Sprint Showing Aggressive Sales of Apple (AAPL) iPhones
According to a recent study by Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP), Sprint (NYSE:S) iPhones sell far better at Best Buy, storehouse clubs, and mass-market retailers like Costco, Walmart, etc, than they sell at Apple’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) own retail Stores.
CIRP polled iPhone purchasers over two three-month periods ending in March and May 2012. The poll showed that Sprint’s share of iPhone sales from Apple was only 9 percent.
In the meantime, the carrier’s shares of iPhone sales from Best Buy and other huge-market sellers were 19 percent and 18 percent, respectively. Simply, Sprint is selling double the amount of iPhones through huge retailers as compared to Apple.
Stock Movement In Response to News
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) stock slumped -1.95% to settle at 570.77, while Sprint Nextel (NYSE:S) also plunged -6.08% to end at 3.09, not picking up support from the optimistic news.
Apple’s Hidden Weapon
On Friday, Apple demanded a federal judge in San Jose, California pull the latest model of Samsung’s tablet Galaxy tab off the market for allegedly duplicating its iPad design.
With the integral role Apple has played in the Silicon Valley industrial design resurgence, it is fitting that the firm’s demand also highlights the coming of a foggy age for intellectual property.
In May, a board of the US Circuit Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit initially gave a verdict that Apple’s iPad design patent, called D504,889, was legal, despite the existence of similar designs for previous tablets, a 1994 Knight-Ridder prototype and the 2002 HP-Compaq TC1000.
Circuit Judge William C. Bryson, scripting for the board, then ruled that the iPad design was possibly violated by Samsung’s Galaxy 10.1 Tab, which hit markets in June of last year.
From my knowledge the reason for this is: Small towns have a lot of Walmarts and Best Buys but not an Apple store. In these same small towns Sprint has a stronger market share than in urban areas. So people are sticking with their provider and upgrading to the iPhone. Also, in a majority of these areas the iPhone may not work properly on ATT or Verizon due to the fact that many of the towers that serve these smaller communities are operated by subsidiaries or partnered companies (Alltel comes to mind) which don’t have the capabilities that match the needs of an iPhone. At least that was the case 6 months ago. It’s changing rapidly as these smaller communities are also gaining access to the iPhone through the smaller carriers who are upgrading network technology and Sprint who has a stronger marketing presence in non urban areas.