Iphone won't hit sales target
WHILE THE Duke of Cupertino appeared happy that Apple had sold four million units of the Iphone in 200 days, or 20,000 per day, the company’s seems set to miss its original target of ten million in one year.
Jobs announced the latest sales figure at Macworld, San Fran. But he seems to have overlooked some key factors. For starters, Q4 is when the majority of mobile phones are sold as people give them to each other for Xmas.
So Apple has gone right past the hot sales season and still has six million handsets to sell. There have been persistent rumours that O2 has been gagged over its actual UKIphones sales.
Plus the news from elsewhere is pretty bad. It seems almost certain that Apple's deal with the world's most important cellular market – China – has fallen flat.
China Mobile has hinted strongly that talks with Apple over the Iphone have stalled. Plus there was a great deal of speculation that Japan's NTT DoCoMo would announce a deal with Apple. But that hasn't happened either.
As the INQ accurately predicted, the Duke also didn't announce a 3G version of the Iphone in San Fran and instead relied on saying how wonderful the new release, 1.1.3, of the Iphone software was.
The most impressive thing about 1.1.3 appears to be that it has reputedly screwed up owners of legally unlocked Iphones who bought them in France and Germany.
The INQ isn't entirely sure of the veracity of such reports because nobody ever seems to quote an irate owner whose Iphone is now useless.
So reports of Continental Iphones being country locked may be exaggerated. µ
Share this:
ShareBusiness Intelligence Software
Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
Enterprise Accounting Software
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
Enterprise Systems Management
We don't know what the Q4 sales are. He announced the Q3 sales, up as far as September.
When launching the iPhone, Jobs said he wanted to sell 10M in 2008. We're only 16 days into 2008 so far.

The number of iPhones sold per day will have to increase (to 27,300 iPhones a day) in 2008 for that goal to be reached. 

Otherwise, this article is based on a totally false premise.
Uh... Lizardo, go and count forward 200 days from the iPhone's June launch and see where you get to.

Seriously.
not sure if the world knows, but here in Mumbai, India, several people use Iphone with their choice of provider. No problem at all! Ah, Mumbai!
You should recall that Jobs actually set a target of 10 million sales by the end of 2008. Can't you manage anything but the most perfunctory research?
im with commenter #1. q4 figures wernt revealed, only q3. so no one apart from apple knows how many there are left to sell before the first year is up.
I wonder if the 4 million Iphones sold represents actually end user purchases or includes a stockpile at places like O2 and Carphone Warehouse that nobody seems in a rush to buy. With a TCO of about £800 I also don't think there would have been many turning up in Christmas stockings.
Wasn't the target 10 million iPhone's by the end of 2008? They've already reached 4 million and they have almost a complete year left. I agree it will be tough to maintain momentum but it is far from impossible, especially if a 3G version becomes available in mid-2008 as expected.
The typical Inquirer Apple BS as usual: Apple’s 10 million iPhone sales target as for the END of 2008.... Still 11,5 month's to go and on target thus!
Meanwhile I read an article here in Canada about Telus rolling out GSM in their next upgrade. According to the article this was partly due to a desire to tap in to the market for the "wildly successful Iphone". 

With reportage like that who needs marketeers? Or is it, with marketeers like that who needs journalists? When does gushing over a product constitute journalism and when is it not objective reportage? I'm very confused. 

I hope they are teaching the new crop of journo's the ethics in these situations because it surely must be complicated. Or so it seems to this (not so) old fart.
Jobs stated he wanted that marketshare by the end of 2008 not 1 year... they've got a while to go.
You're way off....

Apple has a 10 million iPhone sales target by end of 2008. That's still 11.5 months away.
Isn't the 10 Million quoted for the end of calender year 2008 (not fiscal)? That would give them 11.5 months left to do it, not 5. If the 3G version does come out by mid year (and they do some more software upgrades), they should be able to hit that target (also, if they start selling the phone in other countries, like Canada, Australia, etc.).
http://in.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idINIndia-28657220070725
If I recall correctly, the claim was not to sell 10 million in the first year of release, but rather to sell 10 million in the first full calendar year, i.e. 2008.
The goal was never 10M in the 'first year'. From the keynote announcing the iPhone, Jobs' clearly stated that the goal was for 2008, the first full year of selling the iPhone.
Steve Jobs said that their target is 1% or 10 million units in 2008 not one year. So actually, the counter started January 1 and ends December 31 of this year.

Furthermore, it doesn't make sense to project a linear goal based on past data because the iPhone still has yet to launch in other non-U.S. markets which would accelerate the sales rate assuming comparable demand as seen with other markets.
Why are you doing the amazing blogger non fact checking?

Get your facts together yo...
what is the problem.

1. Figures are PRE Q4 so they might actually have BEAT their estimate.

2. 10 million by the end of Calendar year 2008, in which case they will be beatting that figure at the current rate, not including any new models.

3. there are NO verified sources for the rumor that Apple was talking to China Mobile EXCEPT from China Mobile itself. doesn't that seem suspicious? Especially since right after the show yesterday the McJesus Jobs on MSNBC said that he had only met one Chinese guy about this once?

4. if O2 can't tell you sales numbers, how the hell do you know how its doing?

5. When you write completely unsubstanciated pieces such as this, aren't you in the same leagues as FoxNews, and the NY Post, the Star, or any other ridiculous tabloid? how can one take you seriously for anything else?

6. don't you guys have a fact checker and an Editor in Chief? 

You guys are all tools, 1 post was all that was needed not an additional 10 posts...
"As the INQ accurately predicted, the Duke also didn't announce a 3G version of the Iphone"

I also accurately predicted that he wouldn't announce a wirelessly powered tablet, the iToaster, and sexbots.

As a follow up, I predict that the world won't end tomorrow, I'll have to pay taxes, and W will say something stupid.
Actually, it _has_ launched in non-US markets (Europe), and the result has been less than stellar.
Boy, people sure get emotional about this thing! I think the real issue is whether the iPhone will become a major success or remain within a niche in the 1 billion+ annual cellphone market. Even meeting the sales target will mean that it gets less than 1 percent of the market. Apple already significantly dropped the price on this thing, apparently China Mobile is taking the Blackberry over the iPhone, and the cellphone business is a pretty tough and competitive market. My opinion? It's pretty, but people generally want something that works well (i.e. Blackberry). We'll see....