According to an this article from AP News on Yahoo Best Buy will begin selling iPhones on September 7.  This makes them the first independent retailer to sell Apple’s mobile phone and music playing device.  Since the release of the original iPhone last year, they have been sold exclusively in Apple’s web site and retail stores, and AT&T retailers.  Best Buy has also recently began fixing up their mobile phone department in some stores, and plans to do the same to many more locations in the future.  Apple computers and iPod devices are also sold in Best Buy stores, and it was said that the reason Best Buy was able to sell iPhones was because of their long standing relationship.  So far, there is no news as to whether the devices will be sold by other retailers in the future, but at this rate, it does not seem very far fetched.  Just last year, when the original iPhone was launched, they were only available in the US, and then a year later when the 3G iPhone was launched it was available in over 20 countries with plans to be sold in many more later on.  With the report that Best Buy will now be selling the iPhones in their stores, it definately appears that Apple wants the iPhones available to more people than currently have access to them.

Apple has released a press release that states one million 3G iPhones were sold in the first weekend of sale. After the official launch of the 3G iPhone on Friday, customers in over 20 countries ponied up $199 or more for the new device from Apple. This is in comparison to the original iPhone which took over 10 weeks to sell the same amount of units. The iPhone 3G goes on sale in France on July 17 and will be available in many more countries later this year. Apple’s Steve Jobs said “It took 74 days to sell the first one million original iPhones, so the new iPhone 3G is clearly off to a great start around the world.”

In this press release, iSuppli has estimated the total cost of the hardware and assembly of the new 3G iPhone to be $173. This estimate is based on a virtual teardown of the device and an estimate of each individual component is taken into consideration. The new iPhone, despite having many technical advances compared to the original version, is estimated to be much cheaper than its predecessor. The director and principal analyst for iSuppli, Dr. Jagdish Rebello, said “The original 8Gbyte iPhone carried a cost of $226 after component price reductions, giving the new product a 23 percent hardware cost reduction due to component price declines.”

Each component has been itemized and given an estimated price. For instance the main application processor is estimated to be $13.50, while the GPS module is $3.60. They also estimate that other manufacturing costs equal about $9 per unit. The new 3G iPhone will sell for $199 for the 8 GB version, while the 16 GB version will be $299. However you must sign a new 2 year contract with AT&T to be able to purchase either version of the new 3G iPhone.