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Apple To Crank Out 45 Million iPhone 3Gs Over the Next 12 Months
Posted by John Mahoney at 1:00 AM on August 23, 2008
Business Week is citing an internal Apple source today who is hinting at the company's upcoming manufacturing plans for the 3G, and they're huge--between 40 and 45 million phones by this time next year kind of huge. The numbers are necessary, obviously, to cover for the impending Best Buy availability and the additional 20 countries that make up the second phase of the international launch starting today (with over 70 launches eventually, China rumoured to be among them). But, wow. How about some perspective?
That's just under the total number of RAZRs shipped through July of 2006 (the last time anyone cared)--a little less than 3 years into the phone's life. And it equals nearly a third of the 170 million or so iPods that have been sold as of third quarter 2008--another product that's had almost a decade-long head start. And this is a smartphone, with a long-term commitment to an expensive service plan. Pretty big numbers, even if it's still a drop in the bucket when you take worldwide mobile phone sales into question (every individual phone is).
And if every iPhone manufactured links up Skynet style via the iTunes store, to melt their unsuspecting owners and form their own sovereign nation-state somewhere, they'd be the 29th-largest country in the world--sliding in comfortably between Ukraine and Colombia. I call president. [Business Week via Mac Rumors]
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
There are currently no AU comments for this post.
snitch29
Posted 1:26 AM 23/8/08
@drewls: LOL, Dude STFU
snitch29
snitch29
Posted 1:24 AM 23/8/08
@Sam43054: I bet Mcafee & Norton are running around trying to figure out how to make a virus for it, LOL
snitch29
urbanturban666
Posted 1:24 AM 23/8/08
Cyberdyne Systems probably partnered up with apple for world domination.
urbanturban666
Kaiser-Machead's WALL-E fetish
Posted 1:23 AM 23/8/08
@takashimiike 3G edition: But this is Nintendo. Their higher demand is offset somewhat by the limited numbers they produce.
Kaiser-Machead's WALL-E fetish
drewls
Posted 1:23 AM 23/8/08
@dc-united:
Heh...the Apple car. It won't get air conditioning until v2.0 and they'll TRY and get turn signals on it by the following version.
drewls
Minimum91
Posted 1:22 AM 23/8/08
Where is the official launch of the iPhone in Latvia? They promised the launch in July 11th and It's August and still no iPhones...
Minimum91
Kaiser-Machead's WALL-E fetish
Posted 1:21 AM 23/8/08
@Bob1967: Why would you say that? The front-facing camera sounds like a longshot to me, but I don't think they'd go for the next 12 months without adding more and more to it.
Kaiser-Machead's WALL-E fetish
takashimiike 3G edition
Posted 1:21 AM 23/8/08
@Kspraydad: Yeah.. Not to mention Nintendo is experiancing higher demand..
takashimiike 3G edition
snitch29
Posted 1:20 AM 23/8/08
2 years from now it will be all about Google android and the iphone right behind it
snitch29
Bob1967
Posted 1:18 AM 23/8/08
So I guess a revamp of iphone ain't happening for a while, no front facing camera, no video calling.
Bob1967
dc-united
Posted 1:17 AM 23/8/08
@designguybrown: Yes. Apple cars. No steering wheels. You just touch the windshield.
I'm buying futures in Windex.
dc-united
Sam43054
Posted 1:17 AM 23/8/08
@jdunns4:
So many phones that will likely not get a virus (aka windows mobile )
Sam43054
jdunns4
Posted 1:12 AM 23/8/08
@rexplex: -Disemvowelling to follow.
is that like removing the vowels from a sentence?
jdunns4
jdunns4
Posted 1:11 AM 23/8/08
so many dropped calls.
jdunns4
rexplex
Posted 1:11 AM 23/8/08
Maybe Colbert was right about the Kill Switch.
-Overlords
-Disemvowelling to follow.
rexplex
designguybrown
Posted 1:09 AM 23/8/08
wow Apple is The Lifestyle Brand - they could sell snow to Eskimos if the apple logo is on it... what is the next big electronic thing that they should try to get in on--- well, its obvious, of course - electric Apple Cars - nothing says enviro-friendly as a fully podded-out Apple car - available in black white and special edition Red - mark my words, it's coming... the ultimate lifestyle accessory
designguybrown
Voyou_Charmant
Posted 1:09 AM 23/8/08
That sure is a lot of cracked screens and backs.
Voyou_Charmant
strang
Posted 1:05 AM 23/8/08
Nobody knows a concrete China launch date though :(
strang
Kspraydad
Posted 1:05 AM 23/8/08
How does apple crank out that many when Ninty can't manage more that 12million/year?
Things that make you go hmmm.
Kspraydad
aural
Posted 1:50 AM 23/8/08
well if they are ramping up production like this, then I hope to god they have done some minor tweaking on the 3G chipset so it is a bit more reliable... and if they want my money they will find a way to get 32GB of storage in that like the iPod Touch has.
