| This contest is fueled by the following news: |
| | Apple has introduced it's iPhone at Macworld and it was an instant hit
among tech critics, and Wall Street analysts. Investors too, love iPhone and gave it
thumbs up, sending the Apple's stock price way up after it announced
the product. Apple Inc. is boldly going
into the cell phone market, where it's never gone before. General
consensus of reviewers and beta testers about iPhone is that
they like it and think it's "very cool" but then again cool does not
always mean successful. iPhone will hit the store shelves in June and
customers will then be able to give their verdict.
Apple have spent over two years developing iPhone and are making it
into the company's key product for the next few years, in its quest to
turn the win their share of the consumer electronics market.
How iPhone sells is especially important in the light of the slowing
sales of Apple's iPod.
At Macworld Conference & Expo, Steve Jobs, the Apple's big boss has
given a bright forecast for the iPhone. "It's the best cell phone in
the world and we will sell over 10 million copies of it in 2008,"
Jobs said. 10 million cell phone sales equals roughly one percent of the world's
total cell phone market.
Cingular will be iPhone's exclusive carrier.
Apple's forecasts and reality do not always go together, however. When
Apple introduced iPod, it took the company four years to sell first 10
million copies, with the first year sales being only slightly above 3
million. Talking about smartphones, however, US customers bought about
4 million of them last year, and are growing more popular with the
consumers due to features like internet surfing and email - which iPhone has
too.
Apple's toughest obstacle in meeting its targets is probably the
iPhone's price. The units are priced from US $500 for the basic model
to UD $600 for the premium model, which makes iPhone more expensive
than most cell phones and smartphones in United States market.
The average cell phone cost $63 in 2006 in the USA, while the average
smartphone sold for about $200.
Cell phohe companies often tag high prices on the newly released cell
phones, gradually lowering them to attract consumers with different
budgets. Apple is likely to hold to this strategy with iPhone, but
because of the expensive production and components costs, price
reduction flexibility can be quite limited. |
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