Apple expected to post record profit to competitor’s dismay
Apple Inc. is all set to post another record quarterly profit on Tuesday, to competitor’s dismay.
The Cupertino, Calif.-based gadgets maker owns merely 8 per cent of the worldwide phone market, but it pockets around 80 per cent of the entire industry's operating profits. Its trading figures for the recent quarter will set the bar even higher for rival manufacturers.
Big-box electronics chain Best Buy has been selling several Apple products off and on for the more than a decade, but analysts believe that the Cupertino firm has become a major threat to the chain.
US carrier AT&T Inc. has been selling Apple's mobile gadgets like the iPhone, since the very first iPhone was launched in 2007. While Apple’s stock jumped 415 per cent since then, AT&T’s stock shed 25 per cent.
Now, Apple’s iPhone is available on three U. S. carriers, viz. AT&T, Sprint and Verizon. While these carriers are competing with one another to attract customers, Apple is enjoying an increase in the sales of its smartphone.
William Power, an analyst with R. W. Baird & Co., said, “The primary beneficiary of the growth in wireless data has been one company — Apple.”
As per Wall Street analysts’ average prediction, Apple will report $9.2 billion in profit for the three month through March this year. The iPhone sales will account for the bulk of the Apple’s profit.
