Why Apple will sell 10 million iPhones in 2008

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Sunday, 03 June 2007 15:48

Your IT - Mobility

There’s plenty more, but Davis also says that the trick Apple has missed is downloading music over the air, likely via Wi-Fi as it is the fastest connection. Apple so far wants to keep the iTunes on your PC or Mac connection alive, and for now, Jobs says there’ll be no over-the-air downloads of music.

The thing is, the iPhone is a computer, and it can be re-programmed to do anything Apple wants it to do. If consumers really, really want to be able to download music over-the-air, the feature can be activated with a software update at Jobs’ command. Plenty of other cool features can come to the iPhone just through the magic of software, and software that is wonderfully touch controlled, placing ease of use at the very forefont of the user experience.

The Apple iPhone is the first multitouch multimedia handheld computer, the first of many, both from Apple and all the competition, but as a version 1 product, the iPhone certainly looks to be the finest version 1 product ever, even though it comes from a long line of iPods behind it.

Given the popularity of the iPod, with Jobs saying that the iPhone is the most advanced iPod they’ve ever built, the iPhone will be the most sought after phone of 2007 and 2008, giving people a handheld device so intuitive and useful they’ll be hard to resist, and with the likelihood of exclusive carrier relationships in different countries, will have an air of exclusivity about them that will only dissipate somewhat once it looks like everyone has them.

That said, the massive number of iPod sales compared with the competition means 100 million iPods in the marketplace with no signs, as yet, of truly slowing down, especially as users with older models upgrade, users of competing models crossgrade and brand new iPod owners appear as well.

Far from hindering Apple's entry into the market, cell phone networks worldwide are likely clamoring the chance to be Apple's partner in their country or region's iPhone sales. Of course they will be keeping a close eye on Apple and AT&T's success, but otherwise we can be sure the jockeying to be Apple's other telco partners likely started long ago and is still ongoing.

If the iPhone makes the handheld computer/phone experience one tenth as simple and enjoyable as the iPod made digital music, as no other mp3 player still truly has to this day, especially with the iPod+iTunes combination, how can the iPhone fail to sell 10 million iPhones by 2008?