Apple Doubles Down on iPhone

Last week, Apple hit its official one-million-sold target earlier than predicted. Still, the milestone came 74 days after the phone's introduction, and sources say the company was prepared to sell a million phones on the iPhone's first weekend back in June.

After an early surge of interest in the phone started to wane and inventory levels began piling up, Apple killed the unpopular 4-gigabyte version of the iPhone and cut the price of the 8-gigabyte phone by 33%.

The iPhone is likely to make a very big splash in Europe initially as gadget fans finally get a chance to own the latest tech marvel. But observers say the iPhone may quickly lose its luster since it operates on so-called 2.5G or EDGE technology, a slower technology than the more widely used 3G networks available throughout Europe.

As reported here Monday, Apple won't have a 3G version of the phone available until early next year.

Apple shares jumped $2.90, or 2%, to $141.31 amid a broad-based market rally Tuesday.