Cook: More than 700 million iOS devices sold

Apple expects to ship its 700 millionth iOS device next month, CEO Tim Cook said Tuesday at the unveiling of the latest-generation iPhones, a sign of how the company’s mobile products have transformed the industry since the first iPhone was unveiled six years ago.

The number demonstrates, in part, how iOS devices have continued to grow in popularity and use: It took nearly three years for Apple to sell its first 100 million iOS devices; it’s sold another 600 million in the three years since then. That number is also up from the 500 million iOS devices Cook referenced during the company’s quarterly earnings report in January, suggesting 2013 has been another good year for Apple on the mobile front.

That was just one of the numbers Cook and his team offered to demonstrate Apple’s impact in the industry and the broader culture. Cook also:

• Touted the success of the seventh annual iTunes Festival, the ongoing 30-day series of concerts in England. More than 20 million people applied for the free tickets; Apple has streamed the live concerts to more than 100 countries. “It’s like an opening weekend for a (new iOS) product,” Cook said of enthusiasm surrounding the event. (You can get the app here to watch the live performances.)

• Said the new iPhone 5s will launch in nine countries—the U.S., Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Japan, Singapore, and the UK. It’s the first time China has gotten first-day dibs on new iPhones, signalling the increasing importance of that country’s consumer market to Apple’s fortunes.

• Added that the new iPhone lines will be available in 100 countries, offered by 270 carriers, by December. That’s a slight increase over the introduction of the iPhone 5, which was being sold in 97 countries by December of 2012.

• Suggested, however, that Apple will also be renewing its attention to domestic retail stores. Cook highlighted the Apple Store at the Stanford Shopping Center in Palo Alto, California—a location, he said, that had served 5 million customers in nine years, at a rate of more than 2,000 customers a day. In response, Apple replaced the store this weekend with a new location eight times the size of the old 1,100-square-foot space.

Apple’s retail teams, Cook added, do “an incredible job.”