iPhone sales boost Apple shares to another all-time high

Apple shares hit another record high on Friday shortly after it commenced the sale of iPhone 5. The shares reached $704.63 in the middle of the morning.

The shares were at $704.85 in the start of the business on Friday. The new phone is on sale in nine countries, the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore. The handset will hit the shelves in another 22 countries by the end of this month.

Experts are of the opinion that the company will sell at least 8 Million units by the end of this week. The crowd outside Apple stores this year has surpassed last year’s by a thick margin. Investment bank Piper Jaffray suggests that the crowd has grown 85 percent more compared to the year-ago launch.

“Demand for the iPhone 5 is higher than any previous (iPhone) launch,” Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster said.

“Additionally, the fanfare around the phone and largely positive reviews from technology writers give us confidence that demand exists for Apple to sell 49 million phones in the December quarter, provided the company can make them fast enough,” he said.

The investment bank rates Apple ‘over weight’ at the year’s end and speculates the share price to reach a whopping $900.

Moreover, the bank speculates that Apple will sell more than 80 Million handsets by the end of October quarter. The demand is high and reboot of certain specs is enticing a number of customers to new purchases and renewal of contracts.

AT&T, Verizon and Sprint are considered to be the major beneficiaries of the handset. These carriers are official partners on iPhone 5 in the US.

A breakdown of the sales suggests that suppliers are also benefiting from iPhone sales both in consumer and stock markets. Broadcom, the maker of connectivity chips are expected to be the main profiteer in the sales.

“It appears as though Broadcom is the biggest beneficiary from the refresh of the iPhone,” Benchmark analyst Gary Mobley said in a research note Friday.

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=33042

Posted by Usman Khalid on Sep 22 2012. Filed under Sci-Tech. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.