Early reports from around the world suggest that the in-store launch of the iPhone 4 is drawing crowds internationally, with long lines and device sell-outs.
For example, the Associated Press said that the Softbank store in Tokyo, where the iPhone first went on-sale, was sold out by early afternoon. Stores in the United Kingdom, France, and Germany are already sold out, according to ComputerWorld. The demand isn’t a surprise, since Apple sold out of the initial shipment of phones available for preorder in a single day — that’s 600,000 phones in all.
But it’s another sign that iPhone fever isn’t abating — if anything, it seems to be growing.
All told, Apple could sell 1 million phones today, analyst Andy Hargreaves of Pacific Crest Securities told Bloomberg. Apple will sell more than 2 million iPhones by the time the current fiscal quarter ends on Saturday, Hargreaves added. Two recent numbers for comparison: Apple said it sold 3 million iPads in the first 80 days, and Google said 160,000 Android phones are activated every day.
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VentureBeat reporter JP Manninen and I were at the launch event in downtown San Francisco, which saw similarly long lines. You can read our coverage and see our photos here.
[photo: JP Manninen]
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