Earlier Monday, Apple announced iPhone 4S pre-orders had in the first 24 hours, a 66% increase over the first-day sales of the iPhone 4 in the summer of 2010.

Over the weekend, Apple, AT&T and Verizon Wireless all said that they had for delivery to customers on Friday, Oct. 14. Sprint had run through its inventory of the lowest-priced model, the 16GB iPhone 4S, but on Monday still had some 32GB and 64GB phones available.

"Amazing," said Ezra Gottheil, an analyst with Technology Business Research, of the iPhone 4S' sales in the light of the negative welcome the smartphone received last Tuesday when Apple executives, including new CEO Tim Cook, unveiled the device.

"It shows that the iPhone 4S is not necessarily for the leading edgers," said Gottheil. "Apple has become very, very mainstream."

Last week, social media monitoring company Visible Technologies said that it tracked on launch day were negative, a turn-about from what the company said were usually "rave" reviews for Apple and its product introductions.