Would Apple have beaten RIM/been the world's 3rd largest phone company in Q4 if...

Seth Weintraub
|
October 23, 2008
|
Share

...it was meeting demand in Q2 and Q3?  Thanks to Jordan Golson from the Industry Standard for the original graph.  My opinion here.

Irrational exuberance?

Comments (7)

daPrinz (not verified) | October 23, 2008 - 10:50am

Who cares?
You want to start making charts what would be if the iPhone would be sold unlocked?

sfmitch (not verified) | October 23, 2008 - 11:05am

I am not sure of the answer to your question, but I don't think it is a very interesting question.

Unless you are trying to justify why you lost a bet or are a RIM executive trying to justify these number, it really doesn't matter why Apple beat RIM in their most recent quarters, it just is astonishing that they did.

The iPhone has only been on sale for 15 months. The fact that sales of the iPhone are even close (let alone beating) RIM is un-freakin-believable.

As an iPhone user - I am extremely happy and highly recommend the iphone to other.

As an Apple shareholder, I am amazed at how well Apple is executing. Apple has done an incredible job creating the iPhone / iPod touch ecosystem. The whole world was watching and many, many people would have delighted in seeing Apple fail at this whole cell phone thing. Steve Jobs and his team made a big gamble and are now big winners -- No Guts, No Glory!!

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | October 23, 2008 - 11:23am

I think it is absolutely incredible that Apple entered into this market and immediately became a player. Apple, like any great company that is willing to take risks, has had a few missteps in recent years, but overall they stand as a shining example of what you can can be accomplished when you put the customer experience at the top of the list of priorities.

I use both Macs and PCs in my business, and I am thrilled that Apple continues to ignite the tech world with their innovation and attention to detail.

Anonymous Coward (not verified) | October 23, 2008 - 11:47am

It loks to me like demand dropped off in the first half waiting for the 3G version. Why spend the money in May when there were tons of rumours about a new device?

From the graph, it looks like Apple's supply chain is working very well. The only hiccups were in August right after the 3G launch.

Benjamin Dobson | October 23, 2008 - 11:49am

So what? It's still incredible.

Bulu (not verified) | October 23, 2008 - 11:59am

The question is actually relevant. People expect (supported by Apple's careful phrasing) that Apple outselling RIM this quarter means Apple will do the same next quarter, meaning the increasing revenue following the trend. On the other hand, if the huge rise in revenue was to a good part due to the mentioned points in the article, we may not read anything into the next quarters.

daPrinz (not verified) | October 23, 2008 - 1:36pm

I disagree

A company saying that it outsold a rival does not mean they're doing it again.
I am pretty sure that Apple wasn't expecting this!
This is hughe!!! They sold 1 model 6.9 mio. times locked to specific carriers and with not really inexpensive plans.
Anyone knows how many models RIM has?
And most importantly is that businesses are switching from RIM to Apple.
Switching in corporations is not easy to preform.