Apple confident of selling 10 million iPhones, delivering SDK

Apple has once again confirmed it intends to sell 10 million of its iPhone smartphones by the end of 2008, maintaining the original target in the face of strong economic uncertainty in its core markets.

The company also confirmed it will release details next week of its planned software development kit for iPhone, a move expected to spur demand for the multifunction device.

Apple's chief operating officer Tim Cook, speaking at a Goldman Sachs investment conference, said he had "really good confidence" the company could hit its oft-stated goal of selling 10 million iPhones by the end of the year.

Apple will detail the software road map for the iPhone on March 6 at its Cupertino, California headquarters, the company said in an invitation sent to US journalists.

When Apple launched the iPhone last June, it only allowed outside software developers to make web-based apps, rather than software that could legitimately be loaded onto the device.

The policy sparked an outcry among developers, who quickly found ways to crack Apple's restrictions and load unauthorised third party software onto the phone. Within months, Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs backtracked and promised to open the phone up to outside software.

"Apple has understood the importance of local applications and they are responding to that, and it will help them sell more iPhones," said Tim Bajarin, principal analyst of Creative Strategies.

"It should release a plethora of creative applications and it will make the iPhone much more practical as a mobile applications tool," Bajarin said.

Analysts have expressed concern in recent weeks over iPhone sales and the practice of "unlocking" them to run on networks other than that of O2, the exclusive network operator in the UK.

Bernstein Research last month estimated that more than a quarter of iPhones were "unlocked," pressuring Apple's business model since the company does not collect a portion of carrier fees from those users.

Cracking down on unlocked phones could scare some users away and cause Apple to miss its sales target for the device, whereas allowing them could erode profitability and make it tough to sign more carriers to similar revenue-sharing deals, Bernstein said.

Apple also gave no hint of what enterprise features would be unveiled, but many professional users have been asking for BlackBerry-style "push email" that sends full messages from a corporate mail network to the phone.

"Apple has acknowledged that there has been great interest in the enterprise community for the iPhone," Bajarin said. "There's no question it has great potential in enterprise given the right application."

(Additional reporting by IT PRO)

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