• Fortune, Monday, August 11, 2008 11:01 AM

In its first month on the market, Apple's iPhone 3G has sold 3 million units, says Michael Cote of Cote Collaborative, far surpassing the performance of the first-generation iPhone after its first month in 2007. "They are seeing unprecedented demand," said the former T-Mobile executive, whom Fortune's Steve Morritz claims has been "extremely accurate" with his wireless predictions. Apple would not corroborate Cote's numbers.

Morritz contends that iPhones sakes defy an economic slump in which consumer spending and consumer confidence are falling rapidly. If Cote's numbers are accurate, the iPhone 3G is selling much faster than Wall Street anticipated.

And it would make sense, too, as three days after the new iPhone's July 11 debut, Apple announced 1 million devices sold. By comparison, it took 74 days for the original iPhone to reach the 1 million mark. According to Morritz, the iPhone 3G has already sold half as many as the original in total. Why so many? Three reasons: one, the subsidized price cut o $199 (which AT&T recoups by tacking on an extra $10 to your monthly bill); two, the surge in popularity among touchcreen phones; and three, international sales. The iPhone 3G is now available in several new places it wasn't before, with a target of 70 total countries by year's end.

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