iPhone rockets to one million sales

Apple smartphone passes milestone in just 74 days

Apple has logged its one millionth iPhone sale just 74 days after the smartphone's official release.

The company said that the threshold was crossed sometime on 9 September, putting the one millionth sale weeks ahead of Apple's own forecasts.

Chief executive Steve Jobs noted that the iPhone reached the milestone far faster than many of Apple's most successful products.

The iPod, which had to overcome initially lukewarm sales, took nearly two years to sell one million units.

Jobs boasted in a press release that Apple will accelerate iPhone sales. The company dropped the price of the 8GB iPhone by 33 per cent to $399 last week, a move which angered early adopters who had paid the original retail price of $599.

After receiving a glut of emails from customers, Jobs offered previous buyers a $100 credit for the Apple Store.

Even before the price drop, the iPhone was making news with strong sales. Research firm iSuppli estimated that the device accounted for 1.8 per cent of all handset sales in July.

ISuppli went on to describe the iPhone's meteoric rise as "unprecedented in the history of the mobile handset market".

Apple hopes to release the iPhone in Europe by the end of 2007. No deal has been officially announced, but T-Mobile, Orange, and O2 have been reported as possible European carriers.