Apple CEO Steve Jobs took the time to address the iPhone 4 antenna controversy on Friday, but he also dropped further tidbits on what’s down the road for the iPhone 4, including new countries, and news on the elusive white model.
Jobs didn’t hold back, leading with the news that Apple has sold more than 3 million iPhone 4 units in the last three weeks, after moving 1.7 million of the phones in the first three days alone. And that’s with availability in just five countries.
The Apple CEO did reiterate that the iPhone would spread to other countries this month. During the initial iPhone 4 announcement in June, Jobs had said Apple would ship to 18 additional countries in July. He amended that during Friday’s conference to say that Apple would ship in 17 of those countries; South Korea was removed from the list, though Jobs didn’t give a reason as to why. Still on the docket for July are Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland, with 24 more countries to come in August and 40 more in September.
In addition, customers who have been waiting patiently for the white iPhone to arrive will be glad to know that they’re on track for a late July release, according to Jobs. That’s consistent with Apple’s statement from last month, where the company said the white model has “proven more challenging to manufacture than expected.” Jobs said that the white models would ship in limited quantities at first as production ramped up.