Apple Sells One Millionth iPhone

[thevofl]

Business Math

Put differently, that decision cost them essentially $100 million. As a shareholder, I'd be upset.

Keep in mind that the Revenue for the iPhone is spread out over 24 months. So the $100 rebate will not affect the numbers in any significant way.

 

[soosy]

But are they on track for 10million in 2008 as stated in January? Will sales continue to grow or decline after an initial burst?

The Sept goal was only announced at the July Quarterly meeting so it's not very impressive to me that they hit it since they already had seen a month of sales to base that on. So I don't think it is very good evidence in itself that the price cut wasn't in response to poor sales. *cough* daringfireball *cough*

As others pointed out we know they sold ~250k in the first few days and then 750k over the next 2 months. Extrapolating that 750k out to a year only gets us to 4.5 million phones.

Of course, now there is a price cut and there may be new models to kickstart new sales so we'll have to sit back and see what happens!

I still think it's likely that they planned a more modest price cut initially, but decided they needed to cut it more... in part because of slowing sales.

(Just to clarify, it is impressive that they sold 1 million, it's just not impressive that they hit a milestone they pretty much already knew they were going to hit.)

 

[Laglorden]

Id say for a phone that expensive, its more than impressive - its unprecedented.

Maybe... but only because there are no other Phones that expensive...

With 1 billion phones sold and > 36,5% markket share Nokia should sells more than 1 million phones a day I think.

 

[RichP]

Sounds impressive to me, considering the price of the phone, newness of the product, and its limited customer base (its not a business smartphone) Would be interesting to compare it to sales of other smartphones (moto q, blackjack, pearl,etc)

 

[mainstreetmark]

What makes you think its a possibility that 4Gb iPhone purchasers won't get the $100 coupon? Quoth Mr Jobs:

Don't see anything in there to suggest that he's only talking about 8Gb iPhone buyers.

I agree. I think the 4G iPhones are at the apple store now for $299, so they were similarly discounted, and therefore, will be similarly refunded.

 

[nickane]

Looking at how iPods are priced over here, I would guess that the iPhone will be £250-300.

Pound for pound it is much cheaper in America - but only because the dollar is weak. In real terms, they pay roughly the same as us.

BS. The Apple pricing factors in ebay and the fact that anyone can hop across the pond to get an ipod/laptop/screen, but when that choice isn't available/easy (what price difference would it have to be for you to justify getting an unlocked US one off ebay) the mark-up is significantly greater.

$349 for a 160gig isn't far off £229 when u add vat, but $1.99 for a TV show is a lot less than £1.89 purely because itunes knows where u live and won't give you the choice. Same applies to the music store (altho less so):

£0.79/$0.99 > £229/$349 (£0.65/$1)

 

[DesignerOnMac]

I disagree

Maybe... but only because there are no other Phones that expensive...

With 1 billion phones sold and > 36,5% markket share Nokia should sells more than 1 million phones a day I think.

There are many many phones that are as expensive and even more expensive than the iPhone! Nokia, and Sony Ericsson sell phones that are $700.00!

 

[p0intblank]

Very nice! That's a lot of money!

 

[unity]

Maybe... but only because there are no other Phones that expensive...

With 1 billion phones sold and > 36,5% markket share Nokia should sells more than 1 million phones a day I think.

Huh? There are plenty of phones that go for over $600, even after they are subsidized by the carrier. But you rarely see them advertised since they are pricey and cater to the very advanced user who already knows what they are shopping for.

 

[kasei]

So when will we see an update to the iPhone? I am dying to buy a 2nd generation phone! The 4G at $299 is so tempting!

 

[dr_lha]

So when will we see an update to the iPhone? I am dying to buy a 2nd generation phone! The 4G at $299 is so tempting!

Its not known when a 2G iPhone will be out, but you can guess that we'll get at least 3 months notice of a new iPhone coming out, due to the fact that Apple needs to get FCC approval of any phone it releases, and that approval application is made public so will be all over the rumors sites as soon as Apple make the application.

 

[sminman]

Put differently, that decision cost them essentially $100 million. As a shareholder, I'd be upset.

Apple really isn't out a 100 million, more like 20 million cause it didn't cost 600 dollars to make the phone.

 

[milo]

Maybe... but only because there are no other Phones that expensive...

With 1 billion phones sold and > 36,5% markket share Nokia should sells more than 1 million phones a day I think.

Maybe not right now, but there have been others similarly priced on release, like the RAZR at $499.

And has ANY phone at any price sold this many this fast? I doubt it. IF nokia is selling that many, that would be all their models combined, wouldn't it? Have they ever had a new model that hit a million this fast? It's laughable that people are describing this as "taking this long" when this is probably the fastest selling phone of all time. And now that prices are lower, it will sell even faster. 10 million by the end of next year will be a piece of cake, they'll probably hit that months early.

 

[drater]

Yah Steve! You win: $200 cash from early adopters!

...that's right, I went there.

Maybe not right now, but there have been others similarly priced on release, like the RAZR at $499.

