An interesting statistic for iPhones
25% of all iPhones sold have been unlocked...
From
Reuters:
A quarter of Apple iPhones "unlocked": analyst
More than a quarter of people who bought Apple Inc's iPhone are using them on wireless networks other than AT&T's, the exclusive iPhone carrier in the U.S., a "stunning" number that will pressure the company's business model, an analyst said on Monday.
Bernstein Research analyst Toni Sacconaghi said analysis of sales numbers from Apple and AT&T Inc revealed about 1.45 million phones were "missing in action" at the end of 2007.
About 480,000 of those were believed to be held by AT&T as inventory, leaving another 1 million phones, or 27 percent of the total, that Sacconaghi said were "unlocked" so they could work on non-AT&T networks.
Apple executives said last week the number of unlocked phones was "significant" but declined to give an estimate. Most analysts had estimated the portion of unlocked phones at under 20 percent.
Spokespersons for Apple and AT&T declined to comment.
Emphasis mine for that last sentence. No shit!
The company with the most evangelical geek following releases a very cool new toy and expects people to use it as is, out of the box, with the expected carriers?
Believe that and I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you.
Apple did try to get back at these people -- their first major upgrade bricked all of the unlocked phones and the hue and cry was so great that they had to release a patch to un-brick them.
And the actual numbers on Apple's loss:
The higher number is worrying for Apple because the company receives a cut of AT&T's iPhone service fees, revenue that carries a high gross margin and has fueled optimism over its earnings potential.
For example, Sacconaghi said, if Apple hit its sales goal of 10 million iPhones by the end of fiscal 2008 but 30 percent of those don't result in any carrier payments, its revenue and profit would be $500 million and 37 cents per share lower than expected.
Wince!
Posted by DaveH at January 29, 2008 6:54 PM