6.7 Billion Say 'No Thanks' To Apple's 3G IPhone

3G a million 3G iPhones had been sold as of Sunday potential customers

Apple had moderately better success with the launch of its online App Store, billed as the only source for official iPhone applications. At press time, there had been some 10 million downloads from the App Store. Skeptics, however, noted that most App Store customers were likely engaging in multiple downloads, meaning that their numbers might not be much more than the tiny sliver of the market that was purchasing the new 3G smart phones.

Why the lack of interest in the new iPhone? Analysts speculated that supply and distribution problems might be hurting 3G iPhone sales.

From the official release of the new handset Friday morning, Apple was apparently unable to quickly get 3G iPhones into the hands of the infinitesimally small number of people who actually wanted them. Customers on Friday were forced to wait in line for hours to purchase a device at Apple stores and telecom outlets around the world. This despite the complete disinterest of billions of potential purchasers in anything to do with Apple, iPhones or 3G, and active hostility towards telecoms.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs was publicly upbeat about the situation, but privately he may well be wondering what his company will have to do to reach more than a miniscule fraction of global technology users.

"and#91;Tand#93;he new iPhone 3G is clearly off to a great start around the world," Jobs said Sunday, putting a brave face on the epic fail of the first weekend's sales figures.

Apple advocates said customers will eventually warm up to the 3G iPhone's array of features, such as GPS positioning. But as of Monday all but a vanishingly small portion of humanity were still opting to accomplish similar results via lower-cost solutions such as knowing where the hell you're going in first place.