Sorry Apple, but your flagship device shouldn't lag behind in storage from lower end units.
aural
twarfel
Posted 1:47 AM 23/8/08
@Mr. B defective casings?
twarfel
Bob1967
Posted 1:43 AM 23/8/08
Anyone else seen this?????
[www.the01phone.com]
Bob1967
snitch29
Posted 1:43 AM 23/8/08
@Mr. B: that was a Hoax i think cause my iphone has been drop about 15x and no hair line cracks, it looks like shiet now but no sign of that, i wish it had some so i can get it swap for free, but anyway if is under warranty there's nothing to worry about anyway
snitch29
Joseph
Posted 1:42 AM 23/8/08
This makes me happy and sad. Happy because I have a killer app in the queue, and sad because Apple hasn't finished reviewing it. Feels like 1998 when people were getting paid $10,000 for a centered, bold, blinking website :).
Joseph
plwh888
Posted 1:41 AM 23/8/08
What if Apple cant sell 45 million ???
What will happened to the remaining stock ???
Are they recycleable ???
What will the impact be to our environment ???
How Green is Apple ???
plwh888
DJTripleRRR
Posted 1:38 AM 23/8/08
We will see...
DJTripleRRR
dogcow
Posted 1:36 AM 23/8/08
The key to moving that many phones is their carrier agreements-they already have commitments from the Russian carriers to sell 1.8 million iPhones a year for 3 years. In other words, the carriers are on the hook for those.
dogcow
Mr. B
Posted 1:29 AM 23/8/08
Are they making 45 million more with defective casings or is that gonna be fixed?
Mr. B
Bob1967
Posted 1:29 AM 23/8/08
I just can't see them suggesting making 40 odd million then coming along and changing the hardware, but then again it is apple so.......
Bob1967
gotcheeze5793
Posted 2:15 AM 23/8/08
i can feel the surging stock prices....
gotcheeze5793
Joseph
Posted 2:11 AM 23/8/08
@Bob1967: Haha yeah, we'll that laser projected keyboard would definitely stop texting while driving (or make it more dangerous). This is from a whois lookup.
Makes me question how legit that is. Oh well we'll see. I'm all about Android right now anyways.
Joseph
dcdttu
Posted 2:08 AM 23/8/08
That sure is a lot of phones saying 'NO SERVICE' because their 3G reception sucks...
dcdttu
Bob1967
Posted 1:57 AM 23/8/08
@Joseph: No idea caught it off google news, looks fantastic but laser projected keyboard would be pretty useless on the move.
Bob1967
yogibimbi
Posted 1:56 AM 23/8/08
@Bob1967: ... no memory cards ...
yogibimbi
ps61318
Posted 1:56 AM 23/8/08
@jdunns4: As described in detail here: [gizmodo.com]
ps61318
Joseph
Posted 1:55 AM 23/8/08
@Bob1967: That looks cool. Do they have a development platform for it?
Joseph
nutbastard
Posted 1:52 AM 23/8/08
@urbanturban666:
way to break the mold and reference cyberdyne. i've never heard anyone do that before. clever!
nutbastard
tatiana.noel
Posted 2:40 AM 23/8/08
@Bob1967: fuck. i agree with your assessment. well...actually I don't mind not having a front-facing camera on the iphone. cuz obviously you're gonna take more pictures of stuff facing the back of the phone. duh. if video conferencing is what people are worried about...put the phone down on the table. that's it.
i only care about software. if there are potentially 45 million customers (of course i'm not dividing b/w replacement phones and truly new to iphone customers), then that's 45 million more people who can complain to the apple overlords and get the features we want added.
tatiana.noel
Kaiser-Machead's WALL-E fetish
Posted 2:26 AM 23/8/08
@EctoGamad: I think they only do that once. Next up is going to be the new PSP.
Kaiser-Machead's WALL-E fetish
EctoGamad
Posted 2:25 AM 23/8/08
Blendtec are gonna be busy!
EctoGamad
Joseph
Posted 2:17 AM 23/8/08
@gotcheeze5793: It's up, but due to the India launch, not from this.
Joseph
Vestan_Pance
Posted 2:57 AM 23/8/08
This is interesting and it suggests that we may see this iteration of the 3G iPhone at least for 12 months, give or take an incremental upgrade to 32Gb or so.
Vestan_Pance
cdawson2000
Posted 2:42 AM 23/8/08
Apple must be planning to cut the price to $149 or even better $99. If they do, I thing that number is very definately possible. They are gonna sell a heck of a lot of [budcases] !
cdawson2000
PenguinPhjil
Posted 3:26 AM 23/8/08
Well, I hope they sort out their problems, because as soon as I'm free of the Orange clutches, one of those iPhones will be mine!
Only another nine months to go...
PenguinPhjil
RalphWiggum
Posted 3:17 AM 23/8/08
Wonder if they'll fix the 3G problems before spitting out another 45M of them....
RalphWiggum
Noobs-R-Us
Posted 3:10 AM 23/8/08
Humm, they said 3G, they're didn't say 2nd Gen iPhone which means that this number could include the 3rd Gen iPhone also. My guess is that they will do another refresh in June of next year.
