Apple should be very pleased with this weekend's iPhone performance. CNN Money reports that analysts put the weekend sales figure at 500,000. Apple has not confirmed it but they do have an internal goal of selling 10 million of the hot gadgets by the end of next year.
Opening weekend sales of iPhones may have reached 500,000, according to an analyst's estimate, as Apple's much anticipated product saw sales that lived up to and even exceeded its hype.
Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster released a report Sunday night estimating that the iPhone sales would reach that mark through the close of business Sunday. He had previously forecast first weekend sales of 200,000 of the device, which sells for either $499 or $599.
"Overall, Apple met strong demand over the weekend with adequate supply," he wrote in the report. "We were surprised by the rate at which Apple was able to sell the handsets, with 50 cashiers processing up to 1,000 iPhones an hour in some stores."
Apple was not immediately available to comment on that estimate early Monday. It has set a goal of selling 10 million iPhones by the end of 2008, and analysts are generally looking for it to sell about 3 million units this year. The phones went on sale at 6 p.m. Friday, with long lines outside many Apple Stores.
Many stores have already sold out of their 8GB iPhone inventory. Twitter gadgets reported that at least one iPhone auction on eBay was over the $1,100 mark. However, today it appears the Ebay iPhone auctions are not much higher than the retail price.
