Sales

Sprint sold record 2.2M iPhones during the holiday quarter

Ed Sutherland ∙ February 7, 2013

U.S. carrier Sprint, the latest wireless provider to offer the Apple iPhone, announced Thursday it sold a record 2.2 million during the holiday fourth-quarter. A total of 6.6 million iPhones were sold for all of 2012, according to the company. Despite complaints of losses due to high subsidies, the iPhone has improved Sprint's ability to attract new customers.

The company said 38 percent of iPhone buyers during the fourth quarter were new subscribers. That's just slightly below the 40 percent of iPhones purchased by new customers throughout the entire year, according to the firm...

Despite better demand, retailers must order iPad 4 before they can sell iPad mini

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 30, 2013

Apple's $329 7.9-inch iPad mini is on fire: according to a new report out of Asia, the mini Apple tablet is outselling its bigger brother, the iPad 4, by up to four to one for off-contract sales through the retail chain. Looking only at subsidized carrier sales, the iPad mini is outselling iPad 4 by up to three to one. But despite booming sales of Apple's inexpensive tablets, retailers are cunningly required to first order iPad 4 before they can place orders directly for the iPad mini...

It looks like Staples might soon begin selling Apple products

Cody Lee ∙ Updated December 20, 2017

Apple has been significantly expanding its retail presence over the past several years. I can remember when you could only find Apple products at CompUSA, and now they are everywhere: Best Buy, RadioShack, Walmart, Target, you name it.

And it looks like it's set to add another store to that list. According to a new report this weekend, Staples has begun advertising the Apple TV on its website. It would seem that the office retail giant is gearing up to begin offering Apple products...

Google posts Q4 results, comments on iOS apps, better batteries, impact-resistant phones

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated August 26, 2017

Google has just posted its fourth quarter earnings for the calendar year 2012. The Internet giant raked in $14.42 billion in consolidated revenue (versus estimates of $12.3 billion), up 36 percent annually and eight percent sequentially. Excluding traffic acquisition costs and Motorola Home, quarterly revenue was $11.34 billion, up from $8.13 billion. The firm earned 54 percent of the revenue outside of the United States, or $6.9 billion.

Quarterly net income came in at $2.9 billion, a 6.7 percent increase (non-GAAP profit was $3.57 billion, up from $3.13 billion a year before). The company surpassed analysts' expectations on EPS, which was $10.65 on a non-GAAP basis versus the $10.54 consensus. So, even though revenue climbed substantially, profit was only up slightly.

Of note, Google's Motorola subsidiary (excluding the home biz) lost "only" 353 million, or 23 percent of the unit's quarterly revenue. Better batteries and impact-resistant design could be in the works for Motorola handsets. A live stream of the earnings call is included right after the break alongside other tidbits related to Apple, Maps, Nexus devices and more...

Cellular iPads hit China: iPad mini already on a 2-week backlog

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 18, 2013

Amid all the negativity surrounding speculation of weaker than expected demand for the iPhone 5 (and now the full-size iPad) comes a glimpse of hope as buyers in China seem to be picking up their cellular iPads at a rapid clip. In fact, iPads are seeing shipping delays on the launch day in this massive market.

As promised, on Friday cellular versions of the full-size 9.7-inch iPad and 7.9-inch iPad mini went on sale in China. Immediately following the launch, however, Apple's online store in China is quoting a two-week delay for new online orders for both the Wi-Fi-only and cellular versions of the mini tablet...

Verizon activates 9.8M smartphones in Q4 amid a ‘higher mix’ of iPhones

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated April 10, 2018

Verizon announced it activated 9.8 million smartphones during the holiday 2012 fourth quarter. In a statement to federal regulators, the nation's largest carrier said there was a "higher mix of smartphones", causing some observers to believe the wireless provider sold more than 5.3 million iPhones during the three-month period.