Noobs-R-Us
netgarden
Posted 3:07 AM 23/8/08
Imperfections notwithstanding, those numbers really do suggest the rise of the first caveat-free mobile platform (i.e., solid always-on internet functionality, unparalleled media services, rich tools for app developers, marketplace, monetization and app distribution with 100% reach, etc.).
With platforms, it's as much about the recipe, execution and delivery of same, as it is the individual ingredients, which is sometimes hard to grok so I have attempted to articulate the experience from an enduser (who is also a techie) perspective in a post called:
iPhone 2.0: What it Means to be Mobile
[thenetworkgarden.com]
Check it out if interested.
Mark
netgarden
BrianH
Posted 3:07 AM 23/8/08
- No SD card / external memory? Check.
- No user replaceable battery? Check.
- Cracked plastic back that Apple won't replace (blame the user)? Check.
- Dropped calls & inferior 3G performance? Check.
- Inferior battery life? Check.
- Phone periodically locks up? Check.
- No forward facing camera? Check.
- No cut & paste? Check.
- Limited GPS (navigation) capabilities? Check
- Privilege of waiting in line to part with nearly $2K over 2 years? Check.
Well damn, sign me up!!!!!!
So we have the Blackberry Thunder coming soon, Google Android phones on the horizon, and people are drooling over this mediocre doorstop? Color me puzzled.
Then you have devices like the Nokia E71 ([www.joelonsoftware.com])
which are already superior in many ways to the iPhone.
By the way, apologists, I know "cut and paste is coming!!!" and "the dropped calls only affect 2% of the users!!!" and "only about 20% of iPhone customers have hairline cracks on their plastics backs!!!" - I don't care. I'm not interested in being a beta tester for iPhone 3G.
I know 6 people with the new 3G phone. 3 have or will return the phone, 2 are less than satisfied with the product and 1 person is delighted with it.
Closing thought: A fool and his money are soon parted.
BrianH
ennTOXX
Posted 4:15 AM 23/8/08
45 million? sounds like "bull-sha-vik" in attempts to keep the stock from returning to previous LOWS on reports of failing 3G service & complications with the iPhone device.
But, let's look on the brighter side of this,
they'll make great door stops & paper weights here in the U.S.A. won't they?
I feel ripped off this time around APPLE,
back to the CrackBerry for me... :||
ennTOXX
otis123
Posted 4:09 AM 23/8/08
i'll stick with my good ol' reliable silver backed iphone
otis123
Kaiser-Machead's WALL-E fetish
Posted 4:47 AM 23/8/08
@Dearhaw: It did fail. Unfortunately, we here at Gizmodo have secretly slipped into an alternate reality, where mediocrity is suddenly celebrated and all of our prejudices become virtues.
Kaiser-Machead's WALL-E fetish
Dearhaw
Posted 4:38 AM 23/8/08
BUT... BUT... I thought the iPhone sucked donkey balls and was supposed to FAIL miserably???? WTF?
Dearhaw
Suijin
Posted 4:55 AM 23/8/08
$45 million iphones x $500 = $22.5 billion
Suijin
thrashanddestroy
Posted 5:17 AM 23/8/08
Anyone else want to cite the article from earlier this month about Foxconn expecting there to be quality control issues with the ramped up production of iPhones? No? Then allow me;
[gizmodo.com]
thrashanddestroy
Noobs-R-Us
Posted 6:03 AM 23/8/08
Some of you should take a chill pill. This crap didn't hit the fan until Apple was forced to open the platform up for 3rd party apps. Jobs warned EVERYONE that this would happen and still people begged and even went on the make their own homebrew like a bunch of whining babies. Well, now you got exactly what you wanted and still you complain like a bunch of whining babies!
Give them some more time to sort this crap out. As far as I know, Apple's the first wireless handset company that would actually issue firmware updates on a regular basis. Please name another that would do the same?
Noobs-R-Us
Dearhaw
Posted 6:32 AM 23/8/08
@Kaiser-Machead
Except, if you've been around this planet lately, you'd see that it's not just Gizmodo that's celebrating the platform. When most people live in that "alternate reality" I'm pretty sure that alternate reality becomes reality. Just ask Neo ;-)
Dearhaw
skeptic11
Posted 6:52 AM 23/8/08
This is an idiotic apple fan-boy fluff piece. The god damn iphone is not that great and does NOT deserve this amount of attention. Half of the people I know with them have taken them back or seriously wish they would have shopped around more. UGH, I'm so fucking sick of this stupid phone. ENOUGH.
skeptic11
bryanmccormick
Posted 12:24 PM 23/8/08
45M is roughly one month of current global handset sales. That is doable spread out over 12 months and given the geography expansion but seems steep given where sales have been. And yes, the word of mouth so far has not been great. That has to be factored into the probability this kind of build will happen.
bryanmccormick
RobotVampire
Posted 5:43 PM 23/8/08
Wow, with all the problems the current 3G iphone has, ramping up production to that degree sounds like a great idea. Disposable iphones for everyone!
RobotVampire