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Apple iPhone 4 sales: 1.7 million in three days

The latest iPhone, a gadget already known for its blockbuster debuts, makes for what Apple calls "the most successful product launch" in the company's history."

Jim Dalrymple Special to CNET News
Jim Dalrymple has followed Apple and the Mac industry for the last 15 years, first as part of MacCentral and then in various positions at Macworld. Jim also writes about the professional audio market, examining the best ways to record music using a Macintosh. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET. He currently runs The Loop.
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Jim Dalrymple

Apple on Monday said iPhone 4 sales topped 1.7 million units for the first three days the device was available to customers.

Scenes from iPhone 4 launch (photos)

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Apple CEO Steve Jobs said the iPhone 4, which hit retail outlets Thursday, was "the most successful product launch in Apple's history" and apologized to customers who were turned away because there weren't enough iPhone 4s to go around.

In 2008 and 2009, respectively, Apple sold 1 million each of the iPhone 3G and the iPhone 3GS in their initial weekend of sales.

The iPhone 4 launch hasn't been without its difficulties for Apple. As soon as the device became available, users began complaining about problems with the antenna.

Customers were easily able to demonstrate signal loss on the iPhone 4, essentially going from four bars to none, because of the way the device is being held. Apple responded to the complaints, suggesting that users not cover the antenna with their hand.

Some observers have been speculating that the issue could be software-related and that a fix from Apple could come as early as Monday with an update to iOS 4.