Customers Snap Up Apple's IPhones

A person waiting in line for the new iPhone takes a nap in front of the Apple store on Fifth Avenue in New York, Thursday, June 28, 2007. The iPhone will be on sale starting tomorrow, Friday, at 6 p.m. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig) (Seth Wenig - AP)

In addition to the cost of the phone, for those currently using another cellular provider, there's also the cost of switching carriers.

Some bullish Wall Street analysts have predicted sales could hit as high as 45 million units in two years.

"That's nuts," said Rob Enderle, an industry analyst with The Enderle Group. "Over-hyping this thing just puts it at risk of being seen as a failure.

"Apple will break (sales) records for a phone of this class," he said, "but selling tens of millions of units so quickly is going to be tough. First-generation products always have problems that you don't know about until the product ships."

More likely, Enderle and other analysts said, Apple will grow iPhone sales by refining its models and improving the software features _ much as it did with the iPod, which has fueled record profits for the company.

But unlike its foray into digital music players, Apple faces competition in cell phones from deep-pocketed, well-established giants, such as Nokia Corp. and Motorola Inc.

Apple has not disclosed how many iPhones were available at launch. But analysts expect it will sell out by early next week _ between sales rung up at retail stores and online through Apple's Web site, which has been a major distribution outlet for other Apple products.

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Contributing to this report were Associated Press staff writers Michelle Roberts in San Antonio; Anick Jesdanun in New York; Jordan Robertson, Rachel Konrad and Ron Harris in San Francisco; Jessica Mintz in Seattle; Brian Bergstein in Boston; and Rubina Madan in Philadelphia.