By Stevie Smith Sep 5, 2007, 13:36 GMT
Not that the following piece of statistical news will likely surprise anyone other than the most fervent Apple haters, but market research figures have revealed that the diminutively sexy iPhone ranked at the top-selling smartphone handset in the United States for the month of July.
Given the pre-release hype and expectation, it’s hardly a monumental revelation to learn that the iPhone accounted for 1.8 percent of all mobile phone handsets sold across the US during its first month of retail release, according to iSuppli.
Yet, Apple Inc. will probably still be delighted with the iPhone’s debut month of turnover, especially as it faired better in the marketplace than other established offerings such as LG’s popular Chocolate feature phone, the Palm Treo, and individual lines of RIM’s BlackBerry range. On that note, market researcher iSuppli has lauded the iPhone’s initial performance as somewhat of a "remarkable achievement."
However, although the iPhone led sales in the smartphone space, its total unit numbers for July don’t quite hit the beat required if Apple is to fulfill its prediction of selling a solid 1 million iPhones by the close of September.
"It’s a pretty darn successful product," offered Greg Sheppard, iSuppli’s chief development officer, in a San Jose Mercury News report, "but [sales performance is] probably lower than what everyone else is expecting it to be."
Indeed, ‘opening weekend’ sales forecasts delivered by analysts amid the first few days of retail availability pointed to Apple having shifted anywhere up to a massive 700,000 units of the iPhone. Yet Apple itself later claimed that it had sold something like 270,000 units of the innovative touch-screen device during the first two days of sale.
Although iSuppli has not yet amassed its iPhone numbers for the month of August, it outlines that July’s estimated monthly sales figures of around 220,000 units would put the iPhone in line to hit a fiscal end-of-quarter target of approximately 600,000 to 720,000 units.
Even though iSuppli’s current projections place the iPhone as falling a little short of Apple’s initial target, the market research company still expects the Q4 holiday season to play a dramatic role in the traction of the iPhone. The company sees sales hitting around 4.5 million units by the close of 2007, reliant on the inclusion of new iPhone models and a degree of price reduction, commented Sheppard.
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