Tuesday Apple Rumors: T-Mobile to Sell iPhone 5 for $99

Advertisement

daily apple rumors AAPLHere are your Apple rumors and AAPL news items for today:

Finally: The last major U.S. wireless carrier not to offer Apple‘s (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPhone will finally do so on April 12, Wired notes. T-Mobile, owned by Germany’s Deutsche Telekom (PINK:DTEGY), will sell the 16GB iPhone 5 for $99. Subscribers will pay off the iPhone’s cost by paying an additional $20 on top of monthly data plan fees for 20 months. Rival wireless carriers, Sprint (NYSE:S), Verizon (NYSE:VZ) and AT&T (NYSE:T) require subscribers to accept a two-year contract to subsidize iPhone purchases. T-Mobile users who don’t want to pay off the iPhone 5 in installments may opt to purchase the phone at its full retail price from the carrier. The iPhone 5 will run on T-Mobile’s new 4G/LTE network, which will cover 200 million U.S. residents by the end of this year. T-Mobile will also sell top-line Samsung, BlackBerry (NASDAQ:BBRY) and HTC phones with its new “Uncarrier” plans.

Subcontinent: In the next few years, Apple plans to triple its retail store presence in India, CNET notes. By 2015, Apple will have 200 exclusive stores in the country. Unlike in the U.S., Apple permits franchisees to open and run Apple Premium Reseller shops in India. The company also partners with big box Indian electronics retailers to sell its products. Apple has lagged behind other smartphone makers in the Indian market, but has made a new push to increase its sales in the country over the last several months. An Indian law that mandates that 30% of products sold in India must come from an India-based partner company has hampered Apple, which outsources its manufacturing to Chinese partners.

Lowered Expectations: Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster says that Apple’s profits will dip 14% during the first half of 2013, AppleInsider notes. But Munster also predicts that a series of new product launches in the summer and fall will boost the iPad-maker’s profit by 15% by year’s end. He has set a price target of $767 for Apple shares. Munster has previously forecast the debut of an updated iPad next month. However, he says that if the new iPad doesn’t debut until later in the year, Apple shares won’t feel a significant impact. He expects the company to unveil its newest iPhone in June, following by a cheaper iPhone model for emerging markets in September. Munster also predicts that Apple will launch its own television set by the end of the year.

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


Article printed from InvestorPlace Media, https://investorplace.com/2013/03/tuesday-apple-rumors-t-mobile-to-sell-iphone-5-for-99/.

©2024 InvestorPlace Media, LLC