THE iPhone launch in June 2007 created headlines in the US. Thousands of eager fans queued outside AT&T - Apple's iPhone telco partner - stores through the US on June 29 when the device made its debut. 

Almost a year later, when the iPhone 3G hit the shelves, there was a lot of anticipation. Thousands of people had snapped up the handset. 

So I'd thought that the US would have plenty of users. I mean, if I do just an eyeball survey, I should be able to see four out of 10 cellphone users using the iPhone. 

Not so on my trip to San Francisco last week. More people had a Blackberry. Every free minute they had, they were scrolling for their e-mail messages. 

Even among the 25 journalists from Europe, Australia and New Zealand, only one had an iPhone. Most had Blackberrys, a couple toted Nokias and the rest Motorolas. 

Mind you, it was only a casual observation.

In its latest quarterly results, Apple said during the first quarter of iPhone 3G availability - between June and September 2008 -  6.9 million units were sold, exceeding the 6.1 million first-generation iPhone units sold in the prior five quarters combined. 

Altogether, Apple has sold over 12 million iPhones, more than the 10 million unit target Apple's leader Steve Jobs had set when he first announced the device in January 2007. 

It must be that the majority of the iPhones was sold outside of San Francisco and overseas. Maybe that's why I saw so few of them.