iPhone shatters AT&T record, dwarfs RAZR [u]

Apple over the weekend sold more than 700,000 iPhones to rocket past analyst predictions and shatter AT&T's record by selling more iPhones in three days than Motorola's RAZR did in its first month. Apple's supply of iPhones depleted at more than half of its retail stores less than a week after the cellular handset hit shelves at 6:00 p.m. ET last Friday night. Buyers cleared out both Apple and AT&T stores in 10 states, with 95 of 164 stores selling out on Monday night, according to Bloomberg. Apple stores located in Hawaii, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Utah, and Washington state sold their entire stock of iPhones yesterday, and AT&T sold its entire stock at almost all of its 1,800 stores. [updated]

The near nationwide sellout came after AT&T reported over one million inquiries about the iPhone via its website shortly after the device debuted at Macworld 2007 in January. Shortly afterward, AT&T's CEO predicted "the largest commercial product launch in the history of electronics."

Research firm American Technology Research yesterday predicted that the iPhone would likely become the company's fastest selling product in history after reviewing initial sales numbers, and even speculated that the iPhone could rank among the fastest selling consumer electronics.

Dashing iPhone doubts

Conversely, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer in mid-January laughed at Apple's iPhone, saying that the device isn't very useful for business customers because it doesn't have a keyboard. Ballmer also balked at the iPhone's high price, calling it the most expensive phone in the world.



After pointing to Microsoft's software on "millions and millions" of phones alongside Apple's "zero" in the market place, Ballmer hinted that Apple's most expensive phone might not fare well as the company's first cellphone offering.