Apple sold 10 million iPhones in 2008

iPhones not to scale

By using some fairly interesting IMEI collection, the folks at Mac Observer have found that Apple sold 10 million iPhones in 2008, reaching and potentially surpassing Steve’s original stated goal. By looking at phones sold over the last few months, Mac Observer’s “Apple Finance Board” found that the phone has gone through nine 1 million unit runs. Adding this to the known sales they found the total number was far above analyst expectations.

Apple has been buffeted of late by bad news and this little gem might just pump things up a bit – but don’t count on it. After falling for blog-based news (“Steve Jobs has shed his skin and exposed his lizard-like internal carapace!”) multiple times, I suspect folks investing in Apple are very wary.

What does this mean? Well, 10 million is miniscule in the phone market but it still means the iPhone has legs. This obviously takes into account the international sales now streaming through Asia and Europe. Now if only they could implement cut and paste…