Math on iPhones Just Doesn't Add Up?

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Friday January 25, 2008 @07:16AM from the bad-math dept.

Tech Dirt is reporting that recently announced numbers by Apple and AT&T suggest that there is a large gap (1.7 million) between the number of iPhones being sold and those being activated. Taking into account factors like the iPhone launching outside the US and a 20% estimate of people buying the iPhone just for the purposes of unlocking, there are still 700,000 iPhones unaccounted for. "[...] suggesting that they're sitting on store shelves, piling up as unsold inventory. That number suggests at least some gap between perceived demand and actual demand -- while also raising questions about how much effort it will take to eat through that inventory."

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Ummmm by tgd · 2008-01-25 07:24 · Score: 5, Insightful

So is it really more likely there are 700,000 mysteriously missing iPhones, or perhaps the number of people buying them to unlock is higher than they think?

Does the number of ATT activations also include the pre-paid plans, or just the contracts?