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Piper Jaffray: 500,000 iPhones sold over the weekend

A quantitative estimate of Apple's weekend iPhone sales has been released, surpassing some of the more optimistic analysts last week.

Tom Krazit Former Staff writer, CNET News
Tom Krazit writes about the ever-expanding world of Google, as the most prominent company on the Internet defends its search juggernaut while expanding into nearly anything it thinks possible. He has previously written about Apple, the traditional PC industry, and chip companies. E-mail Tom.
Tom Krazit

Apple sold around half a million iPhones the first weekend the device went on sale, one analyst firm has estimated.

Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster released a report Sunday night estimating that Apple sold about 500,000 units from 6 p.m. Friday through the close of business Sunday. Going into the weekend Munster thought Apple would sell 200,000 on Friday and Saturday.

Despite low supply at AT&T stores and activation issues, it appears that the iPhone era at Apple got off to a good start. Piper Jaffray said Apple had iPhones available in each one of its stores on Saturday, and in 84 percent of its stores Sunday.

Ninety-five percent of iPhone buyers in San Francisco, New York and Minneapolis (home to Piper Jaffray's offices) purchased the 8GB model, according to a survey conducted by the firm. About half were new customers for AT&T, at least among the 253 people surveyed for the report.