Edible Apple

When Steve Jobs first unveiled the iPhone, he mentioned that he hoped to sell 10 million of them in 2008.  Since then, reporting the number of iPhones actually sold has become somewhat of a guessing game for Apple enthusiasts, journalists and analysts.  So is it possible that forum members over at The Mac Observer have solved the riddle and have come up with a system to accurately ascertain iPhone sales data?  If so, then Apple sales of the iPhone this year will blow away all estimates, and Apple will handily reach their 10 million handset goal.

If projections from the forum are accurate, then Apple has already sold over 7 million iPhones in Q4 of this year, significantly surpassing all analyst estimates, including Gene Munster’s bullish prediction of 5 million iPhones sold in Q4.  If all this turns out to be true, then it couldn’t come at a better time for Apple.  After numerous problems with MobileMe, and after just recently (and finally!) fixing many of the complaints plaguing the iPhone 3G, and given the beating the stock has taken the last 2 weeks due to harsh market conditions and subsequent analyst downgrades,  vigorous iPhone sales would be welcome news. SeekingAlpha has the scoop here.