Morgan Keegan analyst Tavis McCourt, in a note to investors on Tuesday, said that based on feedback from retail stores in the U.S., U.K.. and Canada that the Apple iPhone is the number one smartphone seller. He also believes that the iPhone is siphoning sales from other vendors and that Apple will have a sell-through of 6.1 million iPhones in the quarter ending in September.

In an investor note, obtained by TMO, Mr. McCourt reported on smartphone sales rank based qualitative feedback from over 150 retail stores.

1. iPhone 3G
2. BlackBerry Curve
3. Samsung Blackjack 2
4. Palm Centro
5. BlackBerry Pearl

"We believe that the iPhone 3G siphoned off sales from other smartphone vendors in July, but that inventory issues remained an issueat many AT&T stores through August," Mr. McCourt wrote. "Inventory issues at AppleStores, in contrast, appear to have subsided and we believe this provides a more relevant barometer for iPhone3G trends. Faced with competition from the iPhone 3G and a price increase to $149, the BlackBerry Curve ceded its over 1 year as the top seller at AT&T. The BlackBerry Curve returned to a $99 price point 2 weeks ago, which we believe has led to a re-acceleration of trends."

The Palm Centro continues to sell modestly, he said, and at levels below those at Verizon stores.

At Verizon and Sprint, the top selling smartphones are:

1. BlackBerry Curve
2. Palm Centro
3. BlackBerry Pearl

The Morgan Keegan analyst believes that Apple will have a sell-though of 6.1 million iPhone 3Gs in the quarter ending in September. However, only about 4 million will be in the hands of customers because AT&T maintains a much more significant inventory, percentage-wise, than, say, PC retailers.

He expects about half of the sales to be through Apple and AT&T stores. The other half will be international sales. Finally, due to the deferral of revenue from the iPhone, Mr. McCourt expects the near term earnings basis for Apple to remain a Macintosh story.