Apple Sells 1 Million iPhone 3Gs in 3 Days

5:33 am, July 14th, 2008, Lonnie Lazar

Updated below - Apple CEO Steve Jobs pronounced the iPhone 3G’s worldwide reception “stunning,” according to AppleInsider.

Noting the 1 million phones sold in its “opening weekend” (as the lines between commerce and entertainment grow ever more blurred), Jobs trumpeted the fact that “It took 74 days to sell the first one million original iPhones, so the new iPhone 3G is clearly off to a great start.”

Of course, its availability in more than 20 countries helped iPhone 3G sales, whereas the original phone was first offered only in the United States, but consumers’ embrace of the new model is sure to heat up the smartphone market. The sales numbers are impressive by any measure, especially given widespread activation issues that slowed down the purchase process and caused much grumbling among opening weekend buyers.

Apple’s sales figures are the subject of some debate in the wake of the company’s press releases this morning, according to a post at Fortune’s Apple blog. While sales at Apple retail outlets are counted at the register, sales to partner carriers such as AT&T are counted by the company when they leave the loading docks in Asia. “In other words, some of those 1 million iPhones recorded as sold by Apple (AAPL) may still be in transit,” says the Fortune report.

Also today, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster put sales at around half the 1 million reported by Apple and said he thinks it will take two weeks or more to hit the 1 million served mark.

Posted by Lonnie Lazar in Apple, News, iPhone | Comment on this article