What sort of impact did Verizon have on iPhone 4 sales? Very little, according to one analyst. Verizon iPhone sales have been “solid, but not spectacular” during the March second quarter, BMO Capital Market’s Keith Bachman told investors Friday morning.
Quarterly iPhone sales should reach 16 million units with Verizon adding 1.5 million to 2 million handsets, Bachman adds. The numbers assume the usual 10 percent slide from the year’s first financial quarter, ended December 31. As a result, there likely won’t be a “material upside” for this quarter, the analyst writes.
While Bachman set a $410 price target, another analyst earlier set the bar higher at $500 per share, forecasting Apple could control the tablet market for the next four years.
Credit Suisse analyst Kulbinder Garcha told investors Thursday Apple could control a market worth $120 billion by 2012.
“This means that iPad should become a $34 billion business by” fiscal 2012, Garcha writes. “Further, our proprietary bill of materials (BOM) analysis implies that gross margins for this business will expand to 35% [by the end of fiscal 2011] from around the 27% levels seen in fiscal 2010.”
Clearly, talk that supply problems may hurt Apple sales is drowned-out by shouts of continued growth. But how long can Apple shares rise before reaching a natural plateau?
Ed Sutherland is a veteran technology journalist who first heard of Apple when they grew on trees, Yahoo was run out of a Stanford dorm and Google was an unknown upstart. Since then, Sutherland has covered the whole technology landscape, concentrating on tracking the trends and figuring out the finances of large (and small) technology companies.
16 responses to “Demand for Verizon iPhone ‘Not Spectacular’ During Second Quarter”
Honestly with the solid rumor mill we’ve had with apple for the past 2 years. Leaked prototypes, hearsay from leaks in the supply chain. It’s possible the sales are impacted because people are simply waiting until June.
Assuming “the usual 10 percent slide from the year’s first financial quarter” is assuming that they replicate the same sales growth achieved in that quarter. That was 78% YoY, which is a stunning achievement if they do it. I don’t know how that is without “material upside” when the stock is currently priced to be growing between 20 and 40% YoY.
As for where will the stock growth plateau? Fair question, somewhere around the $500 mark IMO. It will have left Exxon-Mobil behind in the dust by then, and it will be hard to see much more share price growth as the largest market cap company in the world.
Who the heck would buy an iPhone 4 right now, knowing that the next iPhone is most likely gonna be released in June? Unless you are absolutely in dire need of a phone right now and can’t wait. I mean, what kind of demand was everyone expecting this late in the cycle?
That’s exactly what I’m doing. I was ready to get the iPhone 4 the February 10th but then, after thinking about it for a while, decided it would be best to wait until the iPhone 5 comes out in June or July. It doesn’t make sense to spend $400 on a phone just to have it become obsolete in four or five months. Lots of other Verizon customers are probably thinking the same thing as me, hence the lower sales figures.
iPhone 5 may have been an deterrent, but I think the biggest impediment was people still locked in two-year contracts. Verizon was not allowing people to upgrade early, and ATT was busily trying to lock everyone up with iPhone 4 contracts the previous summer. I think Verizon sales will steadily grow as people’s contract expire.
The iphone is losing its luster… apple needs to get 4G LTE built into this years gen products. They missed it on the ipad. If they wait till 2012… they might miss the boat. Most all new phones coming out now are 4G and 3G dual equipped.
It’s obvious to me any possible IPhone purchasers would wait for the “5”. I am and getting by with an older flip phone after I lost my Android overseas. It promises to be an improvement and a new design……looking forward to June.
@Neo Mcjones – I disagree. Apple elected to leave 4G out at the moment because the chipsets are just too big and would force design changes.
This is what makes Apple great in my opinion. They make bold decisions that other companies don’t have the balls to do.
They don’t want crappy 4G implementation..that, by the way isn’t even available in my area and many others for that matter.
You can bet when Apple releases a 4G anything it will be solid.