More Evidence of Apple's Plans To Deliver A Big iPhone Unit Sales Surprise

Posted by: Peter Burrows on October 06

According to the folks at BullishCross, Apple has already surpassed its goal of selling 10 million iPhones by the end of the year. This is based on their analyses of the 15-digit International Mobile Equipment Identity found on every iPhone. By their reckoning, Apple sold more than seven million this quarter, nearly double the four million most Wall Street analysts expect. If true, it means Apple is three months ahead of schedule in hitting that 10 million mark—those three months being the crucial holiday season when so many consumer electronics gadgets are sold.

Such optimistic news is hard to swallow amid all the dismal economic news at the moment. But while I don’t vouch for their research methodology, their findings seem consistent with a story we ran a few weeks ago that revealed Apple’s hugely ambitious production plan to build 40 million iPhone 3Gs by next August. If my source is correct (and I’ve heard nothing from Apple or anyone else to suggest our story was off-base), then a significant portion of those would need to be sold this holiday season.

Of course, production plans are never set in stone. Most likely, Apple has taken its foot of the gas a bit—at least until the economic picture stabilizes. Nevertheless, I’d bet Apple will announce it has broken that ten million mark when the company hosts its next product launch event. Still, investors seem to already be counting on it; other than this rumor today, I found little other reason to explain why AAPL was one of very few tech stocks to end the day in positive territory.

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