iPhone Hackers Lend Apple a Hand

Updated from 7:07 a.m. EDT.

Because Apple (AAPL Quote) has both history and hackers on its side, there's a good chance it's going to surpass its recently reaffirmed iPhone sales target.

CEO Steve Jobs, CFO Peter Oppenheimer and COO Tim Cook have all come out in the last two weeks to reinforce the point that Apple will reach its goal for 1% of overall mobile phone sales, or 10 million units worldwide, by the end of 2008.

But is Apple still playing coy? Could an estimate of 10 million iPhones end up being too low? If the company's trend of underpromising and overdelivering extends to its estimates of iPhone sales, the answer is yes. And the company will undoubtedly get by with a little help from their software hacking friends. ...