And has ANY phone at any price sold this many this fast? I doubt it. IF nokia is selling that many, that would be all their models combined, wouldn't it? Have they ever had a new model that hit a million this fast? It's laughable that people are describing this as "taking this long" when this is probably the fastest selling phone of all time. And now that prices are lower, it will sell even faster. 10 million by the end of next year will be a piece of cake, they'll probably hit that months early.

exactly, I wonder how Nokia's first phone sold?

 

[Lepton]

Price drop makes room for the 3G phone

The prices had to drop partly because of the new iPod line, partly because the first-day rush is over, and partly because new models of phone will arrive soon.

I expect a new iPhone with 16GB and 3G for $500 in Dec or more likely Jan, in the US. Outside of the US I expect this phone in Nov or Dec, for a bit higher price.

 

[CalBoy]

The prices had to drop partly because of the new iPod line, partly because the first-day rush is over, and partly because new models of phone will arrive soon.

I expect a new iPhone with 16GB and 3G for $500 in Dec or more likely Jan, in the US. Outside of the US I expect this phone in Nov or Dec, for a bit higher price.

Do you think Apple would rebound on the price? Wouldn't that upset a lot of people and create negative backlash?

 

[skunk]

Apple really isn't out a 100 million, more like 20 million cause it didn't cost 600 dollars to make the phone.

More like 10 million, as about half comes back as profit in the stores.

 

[Project]

Maybe... but only because there are no other Phones that expensive...

With 1 billion phones sold and > 36,5% markket share Nokia should sells more than 1 million phones a day I think.

There are dozens of phones as expensive as the iPhone. Mostly Windows Mobile phones.

 

[freediverdude]

Considering, at say, an average price of $500 per phone, that in 74 days Apple just raked in $500 million in revenue, some $100 million perceived "loss", if you believe that's the real number, spread out over 24 months, is just a teeny tiny drop in the bucket.

 

[Consultant]

Sounds impressive to me, considering the price of the phone, newness of the product, and its limited customer base (its not a business smartphone) Would be interesting to compare it to sales of other smartphones (moto q, blackjack, pearl,etc)

Actually, just because it isn't advertised to work with Windoze does not mean the iPhone it's not a phone for business.

First of all, iPhone CAN work with windoze exchange by enabling a simple option on exchange.

In addition, there are many people using the iPhone for business. Real estate agents are connected to their company's database. Doctors are using it to view medical imagery, data. Etc.

Also, the ease of use of iPhone for browsing essential company backend database via Safari is just beyond comparison with the mobi browsers.

 

[Data]

10 million sold in 2008 ?

If they bring the iphone to the rest of the world withing 6 months that should be possible, if it only goes to france ,uk and germany, it would not be i think.

 

[syriana]

But are they on track for 10million in 2008 as stated in January? Will sales continue to grow or decline after an initial burst?

The Sept goal was only announced at the July Quarterly meeting so it's not very impressive to me that they hit it since they already had seen a month of sales to base that on. So I don't think it is very good evidence in itself that the price cut wasn't in response to poor sales. *cough* daringfireball *cough*

As others pointed out we know they sold ~250k in the first few days and then 750k over the next 2 months. Extrapolating that 750k out to a year only gets us to 4.5 million phones.

Of course, now there is a price cut and there may be new models to kickstart new sales so we'll have to sit back and see what happens!

I still think it's likely that they planned a more modest price cut initially, but decided they needed to cut it more... in part because of slowing sales.

(Just to clarify, it is impressive that they sold 1 million, it's just not impressive that they hit a milestone they pretty much already knew they were going to hit.)

too bad there isn't a world outside US, it would help achieve their sale goal..

 

[ruutiveijari]

And has ANY phone at any price sold this many this fast?.

Well Razr had bad couple of months at the beginning (because of the price) but then sky rocketted and sold 50 million in first two years (on sale middle 2004, 50 million in July 2006). That's a bit over 2 million per month.

 

[Ibjr]

Put differently, that decision cost them essentially $100 million. As a shareholder, I'd be upset.

Excuse me? $100 million in credits to the Apple Store. This brings AT&T costumers into the Apple Store. My guess is in 6 months you'll see it many of those who used the $100 credits were not existing costumers and a large portion of the credit won't be claimed.

Those who do buy stuff will buy high margin products so Apple will lose little.

If this works it'll be a steal. Costumer acquisition cost for premium electronics is usually far higher.

 

[dernhelm]

hah, you mean that funny named 5gig, $400 behemoth with no touchwheel, only 6 lines of text display, no equalizer and no windows support (which is the majority of the population) surprises you that it took it so long to sell?

i would have thought it would reach this milestone earlier too, especially with all the hype and the established branding. guess that's why they dropped it to $399. wonder how many of those sales were in the last week?

5 gigs was a lot of storage at the time. But $400 was A LOT of money to pay, and the fact that there was no Windows support, meant that no matter what it was going to take a while to get to 1M. And even though the device is nothing like it is today it was still the best thing going.

In point of fact, 2 years was not a long time to go from zero to 1M. Especially with almost zero hype outside the Mac community, and a lot of raised eyebrows inside the Mac community. The fact that they were able to get it rolling and hit 1M in the first 2 years was really pretty astounding.