Hot iPhone sales in first month
Posted
Aug 11 2008, 12:42 PM
by
Kim Peterson
Rating:
Apple iPhone (and iPod Touch) users downloaded 60 million programs from the company's online store in the first month, said CEO Steve Jobs in an interview with the Wall Street Journal. That's a meaningless figure, however, since most of those programs were free. The number to note is this: Apple sold $30 million in programs that month.
The store's on pace to get $360 million a year in revenue, and Jobs said sales will crest $500 million soon. It won't be a huge profit center for the company, though. The developers who made the programs get a 70% cut, and much of Apple's 30% covers the costs of running the store. Apple shares are up nearly 3% today to $174.51.
Jobs wouldn't say how many 3G iPhones the company sold in the first month, but one analyst is thinking 3 million. The analyst, a former T-Mobile executive, said Apple is seeing "unprecedented demand" that hasn't let up yet. If the analyst is correct, Apple's going to destroy its goal of selling 10 million iPhones this year (it's already sold 6 million original iPhones).
Jobs also confirmed that Apple can remotely remove software from iPhones. Apple hasn't done it yet, but wanted the ability to be there in case a malicious program accidentally gets distributed through the online store.
BusinessWeek wonders if Apple's iPhone success is pressuring Google to debut its Android smartphone platform. If Android phones are delayed, Google's going to miss the boat, writes Arik Hesseldahl.
Om Malik isn't sure big downloads translate into big usage. One expert said people use iPhone applications for about five minutes at a time, on average, and only once a day.
TechCrunch's Erick Schonfeld has downloaded 30 applications for his iPhone, but says he's only used six more than once.
Keep in mind that the App Store is still very new. It'll take some time for quality applications to get there, and those will rise to the top and sell very well. In the meantime, there are plenty of free and cheap programs that people will download, play around with, and never use again.
