Apple today announced it sold its one millionth iPhone 3G on Sunday, just three days after its launch on Friday, July 11. iPhone 3G is now available in 21 countries—Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK and the US—and will go on sale in France on July 17.
“iPhone 3G had a stunning opening weekend,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO, in the press release. “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.”
The new iPhone 3G combines all the revolutionary features of iPhone plus 3G networking that is twice as fast, built-in GPS for expanded location-based mobile services, and iPhone 2.0 software which includes support for Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync and runs over 800 third party applications available through the new App Store. In the US, the new iPhone 3G is priced at just $199 for the 8GB model, and $299 for the 16GB model.
More about Apple’s iPhone 3G here.
That’s just crazy.
Will be fun to watch the ‘analysts” scramble to put a dark could over this news.
and I was one of them.
Sent from iPhone 3G.
…that I was among that number. Crappy AT&T;store ran out and still no new stock.
Anybody notice how you haven’t seen any stories about that famous ’10 million sold in 2008′ goal? Even the naysayers are conceding that number now. lol
…and nearly half of them were activated!
And I wasn’t one of them! Thank you O2 UK, for the worst product launch in memory.
Six million EDGE iPhones in approximately one year, then one million iPhone 3G in just a few days. That’s an amazing number, and reminds me of the incredible growth in iPod sales after the first year or two.
Very promising start, and double the most optimistic estimate that I read prior to the launch.
I can’t wait to get my upgrade. I was gonna queue up, but then my wife reminded me I have a life outside of technology and I ended up at a barbeque…
…I’d have preferred to queue up to be honest. Still, if they have them in this Friday, add me to the list of iPhone 3G owners.
Loving the 2.0 update on my original iPhone, this software kicks some serious ass.
Is that worldwide where it is available or North America?
Friday: Forget it. Not a chance unless you were first in line.
Saturday: Line out the door the entire day. Stood in line for 3 hrs. They ran out.
Sunday: Called and was told a fresh shipment had come but the line was so long they would not be able to get to everybody before the store closed.
Friends, I think we might have a hit on our hands here.
I’m thrilled and amazed that 1 million sold in three days when you consider how painfully slow the purchase/activation procedure was.
….*sigh* …
I remember when they built computers and they used to cater to computers users. Oh, those days when MS was bungling everything and Apple did everything right …..
Now they make at&tPhones;and ignore their computer users when they roll out a botched service upgrade.
If you have a (previous) mac.com subscription without an at&tPhone;, you might be feeling the pain.
Is this the future of our beloved company?
Don’t worry, I’ll spin this into a negative. Right after I finish this game of dungeons & dragons.
In Switzerland they were sold out in 2 hours – no chance to get hold of a 16gb so far since friday – all shops have the same note at the doors – we have no iPhone on stock but we are happy to take your reservation – delivery time – do not know
I am seeing a lot of stories online about the so-called ‘failure’ of the new iPhone because of the problems at the launch on Friday. It’s like calling a store a failure because they didn’t build the door wide enough to let in all the customers. Granted, Apple should have known better, given the excitement caused by the first iPhone release, but this is a failure? Having too many customers swamp your servers seems like the kind of failure any company would want.
Tsunami
@ MobileAdmin
These numbers are worldwide.
** PERFORMANCE QUESTION **
Is anyone else’s iPhone SLUGGISHLY slow after the 2.0 update, specifically MAIL.
When I type, it now takes time for the letters to register (~1/4-half a sec, when it used to be instantaneous). When I hit delete, it lags, so I end up erasing almost the shole sentence than I want b/s the screen does not sync with what’s being pressed.
This is a serious performance problem!
~ Gen 1.0, 8Gb, ~ 780% capacity
when you consider the number of people that were left empty handed (I was 5th in-line at my local Carphone Warehouse store which only had 4 units…!?) – that figure is even more impressive. I – and Carphone Warehouse – still have no idea when they’ll have have more stock / I’ll be able to get one
The media misstated the problems with getting iPhones activated.
There was no ” software problem “. The problem was that the servers were simply overwhelmed. Over 10 million iPod and iPhone users accessed the servers to get the software 2.0 upgrade, in addition to new 3G iPhone users activating their new iPhones.
This launch was a success …. by any standards. Not as smooth as Apple would have liked, but it doesn’t seem to have distracted customers from standing in line to buy.
