Analyzing Apple's weekend phone sales
Posted
Jul 14 2008, 12:42 PM
by
Kim Peterson
Rating:
Apple sold 1 million of its new 3G iPhones over the weekend -- an impressive achievement given the glitches, server issues and other frustrations that accompanied the launch. The company's shares are up more than 1% today to $175.06.
The number may be a bit misleading, as Fortune points out. Apple retail stores mark a phone as sold when it leaves the store in a customer's hands. But phones going to partners like AT&T and other wireless carriers get classified as sold when they're shipped from the factory. So a phone could be on a boat somewhere and already look like it's sold on the books.
Any phones in transit should sell fast, so we'll go with the 1 million figure. Add that to the 6 million original iPhones sold, and Apple will have no problem hitting its goal of selling 10 million iPhones by the end of this year. Now, the guessing game will focus on how far above that goal the company is able to go. I think 20 million is within reach. Friedman Billings Ramsey thinks Apple will build at least 15 million 3G phones this year.
Apple's online "App Store" has a figure to brag about as well. More than 10 million programs have been downloaded from the store since it opened last week. We don't know what this means in terms of revenue, since many of the applications are free. But it does show that the iPhone is on its way to becoming a mobile personal computer -- the next big platform for developers and users. And the next big profit generator for Apple.
Related reading:
3G iPhone rollout suffering glitches
New iPhone will jump-start demand for wireless broadband
iPhone: The new personal computer
Did Apple set developers up for failure?
iPhone's mediocre battery life still beats rivals
Update: I clarified the distinction between sales at Apple's retail stores and to partner carriers in the second paragraph.
