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Apple's iPhone outsold all smartphones and nearly all feature phones in the U.S. during July, its first full month of release, according to a new report from iSuppli. AT&T and Apple started shipping the iPhone on June 29th, selling about 270,000 units before July even started.

In all, the two iPhone models, 4GB and 8GB, accounted for 1.8 percent (about 220,000 units) of all mobile-handset sales during July.

That's a remarkable accomplishment for a mobile phone during its first month of availability. Let alone one from a company, Apple, that just entered this highly competitive market.

iSuppli goes so far as to call the iPhone's fast climb to the top unparalleled. Its report says, "While iSuppli has not collected historical information on this topic, it's likely that the speed of the iPhone's rise to competitive dominance in its segment is unprecedented in the history of the mobile-handset market."

The market research firm, which defines the iPhone as crossover phone—with attributes of both a smartphone and feature phone, outsold all smartphones during July, including RIM's Blackberrys, Palm's complete Treo line, and all Windows Mobile-run devices. Sales equaled those of the most popular feature phone in the U.S., LG’s Chocolate.

A quarter of those who purchased iPhones switched to AT&T, the iPhone’s exclusive service provider, from another wireless carrier. Good news for America's largest mobile operator.

Most of the people who purchased an iPhone in July were college educated males 35 years old and younger, with 57 percent (including females) in all falling into that age range.

Males held a slight edge over females over all, accounting for 52 percent of iPhone sales.

62 percent of iPhone buyers held a four-college degree or higher education.

Although iSuppli expects 4.5 million iPhones will have shipped by the time 2007 comes to a close, it emphasizes how it is the coming months that'll tell us the most about purchase patterns, as it is hard tell what effect pent-up demand and months of hype had on initial sales.

iSuppli projects the number of iPhones sold will rise to more than 30 million in 2011.

Take that last estimate lightly: The iPhone hasn't even started shipping in markets outside the U.S. and has only been available for a little over two months. I'd give it some more time before taking such long-term forecast to heart. It’s one thing to project end of year sales for 2007, quite another to do the same for four years from now, especially when so little information is available.