Rival AT&T yesterday told the Securities and Exchange Commission it sold 10 million smartphones during the fourth quarter, prompting one analyst to suggest the Dallas-based carrier sold at least eight million Apple handsets...

AT&T’s ‘best-ever’ smartphone sales hint at 8M iPhones in Q4 2012

Ed Sutherland ∙ January 9, 2013

What can be divined from AT&T's announcement of record smartphone sales during the holiday quarter? According to one Apple watcher, the fact that the Dallas-based carrier sold ten million Apple, Android and Windows smartphones likely means the bulk - more than eight million - were iPhones. According to Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster, during the holiday quarter of 2011, the wireless company sold 9.4 million smartphones, 7.6 million of which were Apple's handset. Because of that trend, Munster is forecasting 8.1 million iPhones were sold during the fourth quarter of 2012...

AT&T confirms ‘best-ever’ sales of iPhone and Android smartphones

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 8, 2013

Ahead of its earnings call pertaining to calendar 2012 fourth-quarter results scheduled for January 24, carrier AT&T just announced, reporting 'best-ever' sales of Apple and Android smartphones. The Dallas, Texas wireless company sold a record ten million smartphones powered by Apple's and Google's platform during the holiday quarter of 2012 as Android and iPhone sales hit all-time highs. The figure beats the year-ago quarter when AT&T moved 9.4 million smartphones, 7.6 million of them being iPhones.

The “best-ever quarterly sales of Android and Apple smartphones”, according to AT&T Mobility President and Chief Executive Officer Ralph de la Vega, came down to an average of 110,000 smartphone sales each day. “These are the industry’s most valuable postpaid subscribers with average revenues twice that of non-smartphone subscribers", he noted...

Best Buy accuses Walmart of hurting holiday iPhone 5 sales

Ed Sutherland ∙ January 4, 2013

Get ready to rumble! Best Buy, a gadget retailer that sells more iPhones than anyone but Apple, is charging the world's biggest retailer Walmart with unfairly pricing the iPhone 5 during holiday.

A number of states' attorney generals are looking into the allegation. Best Buy says it lost $65,000 a day trying to match the $150 price (later cut to $127) Walmart promoted in December.

The electronics retailer charges Walmart didn't have sufficient supplies to fulfill its holiday promotion of the regularly-priced $199 smartphone...

Apple’s ‘Lucky Bags’ sale starts January 2 in Japan

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 26, 2012

Everything is different in Asia than over here in the United States (or Europe, or most other parts of the world for that matter). Whereas we celebrate Christmas and Santa Claus and kick off the holiday shopping season with Black Friday mega discounts, there's no such thing in Japan. Instead, they have Fukubukuro - aka Lucky Bags or Mystery Bags - a New Year's Day custom where retailers entice buyers with grab bags containing unknown random contents.

These are usually sold with a significant discount, usually 50 percent or more off the items' list price. Honoring the local custom, Apple on its Japanese retail page confirmed that a one-day Lucky Bags sale will take place in seven stores across the country on January 2...

Best Buy taking 20% off all iTunes gift cards today

Cody Lee ∙ Updated October 16, 2017

Believe it or not, Christmas is this Tuesday, meaning you have less than 72 hours to finish up your last-minute holiday shopping. Unfortunately, it's too late to order gifts like the iPad mini or iPhone 5, as they won't ship on time.

But there's still plenty of time, though, to pick up an iTunes gift card. And wouldn't you know it, national electronics retailer Best Buy is having a sale on them today, knocking 20% off all denominations between $15 and $100...

Buoyed by strong sales, Apple orders 2M extra iPad minis

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 20, 2012

Apple's smaller iPad is indeed turning into competitors' worst nightmare. After announcing sales of three million new iPads in three days, the iPad mini is now outselling full-size iPads and could easily comprise half of all iPads sold in December.

And with eight out of each ten iPad owners planning to stick with Apple, no wonder the Cupertino firm has now increased orders for the 7.9-inch tablet, with the volume reaching twelve million iPad minis by year's end...