Analyst predicts iphone fourth quarter sales below 10 million

Beijing time January 25 afternoon news, according to foreign media reports, independent investigation company BernsteinResearch analyst Tony Sakonagy (Toni Sacconaghi) said, although Apple Monday said the iphone sales exceeded expectations,　　But the iphone's performance in the fourth quarter may have been less than expected.　　Sacconaghi said Apple sold about 8.5 million iphones in the quarter, rather than the 10 million that the outside world expected. The sales have been impressive, up 94% from the fourth quarter of 2008. But some are overly optimistic about the iphone's expectations. "Given the prevailing optimism in the market and the important contribution of the iphone to Apple's revenues, the issue of the iphone will be a hot topic for the quarter," Sacconaghi wrote.　　BernsteinResearch expects Apple's Mac sales to grow 24% to 3.1 million, while ipod sales will drop 13% to 19.8 million. According to Thomson Reuters, Apple's net income this quarter will increase by 18% to $1.9 billion trillion ($ 2.07 per share) from $1.6 billion trillion ($ 1.78 a share) over the same period last year. (Chin Liang)