Are We Facing an iPhone Glut?

Fri Jan 25, 2008 1:39PM EST

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According to Cnet and a report from financial analyst firm Sanford C. Bernstein, the world may soon be drowning in unsold iPhones. Pointing to announcements that Apple had sold 3.7 million iPhones to its partners like AT&T last year but AT&T had only activated 2 million of them, many are wondering what those other 1.7 million phones are up to.

Some are in Europe, but combined, the resellers in the UK, France, and Germany sold an estimated 400,000 phones last year. As Cnet notes, 1.3 million phones have certainly not been bought by people intent on unlocking them (Apple estimated 250,000 as of October)... but any way you cut it, hundreds of thousands of iPhones are out there, waiting for you to come and buy them. With a whopping 4,400 iPhone distributors worldwide, Bernstein estimates there are 150 unsold phones sitting in each store, a huge number in the world of consumer electronics.

Apple wants to sell 10 million iPhones this year, and launches in other parts of the world will help it get there (that's about 1% of the cell phone market worldwide). But if demand is already flagging on its home turf, what then? Could it be that consumers are sitting it out, waiting for a 3G version of the phone? (I know I am.) And if so, what happens to all those old handsets? My guess? Don't be surprised if we see another round of iPhone price cuts in advance of that 3G iPhone release.

LINK: Report: iPhones piling up at AT&T stores 

Comments on Are We Facing an iPhone Glut?

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  • 6 Posted by surfwiththewaves485 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:49PM EDT Report Abuse

    Its simple, in europe we do not pay for a phone and a mobile contract, people don't want to pay for both. It is just unknown to do so. If you are on contract you want a free phone, and you can get good ones for free like the n95. So if basically you turnt up with a iphone people would be like, why the heck have you paid £269 and £30 a mouth. The fact that there is no 3g is a big issue because in europe there are 3g only networks, like three that has been around for at least six years.

  • 7 Posted by rogueist on Thu Sep 3, 2009 8:49PM EDT Report Abuse

    They need to release a totally unlocked version. No way am I going to buy one locked to AT&T. And they better all get their data plans in order too. I'm not going to pay some outrageous monthly fee for service either.

  • 8 Posted by gspet on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:14PM EDT Report Abuse

    I'm afraid AT&T is a giant anchor around the iPhone. I would absolutely all ready have one except... you guessed it... I'm Verizon and for a multitude of reasons I can't/won't switch.

  • 9 Posted by jaysir18 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:29PM EDT Report Abuse

    I was thinking about switching from my Sprint HTC Mogul, to the AT&T iPhone. Although it's going to cost me over $700 to do the whole entire plan switch, not to mention the additional $160 a month plan... I'm scared. If i knew that they could just "upgrade" the original iphone and make it into a 3g one, i would have already done the switch.. but I'm extremely scared to get one. So if someone from apple is reading this... Secrecy is no friend. You lose business!

  • 10 Posted by gsagi007 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:13PM EDT Report Abuse

    the iPhone is worth the switching and the signing the contract for many. One has to pay more for a quality of experience that is just plain better that the inexpensive other options. The 3G is not an issue because when compared to 3G phones the the combination of its speedy software-parsing and the latency of 3G makes up for the data-stream difference. The missing iPhones are not sitting in inventory but had been sold for unlocking and are being used all around the world as the iPhone is wildly popular for its features (user interface, ease of use, esthetics, iPod combo), Apple knows this and will not do anything about rumors but will protect its business-model further. The company is market-savvy, did its research and will continue to widen its presence in the wireless business. ...and finally, the iPhone is NOT a cellphone but a wireless internet communicator and iPod combo but the term is awkward and so 'iPhone' will possibly become to stand for its own category as the iPod has already done (podcasting, etc.) cheers!

  • 11 Posted by praisedivinemercy on Thu Sep 3, 2009 8:18PM EDT Report Abuse

    I just bought a new phone and would have got an iPhone had it been available for T-Mobile. The single provider scam simply is not good business.

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