July 11, 2008: The iPhone 3G goes on sale, becoming the first Apple product in history to sell more than 1 million units in its first weekend.
Building on the original iPhone by adding GPS, 3G data and a higher-quality build, the iPhone 3G also coincided with the launch of iOS 2, which introduced push email, turn-by-turn navigation and, most importantly, the App Store.
“iPhone 3G had a stunning opening weekend,” Steve Jobs said in a press release issued eight years ago today. “It took 74 days to sell the first 1.0 million original iPhones, so the new iPhone 3G is clearly off to a great start around the world.”
Alongside its hardware and software upgrades, one of the big advantages of the iPhone 3G was its price. Retailing at $199, it was a massive 60 percent cheaper than the $499 starting price of the original iPhone.
This helped trigger the massive surge in sales of the iPhone, dwarfing the relatively modest success of the first generation handset. By comparison, last year’s iPhone 6s sold 13 million units in its opening weekend.
Did you own an iPhone 3G? Leave your comments, memories and fond (or not so fond) reminiscences below.
Luke Dormehl is a U.K.-based journalist and author, with a background working in documentary film for Channel 4 and the BBC. He is the author of The Apple Revolution and The Formula: How Algorithms Solve All Our Problems … and Create More, both published by Penguin/Random House. His tech writing has also appeared in Wired, Fast Company, Techmeme and other publications.
4 responses to “Today in Apple history: iPhone 3G sells 1 million in single weekend”
Yep, I had the iPhone 3G (and 3GS). I loved both of them. In their time, they worked just as well as the current iPhone. Clearly, each iPhone gets better and better. The iPhone 4 did have some pretty serious design flaws, but other than that its been an amazing ride.
I live in NZ and queued until 2am to get my hands on one. Great phone.
Six hours I waited in line for that stupid phone. My frustration from that was only matched by my absolute glee once I finally held it in my hands and knew it was a game changer.
You know for this supposed iphone 8 next year, seeing as it’s their anniversary, they should bring the 3G back but fully upgraded 2017 style! Bigger screens, extra space how bout some much needed battery?