Gartner Group (IT), whose analyst Kevin Delaney was widely quoted earlier this week claiming Apple (AAPL) had ordered 10 million 3G iPhones from its manufacturing partners in Asia, has clarified that claim a bit.
Turns out Delaney has no idea whether or not Apple placed such an order. “We have not got confirmation that an order has been placed,” Gartner’s Bob Hafner told InformationWeek, adding, “If Apple was to place an order, then 10 million would be a reasonable number.”
“If Apple was to place an order, then 10 million would be a reasonable number.” Pfttttt …
We will enter Asia with the iPhone in 2008. … We will one day enter China, we’re not saying when, and we will one day enter India.”
–Apple COO Tim Cook
Here’s another brief but interesting bit of news to emerge from Apple’s annual shareholders’ meeting yesterday. When CEO Steve Jobs pledged the company would sell 10 million iPhones in 2008 did he mean 10 million phones within this calendar year, or 10 million phones between June 29, 2007 and Dec. 31, 2008? Well, according to Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster, it’s the former. “We confirmed with Apple that the goal is to sell 10m iPhones ‘in CY08′ alone,” Munster wrote in a note to clients, adding that the company will have no trouble hitting that target–especially once it launches the iPhone in Asia, as COO Tim Cook promised.
“We are currently modeling for 12.9m iPhones in CY08,” Munster said. “Exceeding the goal by 2.9m units or 29%. … Jobs’s reiteration of the 10 million iPhones and the iPhone in Asia by the end of the year eases some investor concerns.”
