New Apple iPhone 5 had better be really good!!
Apple Inc.’s fiscal third quarter results disappoint and indicate that many of its customers will wait nearly 6 months for the next iPhone.
In that sense, investors had better hope that the iPhone 5 is really, really good.!
On Tuesday, Apple reported a strong gain in earnings for its fiscal third quarter, but it sold 26 million iPhones, which was shy of Wall Street expectations of 28 million. The company also gave its typical conservative forecast for its September quarter, which was far lower than many analysts had been modeling, but one that implies even lower iPhone sales. Its shares fell 5% in after-hours trading.
On the conference call, in a rare admission, both chief executive Tim Cook and chief financial officer Peter Oppenheimer acknowledged that “rumors and speculation” of “new products” played a big role in the iPhone sales slowdown. But they still refused to acknowledge that a new iPhone will be launched, only that they look forward to its new mobile operating system, iOS 6, in the fall.
“We are reading the same things as you about expectations for a new iPhone,” said Oppenheimer. “We think this has caused some pause in customer purchasing.”
Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster said in a note to clients that the company’s guidance “seems to imply an October release of the new iPhone (inline with our previous expectations),” Munster wrote.
That means Apple likely has another quarter of slumping iPhone sales. It also indicates that the device is popular enough that many consumers are willing to wait for months for the latest version. That raises the bar for Apple, which has admittedly done well impressing customers in the past. But time and rumors have a way of raising expectations and hype, and most analysts were already predicting a “monster” launch of the next iPhone.
Apple better hope that 3 more months of buzz does not set the bar higher than even it can achieve.