iPhone accounts for almost 2% of U.S. cellphone sales

El Segundo (CA) – Apple is on track to exceed its shipment goal for its iPhone, a report released by iSuppli suggests.

According to the market research firm, Apple saw "strong" sales in July, the first full month of the phone being available in the U.S., prompting iSuppli to confirm its previously stated sales target of about 4.5 million iPhones for 2007. Apparently, the iPhone outsold all other smart phones on the U.S. market, including the Blackberry series and the entire Palm portfolio. iPhone sales were tied with the sales of the most popular feature phone (LG’s Chocolate) and iSuppli estimates that Apple’s new device accounted for 1.8% of all cellphone sales in the U.S. during July.

According to the market research firm, 52% of iPhone purchasers in July were male, 57% were 35 years of age or younger and 62% held a four-year college degree or more. 25% of consumers who bought iPhones switched to AT&T, who is the exclusive carrier for the iPhone.

Apple previously said that it expects the iPhone to achieve shipments of 10 million units during the calendar year of 2008, which would translate into roughly 1% of global cellphone shipments. iSuppli believes that Apple will be able to exceed that goal with an estimated 13.5 million units for 2008, 21.1 million for 2009, 26.8 million for 2010 and 30.0 million for 2011.