Apple Inc. shares fell as much as 5 percent Tuesday after AT&T said it activated 146,000 iPhones during the first few days of the highly-anticipated product's launch, far less than Wall Street's initial sales estimates.
AT&T, the only cell phone operator to carry the iPhone, revealed the iPhone activation figures in its earnings report Tuesday. The telecom giant said that of the 146,000 iPhone customers signed in the first two days of the product's existence, more than 40 percent of them were new subscribers.
But Wall Street analysts had estimated that Apple and AT&T had sold as many as 700,000 iPhones during the first weekend. The iPhone hit stores at 6 p.m. on Friday, June 29. Both AT&T and Apple's quarters ended June 30.
The Cupertino maker of iPods, Macs and iPhones is scheduled to announce earnings Wednesday, including its first report on iPhone sales.
Some iPhone customers reported that they initially had trouble signing up for AT&T service. Others bought two and passed on or sold the second one to someone else, which meant that they were likely activated later in the week. And still other customers ordered the iPhone online, which meant they could not activate the cell phone until they received it.
"I think it's a disappointment relative to the hype numbers, but for product launches it's still a success," said Gene Munster, an analyst with Piper Jaffray. He said he expects Apple to report about 200,000 iPhones sold during the first two days. Though the number is lower than he expected, he did not change his rating on the company.
Courtesy of the San Francisco Chronicle.