Doubt over Apple’s ability to sell 10m iPhones in 2008?

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Monday, 25 February 2008 17:12

Your IT - Mobility

Bernstein Research analyst Toni Sacconaghi has doubted Apple’s ability to sell 10 million phones in 2008 alone, suggesting perhaps just under 8 million iPhones will be sold in total – while leaving open the escape hatch that ‘lower prices’ or ‘new models’ could change the situation.

Is Apple’s ability to sell 10 million iPhones in 2008 an optimistic target? Tony Sacconaghi, research analyst with Bernstein Research thinks so, with plenty more to say in a newly released report on our favourite fruity consumer electronics company.

In a report by Marketwatch, Bernstein’s report is quoted talking about the fall in Apple’s share price, which is now estimated to be at approximately the right level, and that the iPhone could make up a quarter of Apple’s total sales within four years.

But it’s Sacconaghi’s iPhone prognostications that have caught the eye of most, with his belief that unlocked iPhones account for nearly one million units sold today, and his suggestion that Apple may not hit the 10 million iPhone mark.

The question is – just how accurate will Sacconaghi turn out to be? Has he truly thought out what 2008 should have in store for the iPhone?

Sacconaghi’s report calculates that around 180,000 iPhones were sold per week in the last quarter of 2007, which Marketwatch notes is historically “Apple's busiest business period of the year”.

If that number of iPhones is sold in the same timeframe this year, Sacconaghi believes there will only be 7.9 million iPhones sold by year’s end.

Sacconaghi is quoted as saying that: "Apple's goal of selling 10 million iPhones this year is optimistic, particularly if Apple insists on carrier revenue sharing without significant price cuts or new model introductions”.

So, what should Apple do? Lower prices? Introduce new models, or introduce the existing iPhone into new countries? Please read onto page 2.