OK, so I'm curious for a clarification -- when Apple states that they have 2 million phones in the channel, what percentage (if any) of these are on the shelves in Apple stores, and therefore not considered sold, and what percentage are shipped to AT&T and other carriers. If the apple shelves are a significant portion of the channel, then they sold more than the article is estimating, but if Apple retail stores are not part of the channel, then they have...
OK, so I'm curious for a clarification -- when Apple states that they have 2 million phones in the channel, what percentage (if any) of these are on the shelves in Apple stores, and therefore not considered sold, and what percentage are shipped to AT&T and other carriers. If the apple shelves are a significant portion of the channel, then they sold more than the article is estimating, but if Apple retail stores are not part of the channel, then they have...
OK, so I'm curious for a clarification -- when Apple states that they have 2 million phones in the channel, what percentage (if any) of these are on the shelves in Apple stores, and therefore not considered sold, and what percentage are shipped to AT&T and other carriers. If the apple shelves are a significant portion of the channel, then they sold more than the article is estimating, but if Apple retail stores are not part of the channel, then they have...
I'm not sure what that would mean.
any ideas?
By definition, "channel" would include retail, it includes everything. But, I am pretty certain when Apple refers to the channel, they are talking about resellers. Apple would not be a significant portion of the channel. Apple may have 50K units in it's retail supply chain, compared to the 2M number for resellers.
Apple only has just over 200 stores in the US and those only keep a couple days inventory on hand. There are no "shelves" at Apple stores, and when there is a big sale, they have to section off have the store to pile inventory since the stock rooms aren't that big. Apple turns its whole inventory in about 7 days, That would be from manufacturer to consumer (or channel partner) It takes Best Buy 2 months to turn its inventory over, which is typical for a retailer.
I can assure you that 2M channel inventory is predominately international sales.
By definition, "channel" would include retail, it includes everything. But, I am pretty certain when Apple refers to the channel, they are talking about resellers. Apple would not be a significant portion of the channel. Apple may have 50K units in it's retail supply chain, compared to the 2M number for resellers.
You have to look at the context of when and where the question was asked.
Apple executives were talking about the 2 million iphones in the channel in the context of the 6.9 million iphones. Apple can only recognize revenue from the 6.9 million iphones if they are shipped to carriers or sold in Apple stores. Apple cannot recognize revenue if the iphones are just sitting on the Apple store shelves.
Therefore, "channel" in this context explicitly excludes Apple's own inventory in their Apple store shelves.
You have to look at the context of when and where the question was asked.
Apple executives were talking about the 2 million iphones in the channel in the context of the 6.9 million iphones. Apple can only recognize revenue from the 6.9 million iphones if they are shipped to carriers or sold in Apple stores. Apple cannot recognize revenue if the iphones are just sitting on the Apple store shelves.
Therefore, "channel" in this context explicitly excludes Apple's own inventory in their Apple store shelves.
That's exactly what I said, When management spoke of the channel, they are referring to their 3rd party resellers, and not their stores. The 2M was from "sell-in" thus sell-thru was only 4.9M.
I was also trying to make the point that Apple's shelves are so small, that it wouldn't even be material compared to resellers, thus why I said management doesn't include its stores in the realm of channel inventory because Apple keeps very little on hand, sells-thru in a week.
There are several steps Apple could do to increase sales without cutting prices:
1. As component prices come down, the company could add value and keep the margin, cost and price structure the same. Adding more memory as prices collapse with this recession... 32GB would be OK with me; increase the resolution of the camera and may be add LED flash
2. Improve GPS to make is as good as Garmin... that would add huge value.
3. Add TV and other features like electronic payment that are popular in international market.
4. Sell unlocked units at the market price in places like Hong Kong, China, etc. This will open a huge market to people would do not want to be tied to plan and like to change the SIM card avoid hi roaming fees.
5. Given the economies of scale, the company could come up with a CDMA phone for the Chinese, Japanese, Korean and even the US market once ATT contract expires. Apple needs to be transmission technology agnostic. Verizon has a huge CDMA customer base... a lot of biz customers.
