By putting together information from several analysts around the world, Bloomberg figures Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) sold as many as 425,000 iPhones the first three days the new handset was on the market. Figures show that the earlier version of the iPhone sold 270,000 units in the first two days it was for sale. Apple also has now partnerships with a large number of overseas carriers that were not in place for iPhone 1.0.
Piper Jaffray & Co figures that Apple will sell over four million iPhones this quarter. That means, with some growth, the handset could be on a pace to sell 15 to 20 million units a year.
While the iPhone sales projections are not impressive compared to the 400 million phones that Nokia (NYSE: NOK) sells each year, the fact that the Apple phone can move this many units at its high price is extraordinary. The cellphone market is currently troubled by the falling prices of handsets as more and more sales move to nations like China and India, and units sold in those countries generally go for low prices, leaving manufacturers with low margins.
Apple seem poised to take a very large part of the segment that all companies in the handset business want -- the expensive smartphone, which also brings carriers big data and voice subscription fees. Off to a flying start, Apple may just become a dominant player in the sweet spot of the industry.
Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.
The week in preview: Chicken soup (or a doughnut) for the recession-weary soul?
Comfort Zone Investing: Oil's down, which is a start, but not good enough
Stocks have their worst week in six years
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
7-14-2008 @ 9:10AM
Beltway Greg said...
Doug,
You obviously didn't get the memo.
Beltway Greg
7-14-2008 @ 10:46AM
TX CHL Instructor said...
I find it interesting that the iPhone has such a cult following. The iPhone is sorta neat, but not nearly enough so to justify standing in a long line -- much less camping out overnight.
I actually considered getting the 3G iPhone 2.0 for my birthday (Friday), but when I heard on the news that there were lines forming on Thursday evening, I decided not to factor myself in with the epsilon-minuses (some folks need to get a life). Given the activation problems they had on Friday, that turned out to be an even better decision than I had anticipated.
I may get the new iPhone next month, or just wait for the price to go down again (or 2.1). One thing for sure, I will always wait a day or two from now on to install iPhone update software, and first check the news about whether it's safe to do.
I might even seriously check out the competition; after all, there are several features that my old Palm had that I sorely miss, e.g., cut & paste, search, and a to-do list (pretty basic stuff, and I am amazed that somebody would produce a so-called 'smart' phone with none of those features). The competition in this sector is pretty fierce, and it isn't going to roll over and die because S.J. made a pretty phone.
Not to mention that the new iPhone is just enough different in size to make my old iPhone carrying case useless. I assume that was deliberate, but if I'm going to have to buy a new belt holster and case anyway, that's just another good reason to check out the competition.