Sanford Bernstein’s Toni Sacconaghi is counting Apple iPhones and noticed 1.4 Million of them are unaccounted for. Despite Steve Jobs’ announcing they’ve already sold some 4 million worldwide (as of Jan 15, 2008), only 2 Million iPhones have been activated by AT&T and several hundred thousands in Europe.
Here’s how he breaks down the numbers:
– 3.75 million iPhones sold as of Dec. 29 (per Apple’s Q1 report)
– minus less than 2 million iPhones activated through AT&T as of Dec. 31 (per AT&T)
– minus 350,000 iPhones sold in Europe via O2, T-Mobile and Orange
– minus 750,000 iPhones purchased to be unlocked
– equals 670,000 unaccounted for
He adds that this indicates end-user demand for iPhone is lower than many investors may think based on Apple’s sales figure; and it points to slower iPhone sales in the current quarter, since much of this inventory is likely to be drawn down.
Has the iPhone hype gone cold really? Remember during the 1st announcement in January last year, Steve Jobs promised a 2008 release of the iPhone in Asia. In MacWorld 2008, Steve conveniently omitted anything related to the iPhone coming to Asia. But why? My guess is as good as yours:
- Asian telcos are not as iPhone loving as their Western and European counterparts.
- China’s not budging in. Chinese iPhone clones are hotter and way cheaper than the original iPhone.
- Most Asians are texters, not callers. The iPhone’s form factor and virtual keypad is practically anti-texter.
- Pre-paid accounts dominate the total market over the post-paid, 9 to 1. The iPhone revenue model relies on fee commissions on paid subscriptions.
A few thousands of those unaccounted iPhones are already in the country and unlocked. Has the iPhone rave fizzled?