Apple coming to terms with iPhone 'unlocking,' says analyst

Apple's attitude about unlocked iPhones hints that the company will abandon its business model of grabbing a piece of mobile carriers' revenues in order to make its goal of selling 10 million smart phones this year, an analyst said Thursday. "They seemed absolutely blithe about making the 10-million number," said Ezra Gottheil, an analyst with Technology Business Research, referring to comments by Apple executives during Wednesday's earnings conference call. "And I get the funny sense that ultimately the whole idea of locked iPhones and the revenue almost doesn't interest them." Several times during the call, Peter Oppenheimer, Apple's COO, and Tim Cook, the company's CFO, stood by the 10-million iPhone goal. "We are confident on hitting the 10 million for the year," Cook said. According to the sales figures Apple released yesterday for the first three months of 2008 -- its second fiscal quarter -- the company sold 1.7 million iPhones worldwide, leaving 8.3 million more to go if it's to reach its iPhone sales goal.
http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/04/24/Apple-coming-to-terms-with-iPh...