~ Gen 1.0, 8Gb, ~ 80% capacity, that is
@JB
I’m having the same problems
My 15 year old son volunteered to stand in line for me on the morning of the launch. It rained all night here (exactly what I was hoping for!) so the line was only 50 ppl long when we arrived at 5:55 am on that Friday. He took his iPod Touch, a chair, umbrella and a steaming thermal mug of coffee and settled in.
I went to a meeting and came back to the line at 7:45. It took another two hours to get into the store and I got the last 16GB iPhone in the store… a white one (the black was sold out in the first hour) but at least I got a 16 gigger!
Three hours after I got it home, iTunes successfully activated it.
Anyway, we had a good time in line, (no pressure to go to a BBQ) and I got an iPhone on launch day.
(oh… and I think I’ve downloaded about 20 apps so far…all free)
WOOT!
“I am seeing a lot of stories online about the so-called ‘failure’ of the new iPhone because of the problems at the launch on Friday. It’s like calling a store a failure because they didn’t build the door wide enough to let in all the customers. Granted, Apple should have known better, given the excitement caused by the first iPhone release, but this is a failure? Having too many customers swamp your servers seems like the kind of failure any company would want.”
you will never be a reporter. what are you thinking, talking facts and making sense like that…….
@Radius
I am with you. The incessant whining is driving me crazy. This was a major rollout and there were bound to be problems on the first day. Coordinating the rollout of both hardware and software at this scale is a massive undertaking, beyond anyone’s comprehension.
I know, because I have been involved in global rollouts. Stupid little things can trip you up, like the problem we had in our Austrailia and Korea offices. In Australia, we forgot to set the system preferences to Australian English. You should have heard them whine. In Korea, we had a bit more technical problem with the Office documents stored in Hongul. It was bug in two different Office version stored double byte characters. The Koreans were a lot more polite about the delays.
That almost beat Nokia’s sales for the weekend.
Except Nokia will sell another million every few days for the rest of the year. Will Apple match that?
I bet Nokia and Blackberry wished their servers would get bogged down like that.
But Nokia will make $10 profit on three quarters of the phones they sell. Its like Apple not selling $500 PCs there is no profit in it.
@jo jo
“I remember when they built computers and they used to cater to computers users…”
Don’t you realize that the iPhone IS a computer — arguably the most significant new computer since the Mac was introduced in 1984.
@Toxteth O’Grady
Don’t you hold the world’s record for producing the world’s largest bogie?
Yeah, but now many got activated?
This is EXACTLY the same as MS saying x number of copies of Vista have been sold, even though the vast majority weren’t really being used.
Come on Steve, get your MobieMe and your iPhone infrastructure working for everyone!
Yes, BSOD. Westerners have become (perhaps always have been) self centered whiners, thinking only of things that benefit themselves and whining endlessly about everything being too hot or too cold or too slow or too fast.
On a forum like this, expect to be mocked mercilessly for even mentioning humility or forbearance.
The best is yet to come: Election time.
Having rejected the best political candidates they’re stuck with the moral fence sitters. They’ll elect one as president and spend the next 4 years whining about him.
Went to a local ATT store a week ahead for preapproval. They were not a corporate owned store and would not be getting any iPhones. Went to the downtown, corporate owned, store and they preapproved me. On Friday I arrived at about 10:30 to a store packed with sales people, but sold out of their 150 iPhones.
Saturday I got up very early and was number 10 in line at the local Apple store in the U District. They had not sold out on Friday and had all but black 16 gig models.
The young woman, Ashley, who helped me was fantastic. We had to call ATT and get me out of the preapproved and discounted status and then activate me with a new number. I have my first iPhone.
ATT seems to be getting the short end of the stick when it comes to supply of iPhones. Only corporate owned stores and for them only limited numbers of phones.
Yes Christian.
Actually, that’s the world’s stickiest bogie.
And I hold the record for the most marshmallows stuffed up one nostril.
I wonder if they counted my 16GB model that I ordered (and paid for) at the AT&T;store after they had run out of stock… It is supposed to be in sometime this week. Anyone else get their back-ordered unit from an AT&T;store yet?
You talk of ‘Westerners’ in a very generic manner and then assign them all to a country which elects a president for 4 years.
Please stop hiding behind your ‘political correctness’ bullshit and start by calling a spade a spade. I’m assuming that you intended to take your dump on what you feel is only an American attitude.
Please clarify your position.
both stores ran out here as well 🙁
I’m very happy for Apple (and my AAPL’s future). Silver lining: all these problems are what sales people call “good” problems. Assuming Apple solves them fast, of course.