$99? Nah, let the Nokia chase the bottom of the barrel.
1. Not a bad idea. Flash would require a new device, and better image processing software.
2. Not as simple as that. The SIRFStar III is what Garmin uses and Apple would have to license this chipset. A-GPS with an adequate chipset is a viable option. Nokia went this route and combined it with good GPS software (Navteq). This is a winning solution and currently better than anything Apple can come up with.
3. Will require a new device once again. Electronic payments are generally software based solutions rather than hardware so this point is moot.
4. Has made sense from the very beginning but Apple seems to think that outside the US there are no other biz models.
5. GSM is the standard pure and simple. CDMA is good but with WCDMA and GPS why bother making a special CDMA phone?
Nokia actually owns the bottom of the barrel, the middle and pretty much the top. Considering Nokia has not released anything yet, you might want to hold in your smugness just a bit. One thing to consider is that not everyone wants an iPhone. There are some people that simply are not in love with it, not to mention the way Apple and its eco system work, people are somewhat turned off. These are customers (probably in the millions) that Apple will never reach.
There are several steps Apple could do to increase sales without cutting prices:
1. As component prices come down, the company could add value and keep the margin, cost and price structure the same. Adding more memory as prices collapse with this recession... 32GB would be OK with me; increase the resolution of the camera and may be add LED flash
2. Improve GPS to make is as good as Garmin... that would add huge value.
3. Add TV and other features like electronic payment that are popular in international market.
4. Sell unlocked units at the market price in places like Hong Kong, China, etc. This will open a huge market to people would do not want to be tied to plan and like to change the SIM card avoid hi roaming fees.
5. Given the economies of scale, the company could come up with a CDMA phone for the Chinese, Japanese, Korean and even the US market once ATT contract expires. Apple needs to be transmission technology agnostic. Verizon has a huge CDMA customer base... a lot of biz customers.
$99? Nah, let the Nokia chase the bottom of the barrel.
1. As the memory price comes down, Apple will add storage. We all know that. More resolution with the same fixed focus lens is useless. To get higher definition, you need sharper lens and auto-focus, mean the iPhone has to be thicker. LED flash is useless if the subject is farther than a couple of feet.
2. Better GPS means bulkier device and uses more battery.
3. Again, bulkier device and uses more power.
4. Agree with this. There should be unlocked iPhone for $600.
5. Agree.
$99 with two year contract is not bottom of the barrel. Cheap Nokia phones are selling for $99 UNLOCKED.
4. Agree with this. There should be unlocked iPhone for $600.
Apple sold the 1st Generation IPhone for $400 after the price drop. The 2nd Generation IPhone is unlikely to be much more expensive to manufacture today even with the 3G radio since the price of a lot components have fallen dramatically. An unlocked entry level IPhone at $400 would make sense for unrestricted markets.
In an open market like Hong-Kong, these phones would percolate quickly into Mainland China... and sell millions. Obviously, it could spread into a huge global grey market... including the US.
Regardless, I do think the slowing global economy will energize AAPL to become much more aggressive in marketing. The way I see it, the music and the computer market will get worse than expected. I suspect the K-12 market to be the worst hit. That leaves the IPhone as the main growth engine... and Apple can not afford to take advantage of this phone.
There are several steps Apple could do to increase sales without cutting prices:
4. Sell unlocked units at the market price in places like Hong Kong, China, etc. This will open a huge market to people would do not want to be tied to plan and like to change the SIM card avoid hi roaming fees.
.
Apple now sells unlocked phones in hong-kong. $700/$800. I am curious how many are selling and if they are being channeled into the mainland. Sales potential could be pretty big.
"To be precise, at the end of the quarter, I can tell you that we had about 2 million iPhones in total channel inventory across all of the 51 countries and we feel that these inventory [levels are] about right," he said.
Thi from the mobistar website this morening
"We shall keep you informed
as soon as the iPhone3G is available again."
