Apple downgraded as carriers prepare to stunt iPhone growth

By Tiko377 - 04-09-2012, 09:08 AM - Boxden > BX Tech

Following a huge week that saw Apple’s stock climb above $630 amid a fresh round of analyst upgrades, one analyst isn’t sold on the notion that smooth sailing is[..]ured in the immediate future for the world’s most valuable company. BTIG Research analyst Walter Piecyk thinks Apple is set to report blowout earnings for the second fiscal quarter — he sees Apple earning $10.75 per share on sales of $40 billion in the quarter, versus Wall Street’s consensus of $9.81 and $36 billion — but he downgraded Apple’s stock to Neutral from Buy, noting that it’s time for investors to “take a breather.” Read on for more.

“We continue to maintain our view that Apple is the primary beneficiary of an accelerating growth trend in the global adoption of smartphones, considering global penetration of smartphones has not yet even reached 30%,” Piecyk wrote in a research note on Monday. “However, given the run up in Apple’s stock and the consensus estimates, we think now is a good time to more carefully consider how it will capitalize on the next and likely much larger leg of growth in the industry and prepare for the inevitable bumps that may occur on the way.”

The analyst believes Apple could run into some trouble starting in the third fiscal quarter that may eventually lead to a price cut on Apple’s iPhone, which currently drives much of Apple’s success due to huge margins. While numerous analysts see continued success for Apple’s highly sought-after smartphone, Piecyk believes carriers will soon grow less willing to sustain a $600 iPhone.

“Subsidies by post-paid wireless operators have fueled the growth of Apple’s $600 iPhone since its inception” Piecyk wrote. “Even in the pre-paid dominant markets of China and Europe, heavily subsidized iPhone’s are available to users willing to sign up for a contract. Wireless operators have been happy to subsidize smartphones to new and existing customers in order to provide a lift to the average monthly bill (ARPU) of their customer base, a metric which had been falling for the past three decades.”

The analyst continued, “The positive inflection point in ARPU was cheered by investors but the cost to drive that ARPU accretion is now starting to eat away at profitability and the performance of those stocks. Operators, unwilling to stall the pace of ARPU growth, offered generous upgrade policies including some that enabled a fully subsidized phone upgrade only one year in to a two year contract. We expect those policies to change as the faster upgrade rate of smartphones compared to legacy feature phones has been a costly surprise to post-paid and pre-paid operators, alike.”

BTIG sees Apple selling 33 million iPhones in the second fiscal quarter and 27.5 million in the third, when it could miss Wall Street’s earnings estimates as it did in the fourth quarter last year. “Specifically, we expect Apple’s iPhone sales to drop to 27.5 million units in Fiscal Q3 resulting in a revenue estimate that is $1 billion below consensus,” Piecyk noted.

http://www.bgr.com/2012/04/09/apple-downgraded-as-carriers-prepare-to-stunt-iphone-growth/

04-09-2012, 12:54 PM

not much of a surprise here... everyone knows this is last iphone that jobs had his hands on in developing

04-09-2012, 03:10 PM

Originally Posted by fat_boyy21

not much of a surprise here... everyone knows this is last iphone that jobs had his hands on in developing

.. yeah because "everyone" knows what happens inside those facilities...

04-09-2012, 03:10 PM

^^Word

04-09-2012, 03:41 PM

Samsung Galaxy phone line
HTC One and Evo line
LG has a new flagship phone coming
Motorola Droid and new phones with Google coming

backlash of boring iphone 4s, mixed in with harsh criticism of Apple this past year with up surge of Google Nexus, Samsung Galaxy S2 and Skyrocket with denial of LTE for iphone 4s when most phone were getting them already.....yeah apple has a serious year of android and windows phones coming to kick their[..]es....their iphone will sell a bunch but with most phones coming out with alot of power and features to them...iphone is a sinking ship

04-09-2012, 04:06 PM

Originally Posted by fat_boyy21

not much of a surprise here... everyone knows this is last iphone that jobs had his hands on in developing

GTFOH, as if Steve was an engineer. Amd regardless, all tech companies have roadmaps that have released planned and scheduled. You didnt think they were thinking about life after [rip]?

04-09-2012, 04:17 PM

Originally Posted by babalou

GTFOH, as if Steve was an engineer. Amd regardless, all tech companies have roadmaps that have released planned and scheduled. You didnt think they were thinking about life after [rip]?

right [pic]

mutha!!as think this nicca just died and left them with nothing. do you know how long the iphone concept was in development???[pic]

05:05 PM

Originally Posted by PTC

.. yeah because "everyone" knows what happens inside those facilities...

even apple fanboys remind me of this when im on other sites like mac rumors. apple always plans out a year ahead, and it's been documented that this is the last iphone that jobs had his hands on. here's proof

The fabled iPhone 5 — or whatever Apple ends up calling its follow-up to the iPhone 4S — may be Steve Jobs’ last hurrah, according to Rodman & Renshaw analyst Ashok Kumar.

As CNet reports, Kumar wrote in a research note last week that the next iPhone “was the last project that Steve Jobs was intimately involved with from concept to final design. For that reason…this product will est@blish the high water mark for iPhone volumes.”

He goes on to say that the iPhone 5 will have a thinner design and larger screen — a mantra we’ve heard repeated ad nauseam over the last year. Some very dedicated Apple fans ended up creating a realistic-looking mockup of the iPhone 5, based on a multitude of specs leaked online.

04-09-2012, 05:07 PM

Originally Posted by fat_boyy21

even apple fanboys remind me of this when im on other sites like mac rumors. apple always plans out a year ahead, and it's been documented that this is the last iphone that jobs had his hands on.

