Stories about smaller launch-day crowds at US retail stores have proved misleading.

For its launch this weekend just past, the new iPhone 3G S sold 1 million units - the same level as its predecessor, the iPhone 3G, despite entering a much more challenging market.

The original iPhone sold 200,000 units on its launch weekend, three years ago this month.

Apple also announced its new iPhone OS 3.0 software had clocked six million downloads.

In a curious footnote, chief executive Steve Jobs gets a one liner in Apple’s press release:

“Customers are voting and the iPhone is winning,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “With over 50,000 applications available from Apple’s revolutionary App Store, iPhone momentum is stronger than ever.”

Although it’s just a marketing-speak one-liner, NBR decodes it as a signal that The One will indeed return by the end of June, as scheduled.