iPhone sales fell drastically in the fourth quarter of 2008, according to a survey published by Morgan Stanley. The survey predicted 1.75 million iPhone’s sold in the United States during the final quarter of the year, a 24 percent drop from Morgan Stanley’s quoted third quarter sales of 2.3 million.
Wall Street expects Apple to announce 5 million iPhone’s sold globally in the fourth quarter, down 28 percent from third quarter sales of 6.9 million units, so the Morgan Stanley numbers are in line. However, Apple’s third quarter numbers include 2 million units inventory and with a few new countries carrying the iPhone in the third quarter there will be some additional channel fill. Walmart began to carry the iPhone right at the tail-end of the year as well, but I’m not sure sales numbers would be significant there.
