ComScore: Verizon sold 'well over 1M' iPhones during February

Verizon Wireless (NYSE:VZ) sold "well over 1 million" iPhones during the smartphone's first few weeks of availability, according to new numbers from research and measurement firm comScore. The number is perhaps the first official, independent tally of sales of the device.

Verizon began selling the iPhone Feb. 11.ComScore obtained the figure through its monthly surveys of Americans' wireless activities. The company surveyed 10,300 mobile phone owners during February, and the Verizon iPhone "showed up (in the results), and it showed up in a fierce way," said comScore analyst Mark Donovan. Donovan declined to provide a more specific sales figure. He also could not immediately provide comparison figures for AT&T Mobility's (NYSE:T) launch of the original iPhone in 2007 or the iPhone 4 last year.

Verizon began selling the Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPhone Feb. 11, an action that broke AT&T's exclusive grip on the device. Neither Apple nor Verizon has provided specific iPhone sales numbers, though Verizon said it sold more iPhones during the first two hours of the device's pre-order availability Feb. 3 than it sold on any other first day launch in its history.

A Verizon spokeswoman declined to comment on comScore's numbers, and an Apple representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Verizon reports its first-quarter results April 21, and Apple reports its first-quarter results April 20.

As for AT&T, carrier executives have said that the Verizon iPhone launch met AT&T's expectations, though they have not provided any further clarity.

Analysts have speculated that the launch of the iPhone by Verizon would cut into the first-quarter results of rivals Sprint Nextel (NYSE:S) and T-Mobile USA.

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