San Jose, Calif. – Apple sold its 1 millionth iPhone on Sunday, less than a week after slashing the price of the iconic device by a third.
The milestone came some 74 days after the company launched the device, its first cellphone. And it came earlier than previously predicted; Apple officials had forecast in July that iPhone sales would hit the 1 million mark by the end of this month.
At a press event last week, chief executive Steve Jobs announced that Apple was discontinuing the 4-gigabyte version of the iPhone and dropping the price of its 8-gigabyte version to $399 from $599. The company hoped to boost sales of the device over the holidays, Jobs said.
But the move came as concerns were already being raised about demand for the device.
Sales from the initial weekend were below some of the wilder estimates on Wall Street. And last week, consumer data from research firm iSuppli suggested that sales of the iPhone fell off sharply in July and were not on pace then to meet Apple’s 1 million target.
GREENWOOD VILLAGE
opens Denver-area office
, a popular domain-name registration and website-hosting company, has opened an office at 8400 E. Crescent Parkway in Greenwood Village.
The Scottsdale, Ariz.-based firm has four employees at the office and plans to add 12 software engineers “immediately,” said chief executive and founder Bob Parsons. The company has about 1,800 employees, 1,000 of whom contribute to round-the-clock customer support.
BOULDER
Resident joins group in buying local bank
Boulderite Mark Yost and a group of investors have agreed to purchase Boulder- based FlatIrons Bank for an undisclosed amount of money, the bank announced Monday.
The transaction is expected to close within six months, pending regulatory and other approvals. FlatIrons, with $48 million in assets, was founded in 2001.
DENVER
Ex-Qwest official joins equity firm
Former Qwest operations chief Barry Allen has joined Providence Equity Partners, a private-equity firm specializing in telecommunications, as a senior adviser, Providence announced Monday.
Allen, who retired from Qwest at the end of June, will advise Providence on telecom issues and new and existing investments. Providence, headquartered in Providence, R.I., has about $21 billion under management.
DENVER
Coloradans get deal on efficient bulbs
Coloradans can purchase a compact fluorescent light bulb for as low as $1 – saving up to $72 in energy costs over the life of the bulb – under a new program sponsored by Xcel Energy.
Limited-time discounts are available on 21 models of CFLs, in single and multipacks, at participating Home Depot stores in Denver, Boulder and Grand Junction. Special prices are also available on five CFL models at participating Costco Wholesale locations in the Denver area.
PALO ALTO, Calif.
Solar-power firm secures $40 million
Solar-power developer Ausra Inc. announced it has secured more than $40 million in funding from Silicon Valley venture-capital firms Khosla Ventures and Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers.
Ausra is investigating possible development of a solar-generating facility in southern Colorado’s San Luis Valley.
The firm builds concentrating solar plants that use heat from the sun to make steam for electric-power generation.
LOS ANGELES
Disney to test toys for safety issues
Following Mattel Inc.’s recall of millions of toys, The Walt Disney Co. said Monday it will independently test toys featuring its characters.
The media and entertainment conglomerate will hire companies to randomly buy Disney-branded toys from store shelves and test for lead paint and other safety issues such as small parts that could come lose, Disney consumer-products spokesman Gary Foster said.
NEW YORK
Adviser pleads guilty in tax-shelter case
David Makov, an investment adviser charged along with former KPMG LLP employees in the largest U.S. criminal tax-shelter case, pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors.
At a hearing Monday before U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan, the 41-year-old Makov admitted he participated in a conspiracy with former KPMG employees John Larson and Robert Pfaff and tax lawyer Raymond Ruble to create illegal tax shelters and defraud the Internal Revenue Service.
LOS ANGELES
2 shareholders trim Countrywide stakes
Two of Countrywide Financial Corp.’s largest shareholders said in regulatory filings Monday that they have cut their stakes in the mortgage lender, which has slashed jobs and borrowed billions of dollars to stay in business.
AllianceBernstein LP, once the largest stakeholder in Countrywide, and Barclays Global Investors NA cut their stakes in Countrywide by more than half this summer.
ATLANTA
Delta rescinds hike in round-trip fares
Delta Air Lines Inc., the third-largest U.S. carrier, rolled back a $10 round-trip fare increase on about 25 percent of its U.S. routes, an airfare analyst said.
Other major carriers that had initially matched Delta’s higher prices over the weekend also rescinded some of their increases, said Rick Seaney, chief executive at .
