Apple sells 1 million new iPhones

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Apple Inc said on Monday it has sold 1 million new iPhones in its initial weekend, on par with estimates set by analysts, sending its stock rising more than 2 percent.

The original iPhone, introduced in late June 2007 in the United States only, sold about 270,000 units in its first two days. Sales topped 1 million by early September. The new device sells in 21 countries.

Apple executives were pleased with the early results.

"IPhone 3G had a stunning opening weekend," Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs said in a statement. "It took 74 days to sell the first 1 million original iPhones, so the new iPhone 3G is clearly off to a great start around the world."

Steven Hodges, President for the Northeast region for AT&T Inc, Apple's only U.S. carrier partner, would not disclose how many iPhones it sold but said it would be AT&T's key device for the holiday shopping season this year.

"It's definitely in the centre of demand," he said at the operator's holiday phone showcase in New York.

Still, iPhone sales pale compared with those of established mobile phone makers, such as Nokia Oyj, which sells almost 10 million phones a week, or Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and LG Electronics Inc, which each ship more than 100 million a year.

While those phone makers often unveil dozens of models a year, Apple has only one, and its sales spark a retail frenzy as consumers around the world line up to grab one.

Apple's addition of support for corporate e-mail pits it more directly against Research In Motion, the maker of the wildly popular Blackberry e-mail devices. While big firms are not moving en masse from Blackberry so far, many are at least looking at the iPhone as an alternative, according to Damian Goldstein, an AT&T enterprise specialist.