Posted on 01/18/2007 6:02:05 PM PST by jdm
SAN JOSE, Calif. - Apple Inc. will have plenty of room to eventually reduce the retail price of its upcoming iPhone, according to preliminary gross margin estimates by a market research company.
The iPhone, the combination cell phone-iPod media player that Apple unveiled last week, will yield gross margins of more than 50 percent at the current set of retail prices, iSuppli Corp. said in an analysis of presumed component and manufacturing costs.
The 4-gigabyte version of the iPhone, with a retail price of $499, will cost Apple $245.83 to make, iSuppli estimated. The 8-gigabyte version, priced at $599, will cost Apple $280.83.
"With a 50 percent gross margin, Apple is setting itself up for aggressive price declines going forward," said Jagdish Rebello, a director and principal analyst with iSuppli.
An Apple spokeswoman declined to comment.
Since Apple will face stiff competition in the cell phone market, the company may need to cut into its margins to reduce pricing in the future, he said.
The Apple iPhone, which was announced by CEO Steve Jobs last week, will be available starting in June exclusively through AT&T's Cingular Wireless. Apple has said it hopes to sell 10 million units in 2008, or about 1 percent of the market.
That goal "seems attainable," Rebello said.
FYI
That was good!
Well, no kidding. Everything goes down when the market becomes saturated. It happened with calculators, digital watches, VCR players, DVD players, camcorders, digital cameras, the list is endless. Why do we need someone to tell us this?
iPhone should be called the noPhone.
Mommy, when I grow up I wanna be an anal-list! (Whatta gig!)
I vote for iPhoney!
Real shocker!
But what would I know?
Classic.
Meanwhile, The House voted this evening to rescind $14 billion worth of tax breaks and subsidies for oil drillers and channel the money into a fund that would finance renewable energy projects and new technologies for conserving energy. Despite opposition from the oil industry and the Bush administration, which contended that the bill would unfairly single out oil companies for higher taxes and could increase the nation’s dependence on foreign oil.....
I am under the impression that all the taxes and regulations on oil industries have to pay to the feds for the priveledge to operate is much more than their gross profit margin or the available pay-out to shareholders.
As long as you have to ga through AT&T Wireless, I'll never get one. Worst experience EVER with a cell phone company.
What do you know? The analysts were right.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.