"They are seeing unprecedented demand," says Cote, noting that sales do not appear to be slowing down either. The sales pace is a stark contrast to the downward trends in consumer spending across the board, in the US and abroad. Wall Street had anticipated 3 million total quarterly sales for the device but it is looking now like 5-6 million will be more accurate.
For comparison, the iPhone 3G sold 1 million units in 3 days while it took 74 days for the original iPhone to hit the milestone.
The new version does have a few advantages that is surely leading to its hot sales. The $199 USD price tag is half the price of the original iPhone. Touchscreen mobile phones are the hottest trend now for the market and the iPhone 3G gets to capitalize on that consumer enthusiasm. The phone is also now available in 22 countries, with releases set for 48 more countries before the end of the year. The original iPhone was only available in 4 nations.
Cote does predict however that Apple will have problems keeping up with demand. "The demand is so strong it may impact or delay the new countries coming on," Cote says.
We should all be so lucky to have problems of that nature.
Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 12 Aug 2008 13:14
