11.3 Million iPhones sold in Q4?

Forget about iPhone killers, it looks like another huge quarter for Apple's touchscreen device. According to Wall Street analyst Brian Marshall of Broadpoint Am Tech, 11.3 million units will be sold worldwide in the current three month period. Marshall had originally expected 10 million iPhones to be sold in the fourth quarter, so the new estimate represents a nice increase for Apple. Much of Marshall's positive figuring comes from overseas sales of the device. In France, the analyst says that the iPhone controls 8.5% of the cellphone market and has sold 1.8-2 million iPhones in 2009. French newspaper Le Figaro wrote that the lack of exclusivity was the reason behind the success of the handset in the country (Can AT&T and Apple learn a lesson here?). In Japan, the iPhone 3G and 3GS are the country's number 1 and 2 selling handset respectively, earning the Cupertino based company a 46% marketshare and in the process, knocking Japanese favorite Sharp off the top of the best selling list in that country. The iPhone cut the marketshare of the Sharp W-ZERO3 nearly in half.

The iPhone's momentum overseas might have something to do with the phone's lack of exclusivity in foreign countries. For example, three UK carriers now offer the device (Orange, Vodafone and Tesco Mobile). Back in the States, the usual rumors continue to surface that once AT&T loses its stranglehold on selling the iPhone, the nation's number one carrier, Verizon, will be offering the touchscreen model to its nearly 90 million customers. This could happen sometime in the upcoming year.

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source: 9to5Mac, MacRumors via CultofMac