Sprint revises its Evo launch sales numbers -- sold a lot, but not that many

By Phil Nickinson
last updated

Yeah. Apparently Sprint goofed pretty big when it reported first-day sales numbers for the Evo 4G. When it said this:

"The total number of HTC EVO 4G devices sold on launch day was three times the number of Samsung Instinct and Palm Pre devices sold over their first three days on the market combined."

What it actually meant was this (emphasis ours):

"The total number of HTC EVO 4G devices sold on launch day was in line with the number of Samsung Instinct and Palm Pre devices sold over their first three days on the market combined."

Whoopsie, indeed. Sprint does still contend that "Launch day sales of HTC EVO 4G were six times greater than launch day sales of Samsung Instinct and nearly twice the launch day sales for Palm Pre. We continue to see sales of EVO 4G outpace sales of Samsung Instinct and Palm Pre." [Sprint]

Phil Nickinson
Phil Nickinson
27 Comments
  • Waiting for numbers
  • Let the fruit of the loom vs star trek fan boys war start
  • How does this compare to sales of the original Droid? Just trying to get some perspective.
  • The new EVO estimate is 150K first day.
    Moto Droid sold 100K first 3 days.
    Droid Incredible sold 100K first 2 days. EVO still blew them out. HTC/Sprint didn't make enough!
  • Numbers being posted on Giz and Engadget are right about 150,000 units which is still pretty good. Certainly not iPhone numbers but I bet it would have been more if Sprint carried an appropriate stock. Maybe it wasn't Palm that screwed the Pre launch. This seems like a pretty obvious flaw with Sprint leadership and their inability to have ample supply in stock. After all, they don't have the loyal audience other manufacturers/mobile companies do.
  • The first iPhone sold about 250K first 2-3 days so 150K first day for EVO is pretty comparable.
  • Well I am still waiting on my Evo and seeing as tho 2 of my friends already have 1, I am experiencing Evo envy... I am about ready to dump my Pre... I like it but the last straw was when it froze up when I was trying to open the camera app...
  • That was one of my last straws as well. Ashton Kutcher stood there waiting for me to take a pic of him but the Pre's camera decided to start buffering, he got impatient and walked out of the elevator to his appointment. Caught a pic of him from the back which was frustrating.
  • Sounds like the sold a lot either way. None in the stores in my remote location. However I did manage to get one, and I love it, way better than that nexus1. Not sure about the revised number...They are out of stock and that is good news.
  • Has anyone else noticed that the point of this announcement is that the Evo in ONE day (its launch day) sold as many units as the Pre did for its entire first weekend ???
  • Those numbers are not that good at all compared to other phones . There were no lines at any Sprint store near me in NY . The Droid slaughtered those numbers . Bottom line is the phone is great but it was launched on a network nobody wants , if this was launched on Verizon it would have been a far greater success no question !
  • At least you're consistent. If I'm browsing through the comments and start reading an anti-EVO anti-Sprint rant, I always guess that you're the author. And 99% of the time I've been right.
  • Sprints EVO ad campaign sucks! Who cares that it's first in 4g? The average jo schmo doesn't know what 4g means AND the current 4g network is sparse. Who cares that it's a 1ghz snapdragon processor, again, joe schmo has no clue what that means. Sprint needs to show the phone doing real world things that the real world user will use the phone for. Yes, just like apple does with the iPhone. "You're at the doctors office waiting for your appt, you decide to play a game. or look up news, read a book, or whatever on your Evo... doc hands you a business card you take a pic with google goggles and viola, he's added as a contact. You then check open table app and make reservations for dinner. blah blah blah..." We don't need more creepy commercials!
  • My gosh guys.... the EVO sold more phones in one day than the Instinct and the Pre sold in their entire opening weekend. This means that the total is actually close to 400,000 EVO's sold in opening weekend... Some of you need to reread the quote... "The total number of HTC EVO 4G devices sold on launch day was in line with the number of Samsung Instinct and Palm Pre devices sold over their first three days on the market combined." EVO launch day numbers > Pre + Instinct 3 day weekend totals. Now if they had said that they outsold the iPhone by a three-fold margin, then you have a story.
  • Those are good numbers!
  • The EVO is doing just fine. Considering the sham that Steve Jobs is peddling with the iPhone Android Copy Edition, the EVO is the big winner. The fact that the iPhone borrowed features from both the EVO & the Droid Incredible just proves they are far behind. Just looking at iOS 4, it looks like iOS has finally caught up to Android 1.5. (Golf claps.) Wow. I really want to pay $299 for Android 1.5 clone in 2010. No thanks. We'll be getting Android 2.2 probably before iOS 5 is even announced. By then Gingerbread will be announced later at Google I/O 2011. All we need is an answer to the iTunes Store. That's Apple last choke-hold on the populous. Once there's a clear & credible alternative, Apple will fall just like they did to Windows. History is repeating itself once again.
  • Yes, the new iphone is rehashing android and webos but Apple knows marketing and all of the masses are salivating over this new iPhone saying it's year ahead of it's competitors (check the nytimes article). People are eating this up as if it's groundbreaking. The Evo is ahead of the iPhone but I feel that Sprint's marketing will fall short. Plus with iPhone you have all those high data plans, Sprint is simply 80 bucks a month...
  • Didn't some of the big wigs at Sprint say that they were going to have "plenty" of phones for the launch and that we didn't have to worry about running out like they did with the Pre. I would have thought Sprint ordered at least 1 million Evo's for this launch, especially when they gave away 5,000 of them to Developers.
