Sprint sets one day sales record thanks to Apple iPhone 4S, AT&T activation mark falls

Has offering the Apple iPhone 4S and Apple iPhone 4 for the first time to its customers made a difference to Sprint? Considering that the carrier set a record Friday for the most sales in one day, we would say that the answer to that question is a resounding "Yes!" It only four hours for the nation's third largest carrier to shatter its previous sales mark. Fared Adib, Sprint’s Product Chief, said, "Sprint today reported its best ever day of sales in retail, web and telesales for a device family in Sprint history with the launch of iPhone 4S and iPhone 4". Adib added that the results have surpassed the carrier's expectations.

Earlier this year, Sprint CEO Dan Hesse said that Apple's iconic touchscreen device was the number one reason why subscribers were leaving Sprint for AT&T or Verizon. On October 4th, reports surfaced that Sprint and Apple had signed a $20 billion deal with the former buying 30.5 million copies of the Apple iPhone over the next four years.

Meanwhile, over at AT&T, a record number of Apple iPhones were activated as of 4:30pm eastern time on Friday. In a statement, AT&T said it was on track to double the previous record for activations on a single-day. The downside is that AT&T's servers have been so swamped that many Apple iPhone 4S buyers have been staring at a screen for hours, looking at a message that activation is pending. Some had been waiting as long as 7 hours to get hooked up to AT&T's network.

Besides AT&T and Sprint, Verizon also is offering the Apple iPhone 4S. For the latter two carriers, it is the first time that they have been involved in an Apple iPhone launch from the initial release of the device.

source: AppleInsider