O2 has activated just 26,500 iPhones

"Sources" reveal disappointing figures

27 November 2007 8:30 GMT / By Amy-Mae Elliott

"Reliable channel sources" have informed The Register that O2 has activated just 26,500 iPhones since its launch 2 weeks ago, a figure well below the company's expectations.

Although we're still waiting for official figures, this is a lot lower than the first-weekend sales "guesstimates" of 100,000.

These same sources reveal that Carphone Warehouse, the retail partner for the iPhone in the UK, had 50,000 iPhones ready to go on launch weekend but sold only 11,000.

Because of how the iPhone is sold, activation figures, although interesting, are not truly representative of units sold as many phones may have been bought as Christmas presents, to be activated then, and many more may have been purchased to unlock, rather than work on the O2 network.