As for me, the iPhone is expected to be available in Singapore in September. But all this reports of firmware issues, crashing apps, frozen iPhones, etc are kinda making me worried. The more i read these reports, the more i’m thinking i shld probably wait a little closer to Christmas and let Apple settle things nicely and properly. Who knows, maybe they’ll even have a 32GB iPhone by then. But that white iPhone 3G is really looking nicer by the day.
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Lots of my iPod touch 2.0 seem sluggish, particularly Safari. Safari also crashes more than previously when viewing the same web sites. Touch screen response is more flaky and slower to respond. I don’t do a lot of mail from it but I do a lot of surfing.
Also, when you click a link that pops to a new window, closing that new window and going back to the previous window more often now requires a reload of that previous web page. Previously it would have to reload that previous web page about 50-70% of the time. Now it seems more like 80% of the time.
Funny thing (not so funny at the time): I was typing feedback on Apple’s website regarding the iPod touch and was just about finished typing it (the feedback was about the web page reloading I mentioned above) and Safari crashed. Talk about irritated. I went upstairs and typed it back up on my MBP.
@JB:
My typing has a delay once in a while. It’s not consistant though. Its mostly user name/ passwords that lag. Most things seem faster though, especially connecting to Wifi. My Mail is really snappy now.
I think it has to do with typing things that will be stored, or when the system is looking in your contacts, etc. While you are typing?
iPHONE, BITCH!!!
I’m also experiencing sluggishness, especially pressing the home button.
Simply amazing. 10 million in 2008 is looking like a cake walk… I guess it helps to go worldwide, doesn’t it (you doubters out there)?
Regarding iPhone’s success, I don’t own one yet and am going to look into AT&T;’s pricing packages for one iPhone plus one non-iPhone, since my wife has no interest in one at all, preferring a basic phone that just makes calls and retrieves voice mail. I’m looking forward to getting out of Sprint Hell, soon, though. And being a long-time fan of Apple and their products since the dark days of the early and mid-nineties, this is amazing stuff. They are finally achieving the level of ubiquity they deserve, albeit gradually. These are good times, folks. Good times.
@Toxteth
I own just three episodes and “Bambi” happens to be one of them. Brilliant stuff. Monty Python on crank. Great choice of a handle.
Of course Rik is the world’s biggest bottom burp. Priceless.
I’m just waiting for the next gen PrePay version to also get my iPhone… I’m one of the next one and a half billion people that only hold back till PrePay and country-compagny sim exchange will be easy to avoid roaming taxes.
@JB et al:
I read that there is a firmware update for iPhone 2.0 software, but the only way to install it is to do a restore via iTunes. The update apparently fixes the yellowish screen tint on the 3G iPhones, but also helped fix some software crashes people were experiencing. The author was not sure whether the software fixes were due to changes in the update or simply the restore process. You might try that to see if it fixes your problem.
@bizlaw
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The thing is now cleared: not the 3G is “yellowish”, but the V1 iPhone was TOO “blueish”…
@ BobM
yes, I know the at&tPhone;is a computer. It has a CPUS and RAMS and TRONS inside it and everything …. I even heard that it can blink too.
The point is that their focus has shifted away from their base, towards consumer electronics and phones, and they have allied themselves with AT&T;, a corporation with which I choose not to do business.
Does this mean that users of the future will have to sign a belligerent 2 year contract with an obtuse telecom just to have a computer?
These are sales of the Phone to retail outlets aren’t they? They didn’t atcually sell 1 million iPhones to customers in the first weekend.
A little bit of critical thinking when reading MDN would be a good idea people.
“These are sales of the Phone to retail outlets aren’t they?”
That’s right. When Apple ships phones to AT&T;they book them as sales.
And given Steve’s predilection for exaggeration, you can bet that he’s counting all the orders AT&T;has placed for replacement stock as “Sales”.
Amazing… just amazing… 1 mill. in 3 days !?!?!
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That’s just crazy!! (and I mean that in a good way
“Course, the people griping about standing in line and not getting an iPhone is no indication of the high stack of unsold iPhones in the back room being counted as sold.”
The standing in line and griping has more to do with the activation process meltdown.In fact it’s an indication that there were still units in the back room. If they’d actually run out of units they’d be telling those whiny mac fanboy bitches to go away.
Nobody’s doubting that many stores are sold out, but you can have a situation where AT&T;ordered a quarter or half a million units over the weekend for delivery this week.. Those are sales to Steve, yet not actually in any customer’s hands yet.