iPhone sales are in line with expectations, says O2 chief

Richard Wray
The Guardian
Tuesday November 13 2007
Mobile phone company O2 claims to have sold "tens of thousands" of iPhones over the weekend after its launch in Britain.
Its chief executive, Peter Erskine, predicted that the UK pre-pay mobile phone market will decline this year for the first time in the history of the industry as the mobile phone companies focus on users willing to sign a contract.
Customers buying an iPhone, for instance, have to sign up for 18 months. He said iPhone sales through O2 stores are outstripping those from Carphone Warehouse and Apple's own stores, with "tens of thousands" sold through the O2 store network. There have been reports over the weekend that O2 and Carphone stores have seen lacklustre sales but Erskine said "the initial feedback is we are in-line with our expectations".
Erskine stressed it is "early days" and refused to give an exact sales figure, adding that reports of sales of more than 100,000 were exaggerated.
Asked about speculation that people were put off by the price, he added "that's certainly not what we are finding".
The number of customers who have gone into an O2 store since the iPhone went on sale on Friday night is three times higher than the same period last year.
While many of these new visitors had come to play with the gadget, Erskine said he hoped overall sales would increase as staff tried to sell this wave of shoppers additional items. "It's the old story in retail: if you can get them in you can sell them something," he said. "What I don't know yet ... is how much extra we are selling ." UK chief executive Matthew Key expects to sell more than 200,000 iPhones in the Christmas and new year period.

This story is saying that the iphone is selling well and that more people have gone into O2 stores this time of year than last (more than 3 times of the people), and they hope to continue selling loads of more over Christmas. I think that the iphone is going to sell more over Christmas because obviously people are going to be buying gifts, and for teenagers, even young adults, this would be the perfect gift because nowadays technology what everything is about.