Doesn't matter what apple fanboys say.. you have to be one real dumbass to think the CEO and founder of Apple whom knew he was about to die didn't explore many releases after the 4s... and the future of the company years and years down the line. You think companies only think 1 year ahead of time? Your business sense sucks !! son, and that was shown months ago when you admittedly said you were a complete moron about stocks.

What the hell does "well documented" mean? It was also "well documented" Steve Jobs left the company with a roadmap for his vision and ideas for the company 5+ years down the line.

The 4s was just an incremental upgrade with siri, a better camera, and faster processor... you think Steve Jobs would allow himself to let this phone be the last iPhone he had his hands on?

[pic] then you're going to point to "apple fanboys" as your primary source of reaffirmation instead of using your own !!in brain... [pic]

You're one stupid mother !!er, talking about the same !! you been talking about for the past 3 years

[pic]

04-09-2012, 05:22 PM

Originally Posted by PTC

Doesn't matter what apple fanboys say.. you have to be one real dumbass to think the CEO and founder of Apple whom knew he was about to die didn't explore many releases after the 4s... and the future of the company years and years down the line. You think companies only think 1 year ahead of time? Your business sense sucks !! son, and that was shown months ago when you admittedly said you were a complete moron about stocks.

What the hell does "well documented" mean? It was also "well documented" Steve Jobs left the company with a roadmap for his vision and ideas for the company 5+ years down the line.

The 4s was just an incremental upgrade with siri, a better camera, and faster processor... you think Steve Jobs would allow himself to let this phone be the last iPhone he had his hands on?

[pic] then you're going to point to "apple fanboys" as your primary source of reaffirmation instead of using your own !!in brain... [pic]

You're one stupid mother !!er, talking about the same !! you been talking about for the past 3 years

[pic]

you're out of your mind if you think i would just blindly believe some fanboys.. I posted an article that proves it's true after you quoted me, but here's the original

04-09-2012, 05:26 PM

Originally Posted by fat_boyy21

you're out of your mind if you think i would just blindly believe some fanboys.. I posted an article that proves it's true after you quoted me, but here's the original

The subtitle:

Steve Jobs' most lasting legacy will be the iPhone 5, a project he was intimately involved with, according to one analyst.

Like I said:

You're one stupid mother !!er, talking about the same !! you been talking about for the past 3 years

I'll add, talking about the same !! with the same intelligence and logic level... you stay stupid as !!

[pic]

I don't need articles with people whom have no more access to information as you or I, to create my thoughts. Just put yourself in the shoes of Steve Jobs, and you'll understand much more of what I and every other person in this thread is saying.

Not sure you have the capability of doing something that requires that type of imagination... but yeah, you're a !!in idiot [pic]

04-09-2012, 05:35 PM

Originally Posted by PTC

The subtitle:

Steve Jobs' most lasting legacy will be the iPhone 5, a project he was intimately involved with, according to one analyst.

Like I said:

I'll add, talking about the same !! with the same intelligence and logic level... you stay stupid as !!

[pic]

[pic]

you forgot to add these

Another source, who I spoke with this week and who claims to have knowledge of the redesign, said the iPhone 5 is a "complete redesign. This is a very large project that Steve dedicated all of his time to. He was not that involved in the 4S because his time was limited."

CNet’s Brooke Crothers corroborates the report, citing sources who say that the iPhone 5 is indeed a “complete redesign.” The sources say that Jobs spent much of his time over the last year developing the device, and because of that he wasn’t very involved in the iPhone 4S’s release.

try reading the articles next time

[pic]

04-09-2012, 05:45 PM

Originally Posted by urbangatsby

iphone is a sinking ship

[pic]

You never get out or read much do you?

04-09-2012, 05:55 PM

Originally Posted by fat_boyy21

[pic]

you forgot to add these

try reading the articles next time

[pic]

You really must not know how the industry works when you're constantly sitting here quoting articles... I've already dismissed these articles and explained that they don't mean !! yet you're still quoting them like a !!in idiot ...

You're stupid as !! man [pic]

04-09-2012, 06:29 PM

Originally Posted by PTC

You really must not know how the industry works when you're constantly sitting here quoting articles... I've already dismissed these articles and explained that they don't mean !! yet you're still quoting them like a !!in idiot ...

You're stupid as !! man [pic]

just face it, you tried to troll and you came up looking like an idiot as usual. [pic]

04-09-2012, 06:32 PM

Wouldn't be worried about it till Ive leaves.

04-09-2012, 07:09 PM

why do people get so butthurt about what phone you use?

04-10-2012, 02:10 AM

Originally Posted by hockeythug

Wouldn't be worried about it till Ive leaves.

This! Steve didn't do !! but !!. He was a great salesman, but he was no engineer. The current UI for the new Apple Tv was turned down by Jobs 5 years ago, but reports indicate that consumers are happy with it. Shows u that Jobs didn't know everything.

04-10-2012, 06:33 AM

Originally Posted by purpleaxxe

This! Steve didn't do !! but !!. He was a great salesman, but he was no engineer. The current UI for the new Apple Tv was turned down by Jobs 5 years ago, but reports indicate that consumers are happy with it. Shows u that Jobs didn't know everything.

jobs was known for rejecting concepts and then bringing them back again (read his bio)... an he wasnt an engineer but it took his vision to steer the engineers that way... think quincy producing michael with the best musicians...

also the life of an operating system is about 10 years... iOS is on year 5... its about to start to decline before something new comes...

04-10-2012, 07:28 AM

Steve helped to build Apple's culture to what it is now... so if everyone else is on the same page, then the company will continue to progress.

I do hate when cats give Steve all the props for ideas. Dude was the leader but there were tons of other cats giving him recommendations... and those cats are still around.

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