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Topic: Mobility

The three reasons Apple stores are only selling 1 iPhone per hour

Summary: Research performed at Apple retail outlets this past weekend by Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster maintains that 1 iPhone was charged per hour. That's compared to 13 iPods per hour.

Russell Shaw

By Russell Shaw for IP Telephony |

applestore1.jpg

Research performed at Apple retail outlets this past weekend by Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster maintains that 1 iPhone was charged per hour. That's compared to 13 iPods per hour.

Compare that to this past August, when, as AppleInsider's Katie Marsal notes, 1.3 iPhones were sold each hour.

And I also point out that of the 13 iPods per hour, 46 percent were iPod nanos.

What can we read into these numbers- wspecially the proportionate decline in iPhone sales on the Friday after Thanksgiving-the busiest shopping day of the year?

It is hard for me not to maintain that the initial iPhone rush of last June was fueled by hard-core enthusiasts. That lasted thru summer. Now, it may be that the slower rate of iPhone purchases is being driven by three facts:

Most everyone who REALLY, REALLY wanted an iPhone already has one;

Conditioned by Apple's iPhone pricing policies, potential iPhone purchasers are holding out for the next price decrease after the first of next year, and;

Other potential iPhone acquirers are waiting for their current wireless carrier service contracts to expire before they jump ship to AT&T Mobility and buy an iPhone.

Topics: Mobility, Apple, Hardware, iPhone

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Talkback

21 comments
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  • RE: IPhone

    For me, it will be over a year before I can think about buying a IPhone. That is when my contract will be up with another carrier.
    d_nc
    Reply Vote

    • iPhone needs to come to T-Mobile

      Why did Apple have to team exclusivly with att; overpriced, changes its name every two minutes, rude associates, bogus carrier.
      AtomicFusion
      Reply Vote

  • RE: The three reasons Apple stores are only selling 1 iPhone per hour

    Your 3 reasons why sales have slowed:

    1) The iSheep already have an iPhone
    2) Everyone else wants an iPhone but are waiting for a price drop OR
    3) Everyone else wants an iPhone but are waiting for their contract to be up

    What about reason #4?

    4) Not everyone wants an iPhone, and many more people that do, shouldn't.

    I have a phone that does double what the iPhone does, had its predecessor for a year and a half, and all it lacks is the iPhone sexiness (and while it has a touch screen that works beautifully, it's not multi-touch).

    All this iTalk makes me iSick.
    drokkon
    Reply Vote

    • Here's this for a thought

      How about getting off your moral high horse and letting people buy what they want
      without you feeling so offended by it you have to go on some crusade over it.
      frgough
      Reply Vote

      • They are.

        That's why iPhone sales are down . . . ;)
        JLHenry
        Reply Vote

    • You forgot reason 5

      5) People want an iPhone, but the thought of being with att again makes them gag.
      AtomicFusion
      Reply Vote

  • Why let a contract stand in your way?

    I wasn't about to wait for my contract to expire before deciding that I absolutely didn't want, didn't need, and didn't have to have an iCandy.
    MGP2
    Reply Vote

  • RE: The three reasons Apple stores are only selling 1 iPhone per hour

    Lots, I mean LOTS, of people over here in the Philippines
    just waiting for the unlocked iPhone to be sold officially.
    imbiere@...
    Reply Vote

    • 3 Reasons Apple stores only selling 1 iPhone/hour

      Virtual keyboard too small for data entry with normal fingers in portrait mode, lack of
      good pda functions and syncing, and slow ATT network for web use.

      I did not submit the TalkBack above. You have a bug in your Talkback system.
      imbiere@...
      Reply Vote

      • Or . . .

        Someone else knows your login . . .
        JLHenry
        Reply Vote

  • RE: The three reasons Apple stores are only selling 1 iPhone per hour

    People always forget the other sources of iPhones; the
    AT&T stores, and the Apple Online Store. This is where
    much of the action is in iPhone sales!
    proeger
    Reply Vote

    • But

      They did a study of Apple Store sales before the holiday, during the holiday, and after the holiday.

      So, the other places where the phone is available is not important. A decline in sales at Apple Stores is illustrated.

      So, Apple, Inc may sell more than 1 iPhone per hour (duh), but the Apple Store that they studied did not. Previously, it did. It is easy to extrapolate from that data that there has been a decline in sales (slight, and still impressive for an expensive and feature-poor gadget). It could be completely inaccurate, but the fact remains that shoppers [i]at[i] the Apple Store are less likely buy an iPhone now than they were 3 months ago.
      laura.b
      Reply Vote

      • Edit

        I must have mistyped...only the "at" should have been italicized. Sorry for that.
        laura.b
        Reply Vote

      • Without knowing anything else..

        about the methodology of the survey, these results are meaningless.

        How many stores were surveyed?
        Where are they?
        Are they the same stores surveyed before?
        What hours were they surveyed?

        Without knowing these, and other details, of the study, we can't really gather any
        meaningful information.

        For example, perhaps the reason that 27% of the people who came within 25 feet
        of the store entered was because they were headed toward the store anyway.
        msalzberg
        Reply Vote

        • In general

          I would go with you on this. But the leading analysts in the country (Piper Jaffray led by Gene Munster) are the ones who did the studies.

          You are free to google the study itself and analyze to your heart's content. But they are the experts.

          Perhaps they erred. I doubt it seriously.
          laura.b
          Reply Vote

      • The eagerness for Apple to fail

        has always intrigued me. Seriously, what do you care?
        frgough
        Reply Vote

        • What eagerness?

          I don't want them to fail.

          I want them to do well so other companies will have to do better as well.

          However, the point of this study had nothing to do with online sales, and were only reflective of the in-store sales, which pointed to decline.

          You argue this? Do you own study.
          laura.b
          Reply Vote

  • RE: The three reasons Apple stores are only selling 1 iPhone per hour

    Odd that commentators use insults to discuss the iPhone (iCandy, iSick, etc.). iPhone users typically just enjoy their iPhones without the need to insult other models. Could the iInsulters be iJealous or work for the iCompetition? Normal healthy folks don't get all upset about someone else liking their mobile phone.
    iOpinion
    Reply Vote

    • You must be new

      [i]Normal healthy folks[/i]

      That doesn't describe hardly any of the people on this site....

      :)
      laura.b
      Reply Vote

      • Pasty white geeks . . . .

        [i]THAT'S [/i] the proper term for us . . .

        I tried tanning once. I got so red that people started chasing me wearing bibs and carrying melted butter . . . ;)
        JLHenry
        Reply Vote
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