iPhone 3G pushing five million mark?

One Apple follower is putting a guess on the number of iPhone 3Gs Apple will have sold during the current quarter: five million.

Apple sold one million iPhone 3Gs in the first weekend it went on sale around the world, and Piper Jaffray, a middle market investment firm, believes the company has added another four million units to that total since then, according to a research note released Monday. Apple will reveal the formal totals in about a month when it reports earnings for its fourth fiscal quarter.

Despite several launch day glitches and widespread bugs in the iPhone's 2.0 software, enthusiasm for the phone seems high. The other big factor this time around, as compared to the iPhone's early days, is the huge increase in the number of countries that are now officially selling the iPhone.

The main number to watch is 10 million: that's the number of iPhones Apple has consistently said is its target for 2008. That number appears easily within reach if the five million estimate is accurate: Apple sold around 2.5 million iPhones during the first six months of 2008 as it ran out of the original model.

Original article: Piper: Apple sold 5 million iPhone 3Gs in quarter from CNET News.com