Without so much as a peep Apple has sold its 500 millionth iPhone, yes half a billion.
A very out of character apparently passed this milestone at some point during the last few weeks without saying a word to the public. Not a press release, tweet or Facebook post took note of this amazing accomplishment. The first iPhone started shipping in 2007.
Apple normally gives a headcount on how many iPhones, iPads and other products it has sold during its quarterly financial reports. The math behind marking this milepost was done by Forbes. Apple had reported it had sold 472 million iPhones, not including the current quarter, but it expected to ship 51 million during this period so by that logic the magic 500 millionth unit went out sometime in the last week or so.
The fact is few companies, outside of McDonalds, can count their sales in the hundreds of millions. About 84 million Xboxes have been sold, 360 and the original, plus a few million more Xbox One consoles. Halo 3 has sold 15.7 million copies. Sony is in the ballpark selling about 309.5 million PlayStations. However, when PlayStation games are throwing into the mix Apple is blown away as well over 1 billion have shipped.
The 600 million mark is expected to be eclipsed this year on the back of the much anticipated iPhone 6. The industry rumored launch date for the iPhone 6 is September. From a competitive standpoint and following Apple's normal new iPhone launch time line it does make sense. Apple will not want Samsung to gain too much traction with its just launched Galaxy S5.
It is interesting to remember what the world thought of Apple entering the smartphone market. One has to remember that while the iPod and iPod Touch were amazingly successful products, the iPhone would place Apple against some very well-established heavy hitters like Nokia, Blackberry and Motorola. Many analysts expected the launch to be a flop stating the company would never reach its goal of selling 10 million units its first year on the market. Evidently these people forgot about the legions of Apple faithful who dutifully went out and bought over 13 million iPhones that year.
