“Apple Inc. may sell more than 800,000 iPhones this quarter, beating the company’s goal of 730,000, as consumer demand for the device stays strong, UBS AG analyst Benjamin Reitzes said,” Crayton Harrison reports for Bloomberg.
“Retail outlets of Apple and AT&T Inc., which offer the phone exclusively in the U.S., have reported ‘solid demand,’ Reitzes said today in a research note. His estimate for sales of the device, which combines an iPod music player with a mobile handset, was ‘conservative,’ he said,” Harrison reports.
“Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs said last month he expects to sell 1 million iPhones by the end of this quarter,” Harrison reports. “Apple reported 270,000 iPhone sales last quarter after the product debuted June 29.”
“iPhones are selling at a rate of about three per day at AT&T stores, compared with about five a day at Apple’s outlets, Reitzes estimated. AT&T is selling the device through about 1,800 company-owned locations, while Apple has about 150 U.S. stores,” Harrison reports.
“Apple may update its iPod lineup next month, Reitzes said. He expects a video-playing model, with a touch screen that’s similar to the one on the iPhone, for less than $300,” Harrison reports.
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “itswayning” for the heads up.]
Seems like there’s been plenty of time to already have sold over one million. I’m concerned that sales are not quite as blockbuster as everyone thought they were a month ago.
For the quarter that comes to over 11,000 iphones per day. (1,000,000/90=11,111). That seems good. I guess it would depend on how this compares with the sales of other cell phones.
and they’re omitting online sales
I think the next full size iPod will have a click wheel. It won’t be until fall 2008 that they release a touch screen model. Do I have insider info? Nope. Just guessing.
I think this is good news, since all you really need to do is sell one more phone per outlet per day to jump the sales by 20%.
If you do the math mentioned in the article it works out to just over 6100 per day sold. If their estimates are correct.
And in related news, the sun may come up in the East tomorrow…
Hmmm. There is little doubt that expectations were jacked-up too high by the media in June, but these numbers are puzzling. Only five iPhone sales per day per Apple store? Seems low to me. I was in a small store in Orange County (CA) this past weekend and the iPhone table was jammed with customers. I gotta believe they sold more than one iPhone every two hours. Moreover, I was in a meeting last week with ten people in the room (from about five different companies); four of the ten people had iPhones.
As for AT&T stores, I sorta doubt that they are selling three a day. The AT&T store closest to me (where I bought my first iPhone) is staffed with clueless employees who seemed more interested in selling me broadband services than an iPhone.
re: Oops
Selling one million of anything in only one quarter is AMAZING. It’s hard to sell that many of something that sells for $9.99, but as the price increases the challenge of selling that amount gets harder . . . MUCH harder. Apple is following a simple strategy that should not be confused with the anti-apple blogger hype that you hear, or the talking head analysts who TRY to drive the stock down so that they can buy the stock and make money. They are plodding along like a turtle selling iPhones steadily, and the installed base will grow as they carefully manage the introduction of improvements to the iPhone that will increase sales . . . when they do slow. Apple is playing this game like they want to . . . they have all the cards . . . including the ability to introduce other models with more and less features to hit the sweet spots in the market. Just look at the AMAZING job they have done at marketing the iPod line! OK, but marketing alone will not make the iPhone successful . . . it happens to be a delightful product to use (minus a couple of needed improvements like copy and paste) that people ALWAYS want to play with. My suggestion is to buy stock now, before Christmas the stock will increase enough that you will be able to get an iPhone for free : )
I’d wager that Apple has sold 1M iPhones already, but that Apple is doing its typical underpromise/overdeliver strategy. They won’t announce that they’ve passed the 1M benchmark so as to let the naysayers to get their jabs in, as well as to expose them for what they are. Then, they announce they blew away their conservative projection and the naysayers look very, very foolish.
I do not think that Apple has to release new models of the iPhone to increase sales. The current phone is capable of much more by firmware and software updates. As these new features come along and are advertised, the sales will continue at a steady rate. Also, the early adopters won’t be upset by the early introduction of new models.
There’s a difference between one million by the end of the quarter and one million in the quarter. The difference is 270,000.
I think Apple has already exceeded one million “by the end of the quarter.” It has some reason for not announcing it (probably to keep competitors off-guard).
Also, let’s not forget that all of these sales are for the US only…
Selling a million phones to such a small population (the ratio would be 1 phone per 300 Americans, roughly speaking) in one quarter in a business where so many already have phones, with many locked into restrictive contracts, and selling at a premium price would indeed be a feat.
As the iPhone makes its way to the overseas market, pent up demand will keep the momentum strong.
re: Jack
We totally agree. I think they would actually be smarter to wait longer. There is no reason to introduce a low end iPhone too early, it would destroy the marketing work they have done to make the iPhone a desirable product. Part of how they do that is by keeping the cost of entry high while the demand is high. My sneaky point here is that they ARE developing those versions, because they then will be able to introduce them if they HAVE to. Look at how many patents they develop that they never even use! They were writing OSX for Intel long before they decided to switch to Intel chips. It’s the discipline to wait that is a key to Apple’s recent success I think. Many other companies don’t have that luxury . . . they are simply trying to get whatever they can out the door as fast as they can.
Tremor,
A lot of the 300 million odd US Americans are, of course, babies, children and the very elderly, so it’s probably more like one in 200.
@ Charlie from Berlin
“A lot of the 300 million odd US Americans are, of course, babies”
Many hold public office.
Well I think everybody in Germany are babies. Big babies who cry to their mommies when they poop their pants.
That will teach you to pick a fight with the good old U.S.A.
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