Never underestimate the power of iPhone.
Wall Street is rethinking its expectations for Apple after Verizon Wireless, the largest US carrier, surprised industry watchers with better-than-expected iPhone sales yesterday.
Verizon sold 3.9 million iPhones in the latest quarter, a 44 percent jump from a year ago — and a strong indicator that Apple is doing better on the smartphone sales front than analysts had forecast.
The results sent several analysts scrambling to revise their predictions for Apple, which will report results for the three months ended June next week.
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Verizon's smartphone sales report is encouraging news for Apple's Tim Cook (above) as iPhone results blew past Wall Street estimates.
The June iPhone forecast for sales of 24 million "now looks increasingly conservative," Barclays analysts wrote in a report yesterday.
Barclays was joined by Topeka Capital Markets, which issued a similar note to clients, suggesting Verizon's numbers bode well for Apple.
More than two dozen carriers around the world sell the iPhone, but Verizon is a particularly big one. Typically, it accounts for about 10 percent of global iPhone sales.
The consensus on Wall Street was that Apple sold around 26 million iPhones in the quarter, but Verizon's results suggest the figure is closer to 30 million.
While Apple sold 37 million iPhones in the first quarter, the Cupertino, Calif., company has felt increasing competition from Samsung.
Moreover, Apple is expected to announce a new iPhone in the fall, an event that typically lowers demand for the latest model as consumers wait for the newer one to upgrade.
Yesterday, Verizon said the iPhone accounted for more than half of its 7.5 million smartphone activations in the second quarter.
The strong iPhone sales may be the result of pressure the company feels to sell the device because of purchase commitments to Apple.
To meet its commitment, Verizon must sell $23.5 billion worth of iPhones this year, double last year's figure, according to one analyst.
"Verizon may be pushing harder to fulfill commitments to Apple," said analyst Colin Gillis of BGC Partners.
Yesterday, Nokia also released results, revealing another smartphone surprise: Windows phones are now a viable third player after the iPhone and Google's Android phones.
That is sure to rankle BlackBerry, which is clinging to its distant third place position while trying to stave off irrelevancy.
Finnish player Nokia sold 7.4 million Lumia Windows smartphones last quarter.
For the first time, Windows phones took more of the market than BlackBerry phones, prompting some to say Microsoft is securing its hold on third place in mobile platforms.
"Microsoft continues to invest in the ecosystem around Windows phones and they are slowly gaining traction," said Gartner analyst David Cearley. "We think Windows phones will be in the top three."
gsloane@nypost.com
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