UBS says iPhone sales ahead of estimates, new iPods on the way
“Our checks and discussions with Apple and AT&T store representatives continue to indicate relatively solid demand for the iPhone despite a significant moderation in excitement and hype from the June 29th launch,” analyst Ben Reitzes told clients in a research note on Tuesday.
The iPhone is catching on, this was analyzed by Reitzes after calling and visiting quite a few Apple Retail stores, as a component of his latest study. As a part of his study he also went on to survey around 70 AT&T stores throughout the country to know the demand and the availability as well as the difficulty that the customers may be facing.
“AT&T stores we spoke with indicated that sales of the iPhone remain relatively solid through mid-August,” he wrote. “While demand has slowed from the initial launch as expected, the weighted average of iPhones sold per store per day in our survey was about 5.”
at least 3 handsets have been sold per day across the nation per day, in the AT&T retail stores as was noticed by the analyst.
“Factoring in hundreds of thousands of iPhones sold through Apple stores and online via Apple.com, we still believe that our unit estimate is conservative,” he told clients. “While Apple has not provided any information into expanded distribution of the iPhone beyond Apple and AT&T stores, we continue to believe Apple may expand distribution to include other retailers over time”
The coming weeks have an air or expectancy regarding the launch of the European iPhone strategy, which initially has only three countries namely - the UK, France and Germany.
“We believe that there is no technical barrier that prohibits Apple to sell the iPhone in China despite there being no iTunes store in the region (a user can use iTunes and activate the phone with an internet connection),” he wrote. “We believe new models for the iPhone will emerge next year, which could help sales incorporating a sleeker design at more attractive price points.”
