NEW YORK (AP) — Apple
Inc. said Monday that it sold more than 5 million units of the iPhone 5
in the three days since its launch, fewer than analysts had expected.
Apple
shares fell $9.30, or 1.3 percent, to close at $690.79 on Monday. The
shares hit an all-time high of $705.07 Friday as the phone went on sale
in the U.S., Germany, France, Japan and five other countries.
The
sales tally is a record for any phone, but it beats last year's iPhone
4S launch only by a small margin. Apple said then that it sold 4
million phones in the first three days.
Topeka Capital Markets
analyst Brian White expected Apple to sell 6 million to 6.5 million
iPhone 5s in the first three days. He said the shortfall was largely due
to limited supply. White said the phone was sold out at 80 to 85
percent of the U.S. Apple stores he and his team contacted Sunday
evening, and the ones that were still available were mostly Sprint
models.
Online delivery times have stretched to three to four weeks.
The phone will go on sale in 22 more countries on Friday and in more than 100 countries by the end of the year.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.
