Due to
the time difference in the global launch, Japanese customers were the first to
get hold of the coveted iPhone 4, which debuts in the United States, France,
Germany and the UK later on Thursday.
Sales
of the iPhone 4, which boasts a higher-quality screen and longer battery life
than the previous model, blew past expectations in its first day of pre-orders
last week with more than 600,000 of them sold in just 24 hours.
"I
can't stop smiling," said Noboru Takahashi, a musician who had waited in
line since Monday at Softbank's Omotesando store in a posh shopping district of
Tokyo. He was the first in a queue of more than 300 people.
The
iPhone has been a huge success since it debuted in 2007, boosting Apple's
margins and transforming it into one of the world's leading mobile device
makers.
The
iPhone, however, faces a slew of new competitors, including Motorola Inc and
HTC, designing high-powered handsets based on Google Inc's Android software.
Demand
for the iPhone 4 has been high, but Apple had to apologize last week for having
to halt sales temporarily after the surprising volume of online interest
overloaded order and approval systems and supplies ran out.
The
device, which also offers video chat via WiFi, and a gyroscope sensor for
improved gaming, comes less than a month after Apple's iPad went on sale
outside the United States.
The
iPad, a tablet computer which hit US shelves in April, has already sold 3
million units worldwide.
For the
current quarter, which ends June 26, analysts roughly expect Apple to sell 8-9
million iPhones in total, which includes sales of older generation models.
IPhone 4 sales in the current quarter are expected to be limited by supply
shortages.
Going
forward, analysts expect the company to ship 10 million or more a quarter, as
production ramps up to meet demand.
Apple
unveiled the slimmer iPhone 4 earlier this month, kicking off its fastest-ever
global product roll-out to try to stay a step ahead of rivals in a red-hot
smartphone market.
The
phone sports chips from Samsung Electronics, Micron Technology, and
STMicroelectronics, according to an early teardown, or disassembly analysis by
technology firm iFixit.
"It
is very well made as a product and the price is pretty cheap, and the strong
pre-orders are the result of that," MM Research Institute analyst Tadayuki
Shinozaki said.
"There
are not enough supplies to meet demand, especially the LCD panels, though some
of that could be a strategic move." The iPhone remains Apple's main growth
line, and the international market is key. Some analysts estimate more than two-thirds
of iPhone sales are now coming from overseas.
Softbank,
iPhone's exclusive operator in Japan, suspended taking pre-orders after three
days due to overwhelming demand.
The
latest phone would be available in 18 countries in July and 88 by September in
the quickest-ever international roll-out for an iPhone, Apple had said when it
unveiled the iPhone 4.