So you feel comfortable with a stock level of 0 hey ?
Comments
I'm not sure what that would mean.
any ideas?
OK, so I'm curious for a clarification -- when Apple states that they have 2 million phones in the channel, what percentage (if any) of these are on the shelves in Apple stores, and therefore not considered sold, and what percentage are shipped to AT&T and other carriers. If the apple shelves are a significant portion of the channel, then they sold more than the article is estimating, but if Apple retail stores are not part of the channel, then they have...
I'm not sure what that would mean.
any ideas?
Zero.
Channel means outside Apple's corporate empire.
OK, so I'm curious for a clarification -- when Apple states that they have 2 million phones in the channel, what percentage (if any) of these are on the shelves in Apple stores, and therefore not considered sold, and what percentage are shipped to AT&T and other carriers. If the apple shelves are a significant portion of the channel, then they sold more than the article is estimating, but if Apple retail stores are not part of the channel, then they have...
I'm not sure what that would mean.
any ideas?
By definition, "channel" would include retail, it includes everything. But, I am pretty certain when Apple refers to the channel, they are talking about resellers. Apple would not be a significant portion of the channel. Apple may have 50K units in it's retail supply chain, compared to the 2M number for resellers.
Apple only has just over 200 stores in the US and those only keep a couple days inventory on hand. There are no "shelves" at Apple stores, and when there is a big sale, they have to section off have the store to pile inventory since the stock rooms aren't that big. Apple turns its whole inventory in about 7 days, That would be from manufacturer to consumer (or channel partner) It takes Best Buy 2 months to turn its inventory over, which is typical for a retailer.
I can assure you that 2M channel inventory is predominately international sales.
By definition, "channel" would include retail, it includes everything. But, I am pretty certain when Apple refers to the channel, they are talking about resellers. Apple would not be a significant portion of the channel. Apple may have 50K units in it's retail supply chain, compared to the 2M number for resellers.
You have to look at the context of when and where the question was asked.
Apple executives were talking about the 2 million iphones in the channel in the context of the 6.9 million iphones. Apple can only recognize revenue from the 6.9 million iphones if they are shipped to carriers or sold in Apple stores. Apple cannot recognize revenue if the iphones are just sitting on the Apple store shelves.
Therefore, "channel" in this context explicitly excludes Apple's own inventory in their Apple store shelves.
You have to look at the context of when and where the question was asked.
Apple executives were talking about the 2 million iphones in the channel in the context of the 6.9 million iphones. Apple can only recognize revenue from the 6.9 million iphones if they are shipped to carriers or sold in Apple stores. Apple cannot recognize revenue if the iphones are just sitting on the Apple store shelves.
Therefore, "channel" in this context explicitly excludes Apple's own inventory in their Apple store shelves.
That's exactly what I said, When management spoke of the channel, they are referring to their 3rd party resellers, and not their stores. The 2M was from "sell-in" thus sell-thru was only 4.9M.
I was also trying to make the point that Apple's shelves are so small, that it wouldn't even be material compared to resellers, thus why I said management doesn't include its stores in the realm of channel inventory because Apple keeps very little on hand, sells-thru in a week.
There are several steps Apple could do to increase sales without cutting prices:
1. As component prices come down, the company could add value and keep the margin, cost and price structure the same. Adding more memory as prices collapse with this recession... 32GB would be OK with me; increase the resolution of the camera and may be add LED flash
2. Improve GPS to make is as good as Garmin... that would add huge value.
3. Add TV and other features like electronic payment that are popular in international market.
4. Sell unlocked units at the market price in places like Hong Kong, China, etc. This will open a huge market to people would do not want to be tied to plan and like to change the SIM card avoid hi roaming fees.
5. Given the economies of scale, the company could come up with a CDMA phone for the Chinese, Japanese, Korean and even the US market once ATT contract expires. Apple needs to be transmission technology agnostic. Verizon has a huge CDMA customer base... a lot of biz customers.
