Apple stock wilts on worries about iPhone demand
3.6 percent, to close Monday's regular trading at $501.75, dragging the company's market value nearly $190 billion below where it stood in late September. The stock traded at $498.51 earlier in the day, its lowest price since February.
The stock's decline hasn't been entirely caused by concerns about the iPhone 5's sales performance. Industry analysts are also worried about the recent introduction of a smaller, less expensive iPad cutting into the company's profits.
But the biggest fears hover around the iPhone because it has become Apple's most valuable product since the company's late CEO, Steve Jobs, unveiled the first model in 2007. Apple has sold more than 271 million of the devices since then, and in the company's last fiscal year ending in September, the iPhone generated $80 billion in sales to account for more than half of the company's total revenue.
But Apple's upgrades of the iPhone in the past two years have disappointed gadget lovers who have been clamoring for Apple to do more to stay in front of device makers relying on the free Android software made by Google Inc. For instance, there were high hopes for a larger iPhone screen with the release of the 2011 model, but Apple waited until last September to take that leap. And when Apple moved to a larger display screen with the iPhone 5, it didn't include a special chip to enable users to make mobile payments by tapping the handset on another device at the checkout stand. Such a mobile payment feature
Be the first to comment.
