Apple iPhone 4S demand outpacing supply, in some good news for carriers

Sprint took a risk with the iPhone, betting big that it would drive in new subscribers and boost profits. (CP: Sprint defends iPhone decision, will need up to $7 billion in financing help). More than a month after the iPhone 4S went on sale, however, Sprint and its competitors are finding that attracting customers isn't the problem, meeting demand is.

The issue isn't with Apple's manufacturing speed, the Wall Street Journal reported, but with extraordinary consumer demand. Glenn Lurie, AT&T's president of emerging devices, told the paper that AT&T — the first U.S. carrier to offer the smartphone, and one not unaccustomed to the tidal wave of orders that comes with it — has seen "record-breaking sales."

Indeed, try to add an iPhone 4S to a shopping cart on the AT&T site, and you'll be told that the phone will ship in 14-21 days. On the Sprint site, all three versions — 16GB, 32GB and 64GB — are said to ship "in up to 2 weeks." And things are little different at Verizon, where 32GB and 64GB iPhone 4S handsets "will ship by 12/9," states the site, though the white 16GB is available right away with 2-day shipping. (The black 16GB ships 12/9 with all the others.)

The Journal added that Morgan Keegan analyst Tavis McCourt expects Apple may sell as many as 27 million iPhones during the current quarter, its fiscal 2012 first quarter. Speaking in October during Apple's 2011 fourth-quarter results call — during which Apple announced revenue of $28.27 billion, its highest September quarter revenue ever — CEO Tim Cook said he expected revenue during the holiday quarter to be approximately $37 billion.

Despite strong demand for the device across all networks, AT&T's Lurie said the carrier's iPhone customers haven't budged. "Churn has not moved at all," he told MarketWatch earlier this week (Unfiltered: AT&T exec: We're hanging on to iPhone customers).

The extraordinary demand is the pent-up demand pointed to during third-quarter handset shipment tallies. By Gartner's count, the Android OS grabbed 53% market share during the quarter, while Apple's iOS fell to 15% from 17% a year earlier. With Apple fans no longer hanging back, it will be interesting to note how the percentages shake out in the next quarter.
Shoppers wanting an iPhone 4S in a hurry and not content with a 16GB white model, may consider C Spire, if they're in the southeast United States (CP: C Spire Wireless, with the iPhone 4S coming, expands broadband coverage). The tiny carrier, which notably has an iPhone while top-four carrier T-Mobile does not, is sold out of 64GB models, but still has the 32GB iPhone 4S, in white and black, still in stock.