Technology Explore

Apple sells one million 3G iPhones in 3 days, ten million iPhone apps downloaded

   Once again, Apple’s powerful marketing machine proved its efficiency. Monday, on the 14th of July, the company announced it sold its one millionth iPhone 3G on Sunday, just three days after its launch on Friday, July 11.

   During that same time, owners of both the new and old iPhone were able to download 10 million applications from the newly launched App Store on iTunes, despite major problems with the iPhone 2.0 software update disabling many people?s phones temporarily on Friday, when Apple’s servers buckled.

   “iPhone 3G had a stunning opening weekend,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “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 major difference between the first-generation iPhone and the iPhone 3G was that the iPhone 3G was available in 21 countries on 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.

   Apple had sold about 6 million units of the first-model iPhone since it launched in the U.S. a year ago. The company has set a goal of selling 10 million iPhones by the end of 2008.

   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.