During his keynote at MacWorld, Steve Jobs announced that the sales of Apple’s ultimate gadget have reached 4 million units since its initial launch on June 29. However, AT&T this week revealed it ended the year with "just at or slightly under two million iPhone customers."

Taking into account Europe figures, this means that there still are more than a million iPhones which were never activated with Apple's partners, meaning they were either bought to be unlocked or are still sitting on shelves. A rough estimate would put about half of those iPhones in the hands of unlockers and half of them on store shelves and other inventories.

Apple expects to sell 10 million iPhones during 2008, boosted by the launches in Asia and other European countries, a new highly expected 3G model, and a significant number new applications delivered in February alongside the release of the software developer's kit. Apple could also use price cuts to up sales.

Official shipment numbers only indicate the number of products leaving the company's factories, which is misleading as this is the case, and leaves the number of actual handsets sold to end users to estimates.

Meanwhile, another kind of unaccounted for iPhones made headlines. Two truck drivers stole 300 Apple iPhones worth $150,000 from a Hong-Kong cargo which they were taking it to Kennedy Airport. The truck drivers, from Baldwin, L.I., with the help of another friend sold the phones, evaluated at $475 each, on the internet and got $80,000 for the stolen merchandise, then went on a shopping spree, buying cars, jewelry, cars and sneakers.

Just a few days ago, AT&T, Apple's exclusive partner for the United States, rolled out a new iPhone business plan offers pretty much the same features as for regular users, with data and voicemail services, but comes with a minimum two-year service agreement, and some pricier text message and voice plans than for regular consumers: $45 a month for 200 text messages, compared to just $20 for normal users, $55 a month for 1,500 text messages and $65 a month for unlimited texting.