With Verizon Wireless having already sold an estimated half-million CDMA iPhone 4s during pre-sales, the impact is beginning to ripple through the smartphone industry. The waves include new phone deals sprouting up, higher stock prices for suppliers, and questions about upgrading.
Dan Mead, president and CEO of Verizon Wireless, has told news media that, “in just our first two hours, we had already sold more phones than any first-day launch in our history.” Remarkably, those two hours were between 3 a.m. and 5 a.m. EST.
Sales, Stock Surge
The pre-orders sold out in 24 hours. Online sales will begin Wednesday, and store sales on Thursday. Neither Verizon nor Apple has officially confirmed the estimated number of pre-sales. Pre-orders were only available to existing Verizon customers.
With Verizon doing a boffo business with the iPhone, other carriers are beginning to offer competing deals. Offers timed for this week and weekend include a Valentine’s Day special from T-Mobile. The carrier will offer all models free with a two-year contract, but the special is only good for this weekend.
eBay is offering an Instant Sale service until Feb. 22, during which a third party will buy a variety of smartphones through the popular online market. The service will pay $200 for a working iPhone 3GS, Motorola’s Droid X, HTC’s EVO 4G, or Samsung’s Galaxy X Vibrant. This is approximately the price of a low-end, 16GB iPhone 4 through Verizon.
The glow from the Verizon iPhone is also washing over the device’s suppliers. Qualcomm’s stock set a two-year high on Tuesday, based on the fact that one of its chipsets is used in the device. Its role in the new iPhone isn’t unexpected, given that, like Verizon, it is heavily invested in CDMA network technology. At AT&T, the exclusive carrier in the U.S. for the…