Analyst Sees 10M iPhone 5 Sales in First Three Weeks

Gene Munster of Piper Jaffray is considered one of the top axes as far as analysts who cover Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL). He has been a very vocal bull in Apple for years now, cheering every product along the way from the iPhone to the iPad. He is also hot on the coming Apple TV, whatever this television will be and whenever it will be finally unveiled.

Bloomberg television reported this morning that Gene Munster believes that Apple can sell 10 million of the new iPhone 5 units in the first three weeks alone. This would be important because that gets the sales jammed into the current quarter, and it was just last quarter that Apple said that consumers were putting off iPhone 4s purchases in order to wait for the iPhone 5.

We would note that at the end of August Munster was looking out beyond the iPhone 5 and he was optimistic for three reasons. He hinted that Apple might cut the price down to $200 from closer to $375 to make the phone more accessible in many of the emerging markets. He was also positive on the rumored iPad mini, as well as the Apple TV launch. Munster said in August that it is becoming increasingly possible for Apple to make a lower-end iPhone for those emerging markets in a $130 to $150 range.

Munster rates Apple at Overweight and his price target is $910.

JON C. OGG