iPhone 4 remains sold out at half of Apple US retail stores
The iPhone 4 remains in limited stock at Apple's U.S. retail stores seven weeks after its launch, suggesting that "antennagate" has done little to slow sales.
Analyst Gene Munster polled 30 retail stores this week, and found that 16 of them had some stock. Most stores he checked with indicated they are receiving daily iPhone 4 shipments to meet up with supply.
Despite limited supplies, the situation is improving. Before July 10, there was no in-store availability, with 0 of 20 stores in stock. On July 26, Munster polled 5 stores and found 3 had the iPhone 4 available.
The continued limited supply, he said, is evidence that demand for the iPhone 4 remains strong despite the "antennagate" controversy, which erupted when users realized that covering the bottom left corner of the handset could reduce reception. Supply constraints are not a sign of a production slowdown, Munster said.
"We had expected near full in store availability in the U.S. by now, given it has been several weeks since the iPhone 4 U.S. launch (June 24)," he wrote. "Longer than expected supply shortages are not new to the iPhone. As a point of reference, in last year's September quarter conference call, the company indicated that iPhone supply was constrained in most countries through late Sept. or early Oct. due to better than expected demand of iPhone 3GS."
The iPhone 4 sold a record 1.7 million units in its first three days, making it the fastest selling Apple product in history. Munster believes that in the September quarter, Apple will sell 11 million units worldwide.
Piper Jaffray has maintained its overweight rating for AAPL stock with a price target of $371.
Analyst Gene Munster polled 30 retail stores this week, and found that 16 of them had some stock. Most stores he checked with indicated they are receiving daily iPhone 4 shipments to meet up with supply.
Despite limited supplies, the situation is improving. Before July 10, there was no in-store availability, with 0 of 20 stores in stock. On July 26, Munster polled 5 stores and found 3 had the iPhone 4 available.
The continued limited supply, he said, is evidence that demand for the iPhone 4 remains strong despite the "antennagate" controversy, which erupted when users realized that covering the bottom left corner of the handset could reduce reception. Supply constraints are not a sign of a production slowdown, Munster said.
"We had expected near full in store availability in the U.S. by now, given it has been several weeks since the iPhone 4 U.S. launch (June 24)," he wrote. "Longer than expected supply shortages are not new to the iPhone. As a point of reference, in last year's September quarter conference call, the company indicated that iPhone supply was constrained in most countries through late Sept. or early Oct. due to better than expected demand of iPhone 3GS."
The iPhone 4 sold a record 1.7 million units in its first three days, making it the fastest selling Apple product in history. Munster believes that in the September quarter, Apple will sell 11 million units worldwide.
Piper Jaffray has maintained its overweight rating for AAPL stock with a price target of $371.
Comments
I'm first....where's my white iP4?
I've given up on the white iPhone 4, I'll see what the options are at the iPhone 5 unveiling.
My carrier only has one store in Waterloo and we have a population of about 120K. They got their first shipment since launch this past Tuesday. They got 2.
Better than our current stock position in most of Canada. If you polled 100 Apple or Rogers or Fido store, you would normally find 100 stores sold out. If they happen to have stock, they have 5-10x as many people as phones currently in line outside. Everyday in Toronto, Montreal and the other major cities hundreds of people are lining up before stores open without even knowing if the stores will receive stock that day. Of course, we are only 2 weeks in since our launch.
My carrier only has one store in Waterloo and we have a population of about 120K. They got their first shipment since launch this past Tuesday. They got 2.
From near I can tell, Rogers got far less stock than Bell or Telus. I got mine at Telus here in Guelph, and they had plenty in stock, was able to get one of the 32 GBs, and the nextdoor Rogers barely had any. Of course, there may also be a demand difference, as this is a relatively Rogers-dominated town.
From near I can tell, Rogers got far less stock than Bell or Telus. I got mine at Telus here in Guelph, and they had plenty in stock, was able to get one of the 32 GBs, and the nextdoor Rogers barely had any. Of course, there may also be a demand difference, as this is a relatively Rogers-dominated town.
I think Rogers actually received far more stock, but they have far more existing iPhone customers that can get the upgrade subsidized. Apple's contract for early upgrades stipulates that the carriers can only offer them to existing iPhone customers (or so Rogers says). If this is true, then the only people buying from Telus and Bell are users new to the iPhone, since they only started selling iPhones less than a year ago and are either new Bell/Telus subs or are two years into their existing contract. If you are a existing customer less than 2 years into your current contract, Rogers can sell you a subsidized iPhone if your last phone was an iPhone. But if you are with Bell and Telus, you need to be either a new customer or be eligible for a normal upgrade (2 years in). If you went to Apple, Futureshop, WirelessWave or BestBuy on launch day, you could often find Telus iPhones in stock at the end of the day (or even onSaturday) but Rogers/Fido were gone immediately, because far more people were eligible for a subsidy with Rogers/Fido.
Rogers has really screwed up this launch though. Of the big three, they are the only ones with previous experience with iPhone launches and they have had two previous. Bell and Telus are doing online orders while Rogers is only selling through stores. They have so many stores that any single store only receives a small handful each week. They have actually said to try calling stores (they won't answer) or to just line up at some random store in hopes they will get stock.
I thought the number of phones sold was 1.7 million over the first 3 days, not 3.7 million.
Worldwide that weekend. UK, France, Germany, Japan, Can't remember the other one. Or maybe that was all?
I was able to get mine immediately after Apple announced the further White delay July 24 by calling Apple Stores nearby (24+ miles) and finding one with a one day queue in reservations.
The number one reason why people here in Sweden choose other phones over the iPhone.
The six week wait.. I'm not kidding. 6 weeks.
Apple needs to step up production.
For the next model they should have 10million made before they go on sale, maybe more.
It's hurting sales like nothing else.
I'm surprised shareholders are not more concerned about this.
Sure, they sell every phone they produce. But that would probably still be the case if they made twice as many.
I am glad I managed to get mine from an Apple store right after it came out.
It would make sense for Apple to restrict supplies if they had a silent hardware fix in the works.
Why would that make sense? They make money off each sale,free bumper or not. No reason to let a sale walk out the door if they can help it.
Why would anyone believe Apple is "restricting" supply? There is no reason to believe anything other than demand is greater than what Apple is able to produce.
Exactly. Why would Apple want to constrain supplies when demand is already way up - all that does after awhile is convince people to go with an alternative (read android) device since consumers are only willing to wait for so long. Apple knows this - there are too many willing competitors to fill a product void. Restricting supply is only effective when you don't have to worry about competition,
Why would anyone believe Apple is "restricting" supply? There is no reason to believe anything other than demand is greater than what Apple is able to produce. It costs lots of money, and takes a long time to build more factories. These things do not just happen with the snap of a finger. It just seems to kill some people to imagine that the smartphone buying public loves the iPhone. Get over it.
because here in the biggest city in Canada, people are lining up when a store gets like 20 of them. The cellphone stores get even less. This is selling like hotcakes?
I don't know what numbers are elsewhere, but this is pathetic.
They sold out within three hours.
I even got one.
Goodbye slow old 3G.
The 3GS 8GB's also sell out.
Why would that make sense? They make money off each sale,free bumper or not. No reason to let a sale walk out the door if they can help it.
It absolutely doesn't make sense. The user satisfaction is once again topping every other smartphone. But I am sure they develop the iP5 at ultimate speed, just to keep very well ahead of the competition.
This is selling like hotcakes?
I think the hotcake metaphor is over with. It should be changed to selling like iPhones. Much more appropriate for modern times. And I'm not a big fan of hotcakes.
Apple's doomed.