contract standard. T-Mobile's pricing switch has caught the attention of other carriers, though it remains to be seen how they will react.
Malcolm Owen
Christine McKee
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46 Comments
[VIDEO][/VIDEO]Gut says current tmobile customers. Majority current iPhone, non-TM would be waiting for 5S to switch. Edit: grats tMobile, present and future customers.
Double-tap. Mods, please delete.
I really hate the use of such terms. Get back to us when you have some actual figures, or at least some estimates.
Samsung would fucking kill to have lineups for a phone they released 7 months ago. I hope all the analysts/troll shrieking how interest in iPhones is waning and people have gotten "bored" will shut the **** up now. People will still lineup for quality, and a quality product.
[quote name="SolipsismX" url="/t/156971/t-mobile-touts-gangbusters-first-day-of-iphone-sales#post_2310434"]I really hate the use of such terms. Get back to us when you have some actual figures, or at least some estimates.[/quote] Speak for yourself. I am -- and I am sure lots of others are -- perfectly happy with a carrier sounding elated about an Apple product. The numbers will come.