Apple has confirmed its iPhone sales goal for this year and is due this week to give details week of how outside programmers can create software for its iPhone, a move expected to spur demand for the multifunction device.
Apple's chief operating officer, Tim Cook, speaking at a Goldman Sachs investment conference, said he had "really good confidence" the company could hit its oft-stated goal of selling 10 million iPhones by the end of the year.
Apple also said it will unveil new iPhone features aimed at businesses, potentially stepping up competition with Research In Motion's popular Blackberry devices.
When Apple launched the iPhone last June, it only allowed outside software developers to make Web-based programmes, not ones that could be installed and run on the device itself.
The policy sparked an outcry among developers, who quickly found ways to crack Apple's restrictions and offer unauthorised programmes.
Within months, Apple chief executive Steve Jobs backtracked and promised to open the phone up to outside software.
"Apple has understood the importance of local applications and they are responding to that, and it will help them sell more iPhones," said Tim Bajarin, principal analyst of Creative Strategies.
"It should release a plethora of creative applications and it will make the iPhone much more practical as a mobile applications tool," Mr Bajarin added.
Analysts have expressed concern in recent weeks over iPhone sales and the practice of "unlocking" them to run on networks other than that of AT&T, the exclusive US carrier.
Bernstein Research last month estimated that more than a quarter of iPhones were "unlocked," pressuring Apple's business model since the company does not collect a portion of carrier fees from those users.
