“Analysts and investors alike applauded the long-rumored arrival of the Apple iPhone at Tuesday’s Macworld in San Francisco, where CEO Steve Jobs showed off his company’s continued knack for user-friendly design and forward-thinking products,” Katie Dean reports for TheStreet.com.
“The newest device has been a boon for the stock. Apple shares soared to close higher than 8% over the previous day, and were nearing the $100 mark Wednesday after posting a new 52-week high of $97.80,” Dean reports. “The stock was recently trading at $96.24 in more than double the usual volume.”
Dean reports, “‘The phone was far more impressive than we imagined it would be, and it appears to be worth the wait,’ JP Morgan analyst Bill Shope wrote in a Wednesday note. ‘We believe yesterday’s introduction marks a significant rebound in product innovation for Apple and extends the company’s powerful consumer franchise,'”
MacDailyNews Take: “Yesterday’s introduction marks a significant rebound in product innovation for Apple?” Come on, now, at least make some sense when babbling. Apple doesn’t need to “rebound in product innovation” they’ve been innovating for years.
Dean continues, “‘We think that Apple has delivered yet another innovative product, exceeding most expectations,’ Prudential Equity’s Jesse Tortora wrote in a note to investors. The design ‘is elegant and the device appears to continue Apple’s traditional strengths of an intuitive interface and seamless software integration,’ Tortora wrote.”
“Though the device will cost more than he expected, Tortora noted that Cingular may offer rebates to lower it a little. He also expects Apple to introduce scaled-back phones at lower price points to attract mass-market adoption,” Dean reports.
“Cannibalization of iPod sales doesn’t seem to be a chief Wall Street concern,” Dean reports. “Standard & Poor equity analyst Richard Stice says that even if the number of iPods sold is sliced in half, the iPhone launch ‘would still be accretive to earnings because you’re getting a higher price point.’ Jobs said Tuesday that Apple aims to sell 10 million handsets in 2008 — its first full year of iPhone sales — which would be 1% of the mobile phone market worldwide. ‘We think that (Jobs’ estimate) is reasonable but somewhat conservative,’ Stice says. ‘We think they could potentially do better than that.'”
Full article here.
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