Apple Sells 1 Million New IPhones in Opening Weekend (Update1)

By Connie Guglielmo

July 14 (Bloomberg) -- Apple Inc. sold 1 million of its new iPhones in the first three days after the handset made its debut, more than double what some analysts anticipated, sending the stock up 4.1 percent in early trading.

``IPhone 3G had a stunning opening weekend,\'\' Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs said in a statement today. It took 74 days to sell a million of the first iPhone, he said.

Half of Apple\'s 187 U.S. retail outlets were sold out as of last night. AT&T Inc., Apple\'s exclusive U.S. partner, said most of its 2,000 stores were out of supplies. Carriers in the U.K., Germany, Canada and Japan said many shops ran out of the iPhone 3G, which works with speedier third-generation wireless networks, on the first day.

Apple gained $7.03 to $179.61 at 8:50 a.m. New York time before the opening of the Nasdaq Stock Market.

Piper Jaffray & Co. analyst Gene Munster estimated sales of 425,000 devices in the first three days. He figured Apple and Dallas-based AT&T sold a combined 225,000 in the U.S., even after a failure in Apple\'s system meant some buyers had to finish the activation at home.

``We thought it was going to be less because of the activation problems on the first day, but what we found is that virtually every store had a line and many stores were sold out,\'\' Munster said in an interview. ``The summary is that demand is good, execution was average.\'\'

The new 3G model, available in black and white, sells for as little as $199 in the U.S. Shoppers seem to prefer the black, 16-gigabyte model, which sells for $299, based on the inventory tally at each of Apple\'s stores in 38 states.

To contact the reporter on this story: Connie Guglielmo in San Francisco at [email protected]