Gene Munster, a noted analyst from Piper Jaffray, said that he already estimated the number of iPhone units to be sold this Q4 or 2008’s 4th quarter. Gene Munster mentioned that he sees that Apple Inc. will well as much as 4.47 million units in Q4. This statement was part of the report to the clients that was issued recently.

In 2007’s fourth quarter, Apple Inc. only sold as much as 1.12 million units of the first-generation iPhone.

The figures that were estimated by Gene Munster did not just come out of nowhere. He based it from the following reports and facts:

a) Apple already sold as much as one million units of the 3G iPhone just a few days after the smartphone was released in the market.
b) He conducted an in-store check across America and spent 25 hours checking these stores for the last two weeks.

Gene Munster’s team counted the sales in the regular Apple Stores and in the flagship Apple Stores. He then concluded that the company will sell as much as 95 units every day in 188 stores in United States for the next 27 days. Afterwards, the results were added to the estimated number of iPhones bought at the 2,200 outlets of AT&T nationwide. It was also combined with the number that the carriers around the world had sold. This is where Gene Munster had a total estimate of 4.47 million units (phew!)