The consumers at VZ are voting. iPhone is fast becoming last week's news. :)
Source: blogs.barrons.com
Apple: ‘Thunderbolt’ Toe To Toe With iPhone At Verizon, Says BTIG.
By Tiernan Ray
BTIG Research analyst Walter Piecyk this afternoon writes that his calls to 150 Verizon Communications (VZ) stores in 22 cities in the U.S. this week reveal that the HTC “Thunderbolt” phone, based on Google‘s (GOOG) “Android” software, is at least keeping pace with sales of Apple‘s (AAPL) iPhone.
Based on anecdotal reports, not actual sales figures, in 61% of cases, store reps told Piecyk that sames were about the same; in 11% of cases, the iPhone sales were ahead; in 28% of cases, the Thunderbolt was ahead.
“Clearly the strong sales of the ThunderBolt could be a result of the hype following the recent launch of the ThunderBolt,” two weeks ago, he writes. “But the qualitative feedback we received from sales people was an expectation that the ThunderBolt would keep pace with the iPhone.”
He adds, “Salespeople indicated that customers are very interested in the fast speeds offered by the ThunderBolt’s 4G capability and in some cases they indicated that they had received returns based on the battery life of the ThunderBolt.”
Not that the iPhone is having a tough time: sales are still “strong,” reps told him, and he himself believes they have been “steady” since the introduction of the iPhone 4 at Verizon on February 10th.
As for the stock, Apple’s fate is determined less by iPhone sales than by sales of iPad this quarter, he writes. Piecyk had raised his Apple target back on March 16th to $450 based on what he projected would be higher-than-expected iPad sales.
Apple shares today are down 56 cents at $348.07. |
