Thursday, January 11, 2007
iPhone Prompts Selldown of Phone Makers Shares
Posted by Nurhisham Hussein in "NEWS" @ 08:00 PM
"The share price of High Tech Computer (HTC) plunged by NT$41, or its 7% daily down-limit, to close at its lowest price in over a year (NT$549) on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TSE) January 11, following heavy selling amid concerns that the unveiling overnight of Apple's iPhone would affect its business, especially in the US market."
With the big bang intro of the iPhone at MacWorld, and Apple's proven track record with the iPod, it comes as little surprise that stock prices of other phone manufacturers are getting a hammering. Apart from the impact on HTC's stock price, Research in Motion (makers of the Blackberry) shares dropped 7.7%, Palm fell 5.7%, and shares of Motorola, Nokia, Ericsson, LG Electronics and Samsung were also hit. Apple of course benefitted, with its stock price rising 8.3% on the day of the announcement before falling back a little in the days since. There's still a lot of confusion in the financial markets as to what exactly would be the full impact of the iPhone - it's strictly high end, the new features are untested in the market and there's a feeling that it may cannibalise sales of iPods. If this is Jobs' swansong - he's in a heap of trouble over backdated options - he's certainly given Apple a heck of a going away present.
With the big bang intro of the iPhone at MacWorld, and Apple's proven track record with the iPod, it comes as little surprise that stock prices of other phone manufacturers are getting a hammering. Apart from the impact on HTC's stock price, Research in Motion (makers of the Blackberry) shares dropped 7.7%, Palm fell 5.7%, and shares of Motorola, Nokia, Ericsson, LG Electronics and Samsung were also hit. Apple of course benefitted, with its stock price rising 8.3% on the day of the announcement before falling back a little in the days since. There's still a lot of confusion in the financial markets as to what exactly would be the full impact of the iPhone - it's strictly high end, the new features are untested in the market and there's a feeling that it may cannibalise sales of iPods. If this is Jobs' swansong - he's in a heap of trouble over backdated options - he's certainly given Apple a heck of a going away present.
