Jobs, Loathed By Competitors, Sells 600,000 iPhones

Each time Steve Jobs of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) launches a new product, he has a chance of launching Apple’s first major failure since the introduction of the iPod in 2001, Apple TV notwithstanding.

An Apple product launch which creates simply modest sales would take the firm’s stock down 10%. Jobs has set the bar that high.

It is improbable that Apple could have two new product introductions in a month that would do better than even Wall St. might imagine. The new iPad sold 2 million units within six weeks, despite the bumbling of partner AT&T Inc (NYSE: T). The phone company managed to allow hackers to get 114,000 e-mails of iPad users. Its 3G network has operated so poorly that frustrated customers have turned to Verizon Wireless and Android-powered phones.

Jobs bested the iPad launch by selling 600,000 iPhone 4 units before the product is available on June 24. The company said:

Yesterday Apple and its carrier partners took pre-orders for more than 600,000 of Apple’s new iPhone 4. It was the largest number of pre-orders Apple has ever taken in a single day and was far higher than we anticipated, resulting in many order and approval system malfunctions. Many customers were turned away or abandoned the process in frustration. We apologize to everyone who encountered difficulties, and hope that they will try again or visit an Apple or carrier store once the iPhone 4 is in stock.

If Apple has an operational flaw, it is that it rarely builds enough of a new product to meet demand. Cynics would claim that this is by design–absence makes the heart grow fonder.

Ballmer, Schmidt, Dell, and dozens of other large cap CEOs can only envy what Jobs has done, and wait for his first failure–which, against all odds, may never come.

Douglas A. McIntyre