July 14 (Bloomberg) -- Apple Inc. sold 1 million of its new iPhones in the first three days after the handset made its debut, more than double what some analysts anticipated, sending the stock up 3.5 percent.

``IPhone 3G had a stunning opening weekend,'' Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs said in a statement today, after starting sales of the device in 21 countries July 11. It took 74 days to sell a million of the original iPhone, which was only available in the U.S. at first, he said.

Half of Apple's 187 U.S. retail outlets were sold out as of last night. AT&T Inc., Apple's exclusive U.S. partner, said most of its 2,000 stores were out of supplies. Carriers in the U.K., Germany, Canada and Japan said many shops ran out of the iPhone 3G, which works with speedier third-generation wireless networks, on the first day.

Piper Jaffray & Co. analyst Gene Munster estimated sales of 425,000 devices in the first three days. He had figured Apple and AT&T sold a combined 225,000 in the U.S., after a failure in Apple's system meant some buyers had to finish the activation at home. Today, Munster said sales overseas outdid his expectations, boosting Cupertino, California-based Apple's results.

``International really hit it out of the park,'' Munster said today in an interview with Bloomberg Television. ``This is definitely a faster start than we anticipated.''

Munster, who is based in Minneapolis and recommends buying Apple shares, said he may increase his forecast for 4.08 million iPhone sales this quarter.

Apple gained $6.03 to $178.61 at 9:31 a.m. New York time on the Nasdaq Stock Market. The shares had dropped 13 percent this year before today.

New York

At Apple's New York store on Fifth Avenue, the only one of its outlets that is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, there were at least 400 people in line yesterday waiting to buy the handset, Munster said.

Apple ran out of iPhones in 95 stores, based on an online inventory tally posted on the company's Web site last night. That includes outlets in San Jose, California; Albany, New York; Cherry Hill, New Jersey; Madison, Wisconsin; and Knoxville, Tennessee. All of the company's shops in Alabama, Connecticut, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Nebraska, New Mexico, Ohio, Rhode Island and Wisconsin had no supplies left.

Apple and Dallas-based AT&T said last week they expected the activation process would take 15 minutes or less. Both companies demanded customers pick a two-year service plan at the time of purchase, a move designed to prevent buyers from reselling the phone or unlocking it to work on unauthorized wireless networks.

Widen Business

Apple is seeking to widen its business beyond iPod media players and Macintosh computers, which accounted last year for 78 percent of sales. Jobs plans to sell 10 million iPhones this year to capture a 1 percent share of the worldwide phone market.

The phone was the second-biggest-selling smart phone in the U.S. in the first quarter, behind Research In Motion Ltd.'s BlackBerry, said researcher IDC in Framingham, Massachusetts. Smart phones combine Internet and computer functions in a device that allow users to access e-mail and surf the Web.

The new 3G model, available in black and white, sells for as little as $199 in the U.S. Shoppers seem to prefer the black, 16- gigabyte model, which sells for $299, based on the inventory tally at each of Apple's stores in 38 states.

International Sales

After the original iPhone was released in June 2007 in the U.S, Apple sold 270,000 in the first two days.

In the U.K., retailer Carphone Warehouse Group Plc and Telefonica SA's O2 said on their Web sites today they were out of stock of the handset.

``We are experiencing unprecedented demand for the device,'' O2 said on its Web site. The wireless provider said it was confident that customers who want an iPhone ``will get one by the end of the summer.''

TeliaSonera AB is out of stock of the 16 gigabyte model at some of its shops in Sweden, according to spokesman Jan Sjoeberg. He said the company is ``very pleased'' with how sales are going.

The first shipment in the Netherlands sold out on Saturday, Henny van der Heiden, spokesman at T-Mobile's Dutch unit, said, declining to say how big that consignment was. The company will receive new shipments every week, he said, adding that it had more than 70,000 requests for information about the iPhone.

To contact the reporter on this story: Connie Guglielmo in San Francisco at cguglielmo1@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: July 14, 2008 09:33 EDT