Yet another Wall Street analyst has weighed in with a prediction on sales of Verizon’s iPhone, which becomes available to everyone Thursday. Apple and Verizon will top the 1 million mark during the first week, RBC Capital Markets’ Mike Abramsky told investors Wednesday.
Despite the iPhone 4 being available for 8 months with AT&T, the Verizon launch could threaten Apple’s estimated 1 million to 1.5 million unit initial inventory, the analyst warned. Between 3 million and 4 million iPhone 4 handsets will be sold by Verizon and its partners during the first quarter after the units become available, Abramsky adds.
Assuming Verizon’s smartphone customers grow from the current 26 percent to 40 percent in calendat 2011, Abramsky foresees the carrier and partners selling at least 9 million and 10 million handsets. However, Verizon’s iPhone launch may not match that experienced when the iPhone 4 first launched with AT&T in 2010.
Apple could activate between 3 million and 4 million Verizon Wireless iPhones the first quarter – behind the more than 5 million activations AT&T reported between July and September 2010, according to the analyst. The reasons for the smaller impact include:
While many carriers have used Google’s Android platform to combat the iPhone, the iPhone will dominate Verizon’s Android smartphone offerings 40 percent to 37 percent, Abramsky notes.
Globally, Apple could sell 75 million iPhones in calendar 2011, with Verizon accounting for 12 percent to 13 percent of that number.
