X

Apple: 1 million iPhones sold

The slick and much-lusted-after phone hits the mark much faster than the iPod, and Steve Jobs is looking forward to many happy holiday returns.

Jon Skillings Editorial director
Jon Skillings is an editorial director at CNET, where he's worked since 2000. A born browser of dictionaries, he honed his language skills as a US Army linguist (Polish and German) before diving into editing for tech publications -- including at PC Week and the IDG News Service -- back when the web was just getting under way, and even a little before. For CNET, he's written on topics from GPS, AI and 5G to James Bond, aircraft, astronauts, brass instruments and music streaming services.
Expertise AI, tech, language, grammar, writing, editing Credentials
  • 30 years experience at tech and consumer publications, print and online. Five years in the US Army as a translator (German and Polish).
See full bio
Jon Skillings
2 min read

It seems like only yesterday that Apple had sold its first 270,000 iPhones--not a bad tally for just a little bit more than the first day on the market.

Apple

Monday morning, a little more than two months after the much-lusted-after gadget went on sale, Apple said in a brief press release that it had sold its 1 millionth iPhone.

"One million iPhones in 74 days," Apple CEO Steve Jobs exulted in a press release. "It took almost two years to achieve this milestone with iPod."

Last week, Jobs unveiled the new iPod Touch, which mimics the look and behavior of the iPhone. He also ran into a buzzsaw of criticism by cutting the price of the iPhone by $200 so soon after long lines of early adopters plopped down a big chunk of change to be the first on the block with the gadget.

The price cut--the 8GB model now costs $399--is intended to boost sales of the iPhone during the upcoming holiday sales season. Two days after announcing the new pricing, Jobs offered an apology to the first wave of buyers, along with a $100 store credit.

"We can't wait to get this revolutionary product into the hands of even more customers this holiday season," Jobs said in Monday's press release.

Just how many hands the iPhone actually is in at this point is a little unclear, Apple's ballyhooing of 1 million sold notwithstanding. If Apple sold 270,000 or so in the waning hours of June, as it claimed, and then 220,000 in July, as market research iSuppli reported last week, that's 490,000 units. Which means the company would have needed a sales surge of more than a half-million iPhones in the six weeks or so since August 1.