Economic Daily News has reported that Apple has cut Q2 iPhone shipments nearly in half, from 2 million down to 1.2 million or less, according to Appleinsider.com.  Citing reports from component makers in China, EDN blames slow European sales of the handset for the decline in orders.  While American consumers have been willing to live with slow EDGE data speeds on iPhone thus far, it may well be that European customers used to faster 3G mobile Web access simply aren't willing to compromise in order to get their hands on Apple's iconic cell phone.

Apple, Inc. CEO Steve Jobs reported overall sales of more than 4 million iPhones to date at last week's MacWorld Expo in San Francisco, adding that the company is selling approximately 20,000 units per day worldwide.  But the fashionable tech company's stock has been hit hard by the recent Wall Street turmoil nonetheless: As of my writing this, AAPL was trading at 134.34 per share, down more than 30% over the past month (it closed at 198.95 on December 26 of last year).

Jobs promised more new Apple products in the weeks and months to come, and it's widely believed that the company will ship a 3G version of iPhone sometime this Spring.