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The
Apple iPhone led smartphone sales in the United States in July, beating
Research In Motion's BlackBerry, the Palm Treo, and other rivals, a
market research firm said Tuesday.
In
addition, iPhone sales equaled those of the most popular feature phone
in the United States, LG's Chocolate, iSuppli said. The Apple gadget, a
combination media player and mobile phone, accounted for 1.8 percent of
all handset sales in the United States.
ISuppli attributed the
meteoric rise of the iPhone in large part to demand built up by months
of hype leading up to the gadget's release on June 29. The real proof
of whether Apple has a big winner will be determined in the coming
months as demand patterns stabilize.
Nevertheless, the first full month of sales is impressive, given that the iPhone beat out well-entrenched competitors.
"While
iSuppli hasn't collected historical information on this topic, it's
likely that the speed of the iPhone's rise to competitive dominance in
its segment is unprecedented in the history of the mobile-handset
market," the research firm said in a statement.
ISuppli
predicts Apple will ship 4.5 million iPhones this year. By 2011, the
company is expected to ship 30 million units. Currently, the devices
only are available through Apple and AT&T, the exclusive service
provider.
The typical iPhone buyer in July was male, 35 years
or younger, and held a four-year college degree or higher. The actual
breakdown of iSuppli's survey of iPhone buyers was 57 percent were 35
years old or younger, 52 percent male, 48 percent female, and 62
percent college educated. In addition, one out of four iPhone buyers
switched wireless carriers to AT&T.
Based on iSuppli's
definition, the iPhone falls between a smartphone and a feature phone.
The device isn't quite a smartphone because a user can't load
third-party software. On the other hand, the iPhone is more feature
rich than the typical feature phone, such as LG's Chocolate.
Nevertheless,
Apple shipped more iPhones in July in the U.S. than RIM did BlackBerry
devices and Palm did Treo handsets, iSuppli said. IPhone shipments also
easily beat smartphone shipments from Motorola, Nokia, and Samsung.
Despite
its initial popularity, not all iPhone customers are happy with their
purchase. At least three class-action lawsuits have been filed against
Apple, claiming the company didn't do an adequate job of telling buyers
that the device's battery cannot be replaced without incurring more
than US$100 in cost to replace the power supply and to maintain service
during the process. Buyers cannot easily remove the battery, so the
device has to be sent back to Apple.
Another class-action suit
filed in New York last month claims Apple misled consumers by not
adequately explaining the roaming charges attached to using the iPhone
outside coverage areas.
Meanwhile, Apple is expected to launch
on Wednesday a new line of iPods that observers say will have many of
the same features as the iPhone, but without the voice communications.
Apple, which plans to make the announcement in San Francisco, has not
confirmed any of reports.
See original article on InformationWeek.com
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Apple iPhone outsells all smartphones in U.S. in July
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