Analysts may have leveled criticism at Apple's iPhone 4S revision, but consumers are on-board. In the days following its announcement, the company says that more than 1 million people have already ordered the device - a figure that tops its predecessor's record by more than 400,000.
Apple was unsurprisingly ecstatic about the news.
"The first day pre-orders for iPhone 4S have been the most for any new product that Apple has ever launched and we are thrilled that customers love iPhone 4S as much as we do," Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing.
The Cupertino, CA company announced the iPhone 4S at its "Let's Talk iPhone" event last week, ostensibly killing hype for a true successor in iPhone 5. The 4S remains an improvement, however. The device boasts the company's new Siri "intelligent assistant" program (think Hal from "2001: A Space Odyssey" sans malice) and a dual-core A5 chip. Siri will not be available to vanilla iPhone 4 owners, said Apple.
Apple's latest consumer money-sink will hit stores this Friday, October 14th - two days after its highly anticipated iCloud service goes live. A $199 16GB model will be the cheapest entry bar for early adopters who also sign up for a two-year service contract. However, 32GB and 64GB models will also be available for $299 and $399, respectively.
To keep its earlier products attractive, Apple's dropped the price of the iPhone 4 to $99 and is offering the 3GS free for those who spring for a two-year contract.
