Apple has pulled it off. The Cupertino company managed to sell in a very short timespan a million of its latest iPhone. Furthermore, it also sold 10 million applications from its AppStore. However, a significant portion of the latter are free applications, so it would be more accurate to say that 10 million iPhone / iPod Touch applications were downloaded from Apple's newly launched online third-party applications store.

Already, the AppStore seems to walk on the footsteps of another successful Apple money-making scheme: iTunes. AppStore is the new iTunes, Apple's newest cash cow which automatically pumps out 30% of all revenues to top its maker's pockets. Initially launched with about 500 applications, it now features more than 800.

Apple's boss has did it again. "The App Store is a grand slam, with a staggering 10 million applications downloaded in just three days," said Steve Jobs, indirectly praising himself for the company's well-thought marketing strategy.

Looking at last year’s figures, the company needed 74 days to reach the one million units bar with the original iPhone, so the current sales trend can only make Apple’s executives extremely happy. The first edition managed to sell so far close to 6 million units and the company’s goal for its new device is to reach sales of over 10 million units by the end of the year.

The analysts have already started to make some forecasts and they concluded that by the end of 2009 the AppStore will generate between $150 million and $230 million in revenues for Apple. Apparently, around a quarter of these are free, while most of the rest cost less than $10. About a third are games. The applications can only run on iPhones and iPod Touches updated to the latest firmware, 2.0, or on the iPhone 3G which includes the new firmware.

The coolest and most popular applications so far seem to be things like the AOL Instant Messenger, Remote (an Apple-developed application which turns the iPhone/iPod Touch into a remote for an iTunes library), HyperOffice (which is actually a service) and, well, Bomberman Touch. There's also that Spore thing which is also cool, the Loopt application, the eBay application, and many more.

Practically, every developer can submit their applications to the AppStore. If it gets accepted, Apple would retain 30 percent of all sales revenues. Users can download free applications at no charge to either the user or developer, or purchase priced applications with just one click. Third party iPhone and iPod touch applications must be approved by Apple and will be available exclusively through the App Store.

The smartphone was simultaneously launched on July 11 in 21 countries, including the United States, Australia, Austria, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK with several extremely appealing offers.