Apple May Have Sold 200,000 IPhones, Meeting Highest Prediction

San Francisco, July 2 -- Apple Inc.'s initial iPhone sales may have met analysts' top projections, suggesting Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs will reach his goal of making mobile phones as profitable to the company as computers and the iPod.

Shoppers bought as many as 200,000 units the first day after the iPhone went on sale June 29, according to Global Equities Research in San Francisco. Analysts' estimates ranged from 50,000 to 200,000 units.

``I'm an Appleholic,'' said Stephanie Richmond, who bought her 8-gigabyte iPhone from Apple's Fifth Avenue store in New York. ``I have every Apple product, and I think they're all great.''

Jobs has predicted the iPhone will become Apple's third main business along with the iPod music player and Macintosh computer, which generate $10 billion in annual sales each.

AT&T Inc., exclusive provider of wireless service for the iPhone, said most of its 1,800 stores sold out within 24 hours. AT&T sold 72,000 units while Apple sold an estimated 128,000 iPhones on the first day, said Trip Chowdhry, a Global Equities analyst.

Sales at that level would match the estimate of Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster, who predicted Apple would sell 200,000 units. Apple hasn't provided iPhone sales figures.

Sales started on June 29 at 6 p.m. in each U.S. time zone as Jobs sought a foothold in what he called a ``giant market.''

Activation Problems

The iPhone, which costs $499 and $599 in stores, sold online for an average price of $740, with the highest at about $12,500, according to online retailer EBay Inc.

All 164 Apple outlets had iPhones available as of yesterday morning. Mark Siegel, a spokesman for San Antonio-based AT&T, declined to confirm whether stores had completely sold out of the device, saying only that ``things have just gone extraordinarily well.''

Some buyers had problems activating the phones because of the large number signing up at the same time, and others faced delays in switching from other carriers, Siegel said. AT&T's calling plans for the phone cost $60 to $220 a month.

At Apple's store in New York's SoHo neighborhood, fans counted down the minutes and then the seconds as employees in black-and-white T-shirts arranged iPhone displays. The first two phones went to staff members for director Spike Lee and actress Whoopi Goldberg.

Customers are allowed one phone at AT&T's stores and two at Apple's outlets. Shoppers can check Apple's Web site to see if the iPhone is in stock at any of its stores. There's a wait of two to four weeks for customers who order the phone online from Apple, according to the site.

Bigger the Better?

The iPhone merges Apple's iPod with a handset equipped for Web pages and e-mail, pitting the product against less expensive products from Nokia Oyj, Samsung Electronics Co., Research In Motion Ltd. and Palm Inc.

Shoppers interviewed at Apple's stores in New York and California favored the $599, 8-gigabyte model of the iPhone over the 4-gigabyte version.

``For $100 more, you get double the storage,'' said engineer Rick Evans, 50, who picked up his iPhone opening night at Apple's store in Stanford, California. ``It's a no-brainer.''

Jobs said last week that Apple had boosted manufacturing to meet estimated demand. ``We've taken our best guess, but it wouldn't surprise me at all if it ain't enough,'' Jobs, 52, said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal.

Under his leadership, Apple's annual profit has surged to almost $2 billion from $65 million in the past five years, while sales more than tripled to about $20 billion.

Jobs's Goals

Jobs says he aims to sell 10 million of the phones in 2008, capturing 1 percent of the global market for handsets. He expects consumers to buy 1 billion mobile phones next year, which would be almost four times the number of personal computers sold. The enthusiasm of buyers such as Apple co- founder Steve Wozniak may put Jobs well on the way to that goal.

``I was going to only use the iPhone as a test phone at first, but I'm ready now to make it my primary number,'' said Wozniak, who got in line at 4 a.m. on June 29 to buy the phone. ``I was still a bit negative after a couple of test calls, but then I tried the browser and was shocked at how wonderful it was to have real Web pages.''

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