Friday Apple Rumors: T-Mobile Could Sell 4.8M iPhones

by Christopher Freeburn | December 7, 2012 1:06 pm

daily apple rumors AAPL[1]Here are your Apple rumors[2] and AAPL news items for today:

Potential Big Sales: The availability of Apple‘s (NASDAQ:AAPL[3]) iPhone on Deutsche Telekom‘s (PINK:DTEGY[4]) T-Mobile, the fourth largest U.S. wireless carrier, could mean sales of almost five million iPhones in the first year[5], AppleInsider notes. Deutsche Telekom announced yesterday that Apple products, presumably including the iPhone, would become available on T-Mobile’s network in 2013. RBC Capital Markets analyst Amit Daryanani says that T-Mobile could sell 4.8 million iPhones within the first year they become available through the carrier. When the iPhone came to Sprint (NYSE:S[6]), the carrier sold 6.3 million in the first year. T-Mobile has 24 million post-paid subscribers who could make the switch to the iPhone.

No Subsidy: While the iPhone may be coming to T-Mobile, the carrier is changing the way it sells mobile devices altogether[7]. T-Mobile will not subsidize the price of iPhones on two-year contracts, Fierce Wireless notes. That means the T-Mobile subscribers who purchase their iPhones through the carrier will pay full price for the phone, instead of receiving a discount. AT&T (NYSE:T[8]), Sprint and Verizon (NYSE:VZ[9]) offer a subsidy, which is later recouped by higher monthly fees. T-Mobile says that the higher up front cost for iPhones will be offset by lower monthly service fees. In fact, T-Mobile says it won’t subsidize the purchase price of any mobile device from any manufacturer starting in 2013, a complete break from the standard industry practice.

No Scuffles: Today’s launch of the iPad Mini in China was greeted with little crowding outside Apple’s Beijing Store due to a reservation system put in place by the company[10], the Wall Street Journal noted. After experiencing large and unruly crowds during the launch of the iPhone 4S in China, Apple opted to implement a reservation lottery conducted a day prior to the iPad Mini launch. Only customers with reservations could pick up iPad Minis at Apple’s Chinese stores today. While the rules may have prevented boisterous crowds, many people who showed up at Apple Stores today turned out to be scalpers who planned to resell the iPad Minis for a profit. In an effort to mitigate scalping, Apple placed a limit of two iPad Minis for each buyer and required photo identification to prevent repeat buying.

For more about the company, check out our previous Apple Rumors[11] stories.

Endnotes:

  1. [Image]: https://investorplace.com/hot-topics/apple-rumors-stock-news/
  2. Apple rumors: https://investorplace.com/search/?q=Apple+Rumors&searchsubmit=Search
  3. AAPL: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=AAPL
  4. DTEGY: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=DTEGY
  5. almost five million iPhones in the first year: http://appleinsider.com/articles/12/12/06/apple-forecast-to-sell-as-many-as-5m-t-mobile-iphones-in-first-year
  6. S: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=S
  7. changing the way it sells mobile devices altogether: http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/t-mobile-kills-device-subsidies/2012-12-06
  8. T: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=T
  9. VZ: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=VZ
  10. due to a reservation system put in place by the company: http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2012/12/07/scalpers-lay-seige-to-ipad-mini-launch-in-beijing/?mod=yahoo_hs
  11. Apple Rumors: https://investorplace.com/2012/04/hot-topics/apple-rumors-stock-news/

Source URL: https://investorplace.com/2012/12/friday-apple-rumors-t-mobile-could-sell-4-8m-iphones-a-year/