“Every so often, Apple’s guidance can also shed light on something very significant beyond the company’s earnings,” Andy Zaky writes for Seeking Alpha. “Take Apple’s recently reported fiscal Q2, for example. In the conference call, Apple’s CFO Peter Oppenheimer, stated very briefly among several other statements, ‘We expect OpEx [operating expenses] to be about $2.5 billion, including about $255 million related to stock-based compensation expense.'”]
Zaky writes, “Peter Oppenheimer might as well have just said, ‘Despite what you might hear on Wall Street, we expect the iPhone 5 to be released in late June or early July as planned.'”
One of Zaky’s reasons:
Apple was embarrassed last year with the iPhone 4 missing prototype debacle. Don’t be surprised if Steve Jobs significantly increased efforts to return Apple to the days of secrecy. Remember the days when Steve Jobs would end his presentation with “One more thing…” and release a product that the public was genuinely surprised to see? This rumor mill of a delayed iPhone all began because Apple didn’t make mention of the iPhone in its invitation to the World Wide Developer’s Conference set for this June. It seems like a perfect stage for Steve Job to once again surprise us all with “one more thing…”
MacDailyNews Take: Regardless of the “One more thing” aspect, we firmly believe that Steve Jobs’ Apple isn’t about to let a gadget blog that doesn’t know right from wrong unveil the next-gen iPhone this time.
Zaky continues, “Most of the expenses associated with the actual launch of the iPhone take place in Apple’s fiscal Q4. But it’s been the general pattern that Apple increases its SG&A ahead of an iPhone launch that usually kicks-off in the closing days of fiscal Q3. Expect to see the new iPhone in customer hands this July.”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers “Andy Zaky” and “Arline M.” for the heads up.]