Even though Apple’s shares rose last week as pre-orders of the iPhone 5 set records, the sales over the weekend did not meet expectations and estimates of several analysts, causing the shares of the company to fall on Monday.
Apple had recorded over 5 million units of the iPhone 5 being sold within the first three days of the orders opening up. This record surpassed the sales of the iPhone 4S from last year as well. The latest iPhone, with faster wireless speed, a larger screen, a powerful microprocessor, lightweight body and the Maps app, is giving Apple an edge over its rivals like Samsung and the Android operating system. The demand for the iPhone 5 has superseded the supply, Apple confirmed. However, as opposed to the estimates for weekend sales offered by analysts which stood between 6 million to as high as 10 million, the numbers were a lot lower over the weekend, indicating a possibility of the availability of the product, rather than the demand, impacting the sale. Apple’s shares fell by 1.3 percent at the end of Monday.
The focus is now on how Apple’s supply will meet the global demand in the right time rather than just the top technology it has to offer to its users. Sales are happening through wireless carriers, retail stores, online stores and Apple stores, with millions of units being in transit. The company released a statement declaring that most of the pre-orders had been shipped and the remaining ones will be shipped later in October. Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, admitted that they were trying hard to meet the demand of every customer and online stores are open to receiving orders from customers who will also be given an approximate delivery date. Apple has earned profits of $8.3 billion on sales of $36.1 billion post the release of the iPhone 5 which contributes for about two third of the company’s profits.
In order to deal with the problem of scarce supply, Apple has laid off the direct sale of the iPhone 5 in Hong Kong and has resorted to the lottery system instead. Unfortunately for Apple, the shortage in the supply of iPhones has boosted the black market sales of the device.