$99? Nah, let the Nokia chase the bottom of the barrel.
1. Not a bad idea. Flash would require a new device, and better image processing software.
2. Not as simple as that. The SIRFStar III is what Garmin uses and Apple would have to license this chipset. A-GPS with an adequate chipset is a viable option. Nokia went this route and combined it with good GPS software (Navteq). This is a winning solution and currently better than anything Apple can come up with.
3. Will require a new device once again. Electronic payments are generally software based solutions rather than hardware so this point is moot.
4. Has made sense from the very beginning but Apple seems to think that outside the US there are no other biz models.
5. GSM is the standard pure and simple. CDMA is good but with WCDMA and GPS why bother making a special CDMA phone?
Nokia actually owns the bottom of the barrel, the middle and pretty much the top. Considering Nokia has not released anything yet, you might want to hold in your smugness just a bit. One thing to consider is that not everyone wants an iPhone. There are some people that simply are not in love with it, not to mention the way Apple and its eco system work, people are somewhat turned off. These are customers (probably in the millions) that Apple will never reach.
There are several steps Apple could do to increase sales without cutting prices:
1. As component prices come down, the company could add value and keep the margin, cost and price structure the same. Adding more memory as prices collapse with this recession... 32GB would be OK with me; increase the resolution of the camera and may be add LED flash
2. Improve GPS to make is as good as Garmin... that would add huge value.
3. Add TV and other features like electronic payment that are popular in international market.
4. Sell unlocked units at the market price in places like Hong Kong, China, etc. This will open a huge market to people would do not want to be tied to plan and like to change the SIM card avoid hi roaming fees.
5. Given the economies of scale, the company could come up with a CDMA phone for the Chinese, Japanese, Korean and even the US market once ATT contract expires. Apple needs to be transmission technology agnostic. Verizon has a huge CDMA customer base... a lot of biz customers.
$99? Nah, let the Nokia chase the bottom of the barrel.
1. As the memory price comes down, Apple will add storage. We all know that. More resolution with the same fixed focus lens is useless. To get higher definition, you need sharper lens and auto-focus, mean the iPhone has to be thicker. LED flash is useless if the subject is farther than a couple of feet.
2. Better GPS means bulkier device and uses more battery.
3. Again, bulkier device and uses more power.
4. Agree with this. There should be unlocked iPhone for $600.
5. Agree.
$99 with two year contract is not bottom of the barrel. Cheap Nokia phones are selling for $99 UNLOCKED.
1.
4. Agree with this. There should be unlocked iPhone for $600.
Apple sold the 1st Generation IPhone for $400 after the price drop. The 2nd Generation IPhone is unlikely to be much more expensive to manufacture today even with the 3G radio since the price of a lot components have fallen dramatically. An unlocked entry level IPhone at $400 would make sense for unrestricted markets.
In an open market like Hong-Kong, these phones would percolate quickly into Mainland China... and sell millions. Obviously, it could spread into a huge global grey market... including the US.
Regardless, I do think the slowing global economy will energize AAPL to become much more aggressive in marketing. The way I see it, the music and the computer market will get worse than expected. I suspect the K-12 market to be the worst hit. That leaves the IPhone as the main growth engine... and Apple can not afford to take advantage of this phone.
There are several steps Apple could do to increase sales without cutting prices:
4. Sell unlocked units at the market price in places like Hong Kong, China, etc. This will open a huge market to people would do not want to be tied to plan and like to change the SIM card avoid hi roaming fees.
.
Apple now sells unlocked phones in hong-kong. $700/$800. I am curious how many are selling and if they are being channeled into the mainland. Sales potential could be pretty big.
"To be precise, at the end of the quarter, I can tell you that we had about 2 million iPhones in total channel inventory across all of the 51 countries and we feel that these inventory [levels are] about right," he said.
Thi from the mobistar website this morening
"We shall keep you informed
as soon as the iPhone3G is available again."
So you feel comfortable with a stock level of 0 hey ?
goodbye ipod, say hello to iphone!