Strategy Analytics has been doing some number crunching. According to its computations, Android will grab 4% of the market for smartphones in the United States during the fourth quarter of 2008. That amounts to some 400,000 units sold. What do you think, is that bullish or bearish?

"We forecast 10.5 million smartphones to be sold in the U.S.during Q4 2008," said Neil Mawston, director of wireless device strategies at Strategy Analytics. That's the total market for smartphones, including BlackBerrys, Treos, Windows Mobile devices, Symbian phones, and the iPhone. Despite the buzz building around Android, it has some stiff -- and more experienced -- competition already hunkered down in the trenches.

The blistering sales pace of Apple's new gadget defies the otherwise downward trends in consumer spending, employment levels and overall economic health. The 3 million figure is much higher than Wall Street analysts had anticipated. Forecasts called for total quarterly sales of three million to four million.

Three days after the new iPhone's July 11 debut, Apple announced that it had sold 1 million iPhones. For comparison, it took 74 days for the original iPhone to hit the one million sold mark. The new 3G iPhone has already sold nearly half as many as the original iPhones in total.

Behold: "I Am Rich," a $999.99 app from Armin Heinrich, which just displays a red gem on the phone's screen -- nothing else.

"The red icon on your iPhone or iPod touch always reminds you (and others when you show it to them) that you were rich enough to afford this," the app's information page says in iTunes. "It's a work of art with no hidden function at all."

The upside for Apple: $300, or 30%, of all purchases. The downside: Good luck enforcing that "all sales final" policy on this scam.

Apple boss Steve Jobs has said that outside developers will now be allowed to make add-on software for the iPhone.

The move follows criticism that Apple was previously not allowing outsiders to make programs that would run easily on the popular mobile phone.

Let me just say it: We want native third party applications on the iPhone, and we plan to have an SDK in developers' hands in February. We are excited about creating a vibrant third party developer community around the iPhone and enabling hundreds of new applications for our users. With our revolutionary multi-touch interface, powerful hardware and advanced software architecture, we believe we have created the best mobile platform ever for developers.

It will take until February to release an SDK because we're trying to do two diametrically opposed things at once—provide an advanced and open platform to developers while at the same time protect iPhone users from viruses, malware, privacy attacks, etc. This is no easy task. Some claim that viruses and malware are not a problem on mobile phones—this is simply not true. There have been serious viruses on other mobile phones already, including some that silently spread from phone to phone over the cell network. As our phones become more powerful, these malicious programs will become more dangerous. And since the iPhone is the most advanced phone ever, it will be a highly visible target.

Some companies are already taking action. Nokia, for example, is not allowing any applications to be loaded onto some of their newest phones unless they have a digital signature that can be traced back to a known developer. While this makes such a phone less than "totally open," we believe it is a step in the right direction. We are working on an advanced system which will offer developers broad access to natively program the iPhone’s amazing software platform while at the same time protecting users from malicious programs.

A touch-sensitive gadget with the sensing panel on its back, instead of the screen, is being developed by US researchers. Using your fingers behind the device allows a firmer grip and more accurate performance without obscuring your view of the screen, they say.

Multi-touch interface technology hit the commercial market this year, with the US release of Apple's iPhone in June. But the iPhone's touchscreen is not perfect, says Daniel Wigdor of Mitsubishi Electric Research Labs (MERL) and the University of Toronto, Canada.

"As soon as you put your hands on the display you [obstruct] the screen," he says, something he calls the "occlusion problem". Users of iPhones have other problems too, he adds. "Multi-touch devices detect the entirety of the touch area,” Wigdor continues. "That's what we call the 'fat finger' problem."

First, I am sure that we are making the correct decision to lower the price of the 8GB iPhone from $599 to $399, and that now is the right time to do it. iPhone is a breakthrough product, and we have the chance to 'go for it' this holiday season. iPhone is so far ahead of the competition, and now it will be affordable by even more customers. It benefits both Apple and every iPhone user to get as many new customers as possible in the iPhone 'tent'. We strongly believe the $399 price will help us do just that this holiday season.

Second, being in technology for 30+ years I can attest to the fact that the technology road is bumpy. There is always change and improvement, and there is always someone who bought a product before a particular cutoff date and misses the new price or the new operating system or the new whatever. This is life in the technology lane. If you always wait for the next price cut or to buy the new improved model, you'll never buy any technology product because there is always something better and less expensive on the horizon. The good news is that if you buy products from companies that support them well, like Apple tries to do, you will receive years of useful and satisfying service from them even as newer models are introduced.

Third, even though we are making the right decision to lower the price of iPhone, and even though the technology road is bumpy, we need to do a better job taking care of our early iPhone customers as we aggressively go after new ones with a lower price. Our early customers trusted us, and we must live up to that trust with our actions in moments like these.

Therefore, we have decided to offer every iPhone customer who purchased an iPhone from either Apple or AT&T, and who is not receiving a rebate or any other consideration, a $100 store credit towards the purchase of any product at an Apple Retail Store or the Apple Online Store. Details are still being worked out and will be posted on Apple's website next week. Stay tuned.

Since the details are public, it seems likely that a small industry may spring up to buy U.S. iPhones, unlock them and send them overseas.

"That's exactly, like, what I don't want," Hotz said. "I don't want people making money off this."

He said he wished he could make the instructions simpler, so users could modify the phones themselves.

"But that's the simplest I could make them," Hotz said.

The modification leaves the iPhone's many functions, including a built-in camera and the ability to access Wi-Fi networks, intact.

Most stores for AT&T, the phone's exclusive operator, have sold out of the 8GB models, but still have 4GB ones in stock.

Meanwhile, only 745 of 8,000 iPhone offerings on eBay have actually been sold. The sellers lucky enough to find a buyer fetched $962 on average, according to a report by Associated Press.

The 4GB iPhone retails at $499 and the 8GB model goes for $599.

More than 32 hours after the iPhone went on sale, most eBay auctions closed around the retail price, leaving the seller to pay for the sales tax and commission.

A $600 closing price carries about $25 in listing and closing fees. Sales taxes vary by county from zero to 8.65 per cent.

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.

By 7:30 p.m., dozens iPhones were listed for resale in the Washington area on Craigslist.org, listed at about $900 to about $1,200.

Analysts and skeptics warned of the new phone's potential downsides. AT&T's network, the sole carrier for the iPhone, operates at a slower speed than some of its rivals, prompting some criticism. And industry analysts said even the hallowed iPhone may need some time to work out the kinks.

"No one waited in line to get an iPod, and it got mediocre reviews," said Chris Null, a consumer advisor for Yahoo! Tech. "It didn't consume the market until the second or third version, once the issues had been worked out."

But Apple's carefully orchestrated marketing and its tightly controlled media strategy helped heap fuel on consumer and media fascination.

Apple is said to have wanted to develop its cell phone from the ground up and not merely redesign or re-brand an existing phone with a different interface. In the process of doing so, however, sources say the company has run into problems making the various cell phone components work together. Issues also have cropped up with the chip Apple was using that receives the cellular signal.

Timelines had originally called for a possible third-quarter release of an Apple cell phone, but these issues have delayed any roll-out indefinitely. Those waiting for an Apple phone, rumored for a number of years, may find themselves waiting into at least 2007.