  • These press releases are totally meaningless until we see actual numbers. Initial sales should be greater than the pre's first 3 days, because they totally borked the supply chain, and a lot of people who would have gotten a pre at launch, had to wait instead. All this tells me is that they stocked as many Evos for launch as they had ready to sell for the first 3 days of the pre.
  • Once again it's the Corporations holding back the economic recovery. People want to buy, But Sprint doesn't have enough Evo's to sell.
  • Android is not a very good phone OS, at least not when compared to iOS 4 or even Web OS. Packing on a bunch features just to say it was first to have them, but failing to implement them correctly, has hampered the OS. The EVO has a front facing camera but no built in software to put it to use. The user must then pay for the priviedge and use third part software. That is not a good user experience. Apple at least provides the software and a way to use it free of charge. Apple puts the customer first and that is why the iPhone is such a phenomenal success. They don't add anything to the phone until they are sure it works and will provide a good user experience. I consider the EVO a failure. It should have done a lot better. Instead here we are guessing how many was sold. That's rediculous for phone hailed to be the iPhone beater. Now when iPhone 4 launches, there won't be any doubt about the sales figures. It will absolutely crush the EVO's sales figures. Say what you want about Apple, but you can't deny that they make products that people want. Plain and simple. Android products appeal to the geek squad and there are only so many of them.
  • Before you get flamed into oblivion, I want to state that I think you raise several good points, even if I disagree most of them. The camera application can use the front facing camera easy enough - but there isn't a built in video calling/streaming program for the front facing camera. I am disappointed that Android doesn't have something like that built in, and I think Apple's approach to the front facing camera on the iPhone4 is pretty impressive, right down to the little icon that lets you easily switch between the cameras. Where Android (and the Evo) will hopefully shine is through apps to take advantage of the front-facing camera, but this is an area that Apple can also expand, so it's not really anything exclusive to android. Thus far, I think Qik is garbage because the streaming quality is terrible, even when using the 8MP camera. Certainly nothing I'd pay $5 per month to use. Also, no streaming when the program is minimized? Basically, I think the EVO is a great device with two crappy cameras attached to it. I really have no complaints other than the cameras and associated uses. If the camera is large part of why you want a smartphone, then I can see why you would label the EVO a failure. I think it's a failure in that regard as well. But as a smartphone, I think it's brilliant. I'm not about to become an EVO fanboy, though. If a better device launches on Sprint (ie Galaxy S), I think I'd drop it in a hot second.
  • I'm going to say one thing first, I am not a fanboy. I use Mac, iPod Touch, Android, used the Palm Pre for a year, and.... do not use windows, so okay, I dont like windows. ;) But, I dont understand why you would come here to an Android website to bash the OS. All of the operating systems have their strengths and weaknesses. iOS is not perfect, it is speedy but not as customizable. Android is slower, open, and has constantly new hardware and updates. And WebOS has potential but entered the market at a bad time with bad hardware and too few finances. And I cant agree that there is no software available for it. Built-in is limited, true, but Fring and Qik are available. Also, Google is kind of the king of free of charge, with GPS, mail, docs, etc. The Evo is selling well, the statement isn't quite as impressive as before, but I remember lines on day one for the Palm Pre, and this is selling better than that! And yes, Apple makes beautiful products. I wont ever leave my Macs. :)
  • I'm not insulting the OS, just pointing out that many of the features are half baked, and that includes the hardware. Do you think Apple would include, for example, 4G without also taking into consideration battery life. Or OLED without taking into consideration it's outdoor performance? No they wouldn't. The Adroid hardware and software are coming out at breakneck speeds and the details are being ignored. The customer experience suffers. The EVOs sales figures shouldn't be in doubt. Don't you agree? There's too much effort on features and not enough on the customer. I too love my Macs and so do my kids.
  • Why are we attacking Sprint on this.. The retail stores were sold out.. I couldn't go buy one..
  • I would still like to see the numbers, Im just glad it got the hype it deserved in my opinion
  • Ok.... so u got me to sign up jus so I can lite up these devil advocates of the now, 1 app away from the grave iPhone lovers.. now as we all kno Sprint sucks on the customer end which has always hurt them. However, this discussion has nothin to do wid tht. The 4th gen iPhone looks QUITE ugly. It went from cool toy, to Rico suave, to terminator lookin. Smh. And for the genius*loosely used* who was talkin smack bout there is app for the ffc WHO CARES! This isn't A communist OS. Skype video chat via Fring works AWESOME and guess what, on our 3g network, sucka! I mean to say, you really put out a fone tht can only use an app over WiFi?!?!? Pretty sad if you ask me... and to put icing on the cake, ya'll got a DATA CAP?!?! 2010 Stevie boi. and let me REMIND You tht it took u til the 3rd gen to get landscape text?!?! For real FOR REAL?! The shameful part is the INSTINCT did tht from 1st gen. Iphones were like T 1000's who couldn't shapeshift. Smh again... who does that? Our plans and all are even better than at&t. I do concur in the statement about lousy ads... I should jus make my own.. and send it to them. my EVO is not perfect but it is a very effective, merciless, unwavering iPhone assassin. Believe it. I'm sure you kno EVO is short for evolution, as in this is the new standard. Get familiar.