iPhone rings up a million sales

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David Flynn15 July 2008, 11:30 AM

A mere three days after the iPhone 3G’s worldwide debut, Apple says it has sold a cool million of its geek-chic smartphone.

Racing the the sun across the face of the globe, from Sydney to San Francisco to Scotland, sales of the new 3G iPhone have eclipsed the one million mark just three days after its launch.

The long-awaited mobile phone began its worldwide march last Friday, with lines forming around dealerships for carrier partners Optus and Telstra and Vodafone as well as Apple’s George Street store in Sydney. Customers continued queuing over the weekend. This trend was played out around the world as the iPhone 3G went on sale in 21 countries, in most of which the original iPhone had been unavailable.

“iPhone 3G had a stunning opening weekend,” trumpeted Apple CEO Steve Jobs. “It took 74 days to sell the first one million original iPhones, so the new iPhone 3G is clearly off to a great start around the world.” However, it should be pointed out that the original iPhone was available in only a handful of countries outside the massive US market.

On top of the six million sales of the first iPhone through to when the debutante offering was withdrawn from sale last Friday, Apple’s sales stats for both models is now seven million and counting. This puts the company well ahead of Apple CEO Steve Jobs’ target of 10 million iPhones sold by the end of the year.

Apple also popped the champagne over download figures for the newly-launched App Store on iTunes, which hit 10 million programs over its first weekend. This includes both paid and free apps, and it’s safe to assume that somewhere close to 9.99 million of those downloads were the freebies.

But those who pay for their programs aren’t looking for productivity. Apple’s list of the top ten paid downloads comprises seven games, two ‘entertainment’ programs and one music application. The field is more evenly spread in the top ten free applications, including a currency converter, Facebook software and a simple program that permits the iPhone’s large bright screen to double as a flashlight.

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agami (User):

Feels like a Box Office report, and those of us that lined up have front-row tickets to one of the most anticipated sequels of 2008.

15 July 2008, 1:47 PM (4 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

TheSundayTalk (New user):

TUAW have this to say on this 1m sales figure:

"But hold on: because of clever accounting, a sizable fraction of those handsets were already considered "sold" as soon as they left the loading dock in Asia, according to Fortune's Apple 2.0 blog. "In other words, some of those 1 million iPhones recorded as sold by Apple may still be in transit," they wrote."

Somehow, I doubt there are 1m iPhone 3G customers out there right now, as Fortune put forward in their article:

http://apple20.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2008/07/14/apple-1-million-iphone-3gs-sold-in-three-days/

15 July 2008, 3:02 PM (4 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

djsflynn (APC staff):

That's a very good point, and it was also raised when Apple spruiked its first million first-gen iPhones: Apple considered phones shipped to carriers as already 'bought', in that they'd been in effect bought from Apple rather than bought by an end-user. If I recall rightly, there was at one stage quite a disconnect between Apple saying they'd sold gajillions and AT&T have plenty still in their stores.

15 July 2008, 3:56 PM (4 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Danny Gorog (APC staff):

If the reports here in the US are anything to go by, all AT&T stores are sold out, and the queue outside the San Francisco store today (day four of sales) is anything to go by, I reckon Apple will announce sales of 2 million by next Monday morning. It's crazy over here.

15 July 2008, 4:08 PM (4 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Your Average Joe (Cornerstone member):

Quoting Danny Gorog:
It's crazy over here.

The americans thirst for technology is on seconded by that of the japanese. In their current economic mess they still need to yell out "I have a new iPhone and I'm the king of the world" !

15 July 2008, 4:13 PM (4 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

TheSundayTalk (New user):

That's as maybe, but what I am more interested to hear is the activation figure for many of the carriers around the globe. That will be the only true indicator of how many iPhones are out there in use.

Just because Apple have shipped 1m iPhones to retail outlets around the globe doesn't mean there are 1m customers out there - similarly, just because stores are selling out doesn't necessarily mean that the entire 1m stock has been sold either. How do we know there's not still a decent chunk of stock sitting in warehouses etc?

Don't get me wrong - I reckon Apple will easily have sold 1m before too long. I am just not convinced that they did that in 3 days, that's all.

16 July 2008, 8:16 AM (4 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Jeff (User):

Its all about Apple trying to make themselves look good - they can't do it with Macs so they fudge figures on other devices (iPods and iPhones) so that they can feel good about themselves...

15 July 2008, 6:03 PM (4 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Hemma (Cornerstone member):

Quoting Jeff:
so that they can feel good about themselves...

and iPhone owners now feel less special.

15 July 2008, 9:33 PM (4 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Go Ju 1 (New user):

Hey, have Nokia ever sold 1M in 3 days? (Phones I mean - not gumboots.)

15 July 2008, 11:01 PM (4 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

agami (User):

1 million in 21 countries is not that inconceivable. I can't speak for other countries, but the word on Australian streets is that we got 300,000 units for 11th July and the last of the lesser desired 8GB units sold sometime on Monday. Americans would have consumed around the same amount, given that most people aren't rushing to upgrade, which leaves ~400,000 units to be sold in 19 countries.

I'd venture that if Apple were able to manufacture and ship more than 1 million within time we'd be disputing a much larger number.

16 July 2008, 10:42 AM (4 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Stephen666 (New user):

Forget the world price of =US$199
tried to buy iphone outrite aprox A$800 quote from Telstra and Vodafone
others would not comment or only say plan buyers only
SCREWED AGAIN BY BIG BROTHER WHO THINK WE DON'T WATCH THEM AND THEIR DIRTY TRICKS
Guess I will go hunting over seas for a cheaper prices once again so much for supporting Australia they just won't let us !

22 July 2008, 9:13 PM (4 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Go Ju 1 (New user):

The iPhone certainly has provoked many comments and emotions. But what is it? It's a hand held computer (with a phone feature) and whether or not you are a 'retarded apple fanboy', the fact is that this device (which probably has a half life of about 6 months - like laptops) has been well thought out by its progenitors. There are some features (5mp camera) that are outranked by other phone manufacturers but no other company has seen the big picture and considered what software and hardware needs to be integrated to provide a platform that is currently unsurpassed. Like them or hate them Apple know what they are doing! The iphone is a revolutionary device for the 21st century (for the moment). Apple will sell every phone they make and as far as their Annual Report to stockholders is concerned it does not really matter how many the resellers have sold - but it seems like there won't be any left on the shelves! There can be no doubt that this device and the OSX platform is a redoubtable success.

22 July 2008, 9:58 PM (4 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend