Sales of the new gyro-equipped iPhone 4 surpassed 1.7 million units in the first three days since its Thursday launch, Apple said Monday -- good news for the iPhone platform's legions of video game developers.
Apple CEO Steve Jobs called the launch of the iPhone 4 "the most successful product launch in Apple’s history." He said that retailers had to turn away some would-be customers due to short supply.
The launch of Apple products, such as new iPhone iterations and this year, the new iPad, are marked with the same kind of fervent fandom reminiscent of Twilight film debuts, albeit with fewer screaming tween girls.
In 2008, the iPhone 3G sold 1 million units in its first weekend, and the 3GS repeated the same sales feat in 2009. Apple said its new iPad, launched in April,
sold 3 million units in its first three months of availability. Apple recently said that as of April, iPhone has sold 50 million units, and iPod Touch had sold 35 million.
There are over 40,000 games available on the App Store, making the category the largest, alongside books, according to mobclix.
Already, some developers have created games specifically for the iPhone 4 and its new gyro feature. ngmoco, developer of
Rolando, recently released
Eliminate: GunRange, which lets gamers utilize the iPhone 4's three-axis gyroscope to control the game. Combined with the accelerometer found in previous iPhone iterations, the iPhone 4 now has six-axis motion-sensing.
Last week, Apple
released iOS4, the latest version of the operating system powering its iPhone & iPod Touch, with an iPad version out in the fall.
The iPhone 4 retails in the U.S. for $199 for the 16GB model and $299 for the 32GB model.
