Apple introduced the iPhone on June 29; now, 74 days later, the company says it has sold one million iPhones. Initially debuting at $499 for a 4 GB edition and $599 for an 8 GB version, Apple recently dropped the 4 GB edition and slashed the price of the 8 GB iPhone to $399. Responding to early-adopters ire, Apple also says it will offer early iPhone buyers a $100 credit to ease the pain of the price cut; details are due this week.
"One million iPhones in 74 days—it took almost two years to achieve this milestone with iPod," said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. "We can’t wait to get this revolutionary product into the hands of even more customers this holiday season."
To date, the iPhone is only available for sale in the United States on AT&T’s EDGE mobile network services. However, even before the iPhone’s introduction, enterprising technologists were wondering how long it would take for the iPhone to be "unlocked" from the AT&T network so (in theory) the device could be used on other compatible networks. In the U.S., that essentially means T-Mobile, but overseas, a number of international carriers run GSM services that are compatible with the iPhone’s technology, although certain features (like Visual Voicemail) rely on support from AT&T’s network and won’t work with other providers. While Apple is still working out deals to launch the iPhone in Europe, iPhoneSimFree, a software-only unlocking solution for the iPhone—is apparently available for sale now in the U.S., Australia, Germany, and Saudi Arabia. Although the legality of iPhoneSIMFree’s unlocking solution may still be challenged—and there’s always the possibility that future software updates from Apple (which we know are coming to support its new Wi-Fi iTunes store and Starbucks alliance, if nothing else) may disable unlocked iPhones—the software does give aspiring iPhone users outside the U.S. a way to do what, it seems, a million customers in the U.S. have already done.
