Analysts from Wall Street are expecting that Apple
Inc.(NASDAQ:AAPL) will sell about 43 to 53 million iPhones in the December
quarter. However, others are predicting a figure of 50 million. Apple announced
last Friday that the iPhone 5 will be available in China from the 2nd week
of December, which should boost their sales.
Apple had previously stated that they plan to
roll out iPhone 5 to at least 100 countries by the end of the year, but the
press release last Friday shows that their latest offering is only available in
47 countries as of now. The lower than expected number of countries has a
positive side as well – the demand is huge and the company might have delayed China ’s
availability in case the manufacturing issues are graver.
The main factor to be considered is the lesser
than expected roll out. The reasons are supply constraints, higher than
expected demand, or possibly, a combination of the two problems. But
manufacturing issues have been more or less been resolved and the demand is
quite strong. Apple’s web sites are now displaying lead times of one week for
the countries mentioned and except US, all countries have a limit of 2 phones
per order.
The quarter over quarter (September to December)
growth rates for Apple (117% last year and 86% this year), AT&T (181% last
year and 113% this year) and Verizon’s (115% last year and 110% this year) are
all lower. The jump in units quarter over quarter for Apple is not much
higher in 2012 than it was for 2011 (19.9 million in 2011 and 23.1 million in
2012), AT&T (4.9 million going to 5.3 million) and Verizon (2.3 million to
3.4 million).
As long as suppliers can match the demand, Apple
should have no trouble selling 50 million iPhones in the December quarter.
But what are they doing about the case of the iPhone bending at the volume button? I know apple usually denies a problem until it reaches critical mass, but with 50 million more iPhones out there, it's going to be one hell of a recall.
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