Apple’s iPhone 5 Launch Steals Attention From New iPod Touch

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Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) hosted one of its most awaited product launches ever today. In its luxurious Fifth Avenue Retail store, Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook, finally pulled the curtain back on the much rumored and anticipated gadget – iPhone 5. As we all expected earlier, the new iPhone is much lighter and slimmer when compared to its predecessor, iPhone 4S.

Apple's iPhone 5 Launch Steals Attention From New iPod Touch

BMO has presented their three observations on Apple’s iPhone launch, which just concluded.

First, for Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) product launches, they usually call out a few features that stand out. However, their take on the new iPhone 5 is this is more about a sum of the parts. With the larger screen, improved software included iOS 6, Siri, and maps, in a lighter form factor, BMO thinks the phone will do well. As is normally the case, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) slots the new phones into the prices of previous models.

As importantly noted, availability is sooner than anticipated, iPhone 5 can be pre-ordered from September 14 and will be available in 9 countries including the US, Canada, UK, France, Germany, Australia, Japan, Honk Kong, and Singapore from September 21, 22 more countries on September 28, and 100 countries and 240 carriers by the end of this year. Net, BMO thinks the consensus forecast for both September (BMO – 22 million iPhones units; consensus of approximately 23-24 million units) and December (BMO – 44 million units, consensus around 50 million units) looks conservative.

Finally, the iPod does not get much attention. However, with a new family of products launching in October, BMO’s forecast of 13.5 million iPods in the Dec quarter could also contribute to revenue upside. According to BMO, iPods are about 4% of Apple revenues.

BMO remains firm on their OUTPERFORM rating on Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), and believes the stock will do well in the December quarter.

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