Here's something to consider while you're waiting in line to buy an Apple iPhone 5: the lines this time are longer than ever.
At east, that's what Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster says. In a research note this morning he says that based on a headcount outside Apple stores in New York, Boston and Minneapolis that the lines were on average 83% longer than they were for the iPhone 4S. He counted 775 people in line alone outside the store on Fifth Avenue in New York., up 70% from the last launch, despite the fact that Apple took twice as many online pre-orders as they did for the 4S. "Given the strength of the line for the iPhone 5, we are incrementally more confident in Apple's ability to sell 8 million phones in the launch weekend," he writes.
Some other tidbits from the Street on the launch:
- Baird analyst William Power writes that his team visited Apple, AT&T, Verizon and Sprint stores in Chicago and Milwaukee. They counted 350 people at each Apple store in Chicago and 200 in Milwaukee, compared to 300 and 100 for the 4S, respectively. "Carrier stores drew lines of 15-30 people at most AT&T, Verizon and Sprint stores, a noticeable improvement from last year," he writes. "Additionally, our analyst in London spotted 500-600 people at the Convent Garden Apple Store." He added that most people he spoke to in line already owned earlier generation iPhones. That was consistent with my owner conversation with buyers in lines at Apple and carrier stores in Palo Alto. He expects first weekend sales to top 5 million phones.
- Topeka Capital analyst Brian White writes that his survey of 100 buyers at Apple stores in New York City finds a surprising number of people upgrading from the iPhone 4S. That, he says, is a bullish sign. "Given that the iPhone 4S was launched just one year ago and many consumers are locked into a two-year service agreement with their carrier, we thought the vast majority of the upgrades would come from iPhone 4, previous iPhone generations or non-iPhone users," he writes. "However, our survey indicates the opposite. In fact, our survey found that 50% of the iPhone 5 buyers upgraded from the iPhone 4S, 11% from the iPhone 4, 3% for 3GS and 36% from non-iPhone users." He also notes that 56% of buyers chose the black phone; 44% chose white.
AAPL this morning is up $5.87, or 0.8%, to $704.57.
