Apple, Inc. stock closed on Friday at another all time record high after reports said the Cupertino, California based company had sold out of the iPhone 5’s initial stock. Apple had to stop taking preorders of its latest smartphone.
Shares of Apple increased by 1.2% on the day and ended the week at $691.28. Gains for this year are over 70% in the stock price, and give the huge tech giant a market value of over $648 billion.
Orders for the new generation iPhone 5 started at midnight Thursday with a promise for delivery on September 21. That particular date is also the day the phone will be in stores throughout the U.S. and in some other countries.
However, after just four hours of online sales, the store at Apple said shipping of new orders would not take place until September 28. The website indicated that the entire stock of iPhone 5 smartphones have been sold out.
Many analysts have increased the projections for quarterly sales for the new generation iPhone5. One Wall Street analyst increased his estimate of sales from 23 million units to 26 million during the quarter. He also said he believes that increase is conservative.
Previous iPhone models have sold out very quickly online, but the latest model is the fastest one to sell out. Preorders were 20 times faster than any prior iPhone. When the iPhone 4S was launched the one-week window for delivery was available until the afternoon of the first day of orders. However, the iPhone 5 one week delivery date lasted just four hours.
Of course, it was also launched in more markets than previous versions, including China. Not to mention they give no numbers as to their initial stock, even in comparisons to previous launches. Their refusal to give any details makes me skeptical about actual demand.