“The launch of Apple’s iPhone is just two weeks away — and any day now, we’ll get some real information about the model’s pivotal features and associated service contract,” Tero Kuittinen reports for RealMoney.
“It is almost unprecedented that we know so little about a high-profile mobile phone this close to its launch. We do, of course, know that the 4GB model is priced at $499 and the 8GB model at $599. However, the true price of a mobile phone is a combination of the device’s price, the applications it offers and the price of the service contract,” Kuittinen reports.
“Needless to say, some recent projections for iPhone sales have been fever dreams, particularly those calling for a 7% U.S. market share by 2009. That would mean taking over 30% of AT&T’s entire phone range in just two years,” Kuittinen reports. “Even the oft-cited 1% global share is an astounding goal; the market-share range for all mobile phones that retail for $500 or more is about 2% to 3%.”
Kuittinen reports, “Surely, iPhone shipments will sell out during the third quarter; the 2 million to 3 million American Apple loyalists are in the bag, no matter what the specifications are. But modeling sales beyond the first wave will be extremely tough.”
Kuittinen reports, “I’m not sure most investors realize what a high-wire act Apple is now attempting. Yet its share price has hardly wobbled after a stunning run-up through the first half of the year. Faith in the company has been absolute, even though every shareholder I’ve talked to is well aware of the media backlash scheduled to ramp up around June 18.”
Full article here.
The FUD campaign and media backlash started immediately after iPhone was unveiled (predicted quite accurately by our own SteveJack: The massive FUD campaign against Apple’s iPhone ramps up – January 10, 2007). Jobs help us if it ramps up any further!