Apple has failed to disclose the sales figures for its new iPhone for the first time since 2009, sending fanbois and investors into a spiral of doubt and fear.
The fruity firm normally thrusts upon the world a boastful press release announcing how many gazillions of new iMobes ordered even before the things have hit the shelves. But following the announcement of the iPhone 5s and 5c, Apple has failed to reveal these numbers.
The higher-end 5s can't be ordered in advance of going on sale, a decision that sparked concerns Apple may not have managed to build up a decent supply level, but the position on the iPhone 5c is unclear.
Apple has given absolutely no indication of how many orders it has received for the 5c – a cheaper, plastic-coated version of the iOS Jesus phone which could be ordered on Friday, 13 September, and will go on general sale next Monday.
The stock markets took Apple's sealed lips as a bad sign, with shares down $14.79 – 3.2 per cent – to $450 at the end of Monday trading.
The share sell-off was also sparked by reports that Chinese mega mobile network China Telecom had reduced its subsidy on both the iPhone 5s and the 5c. The Wall Street Journal quoted Mizuho Securities analyst Marvin Lo, who claimed the telecoms firm wanted to increase its bottom line.
"China Telecom had already cut the handset subsidies for the iPhone 5 compared to the iPhone 4S when it launched devices,” he said. “Regarding the same two-year contract with a monthly fee of 289 yuan (£29.68, $47.21), China Telecom’s handset subsidies for the iPhone 4S accounted for 47 per cent of the total contract value, but it has dropped to 39 per cent for the iPhone 5 and 31 per cent for iPhone 5s."
When the iPhone 4 was released, Apple announced it received 600,000 orders in 24 hours. This record was then smashed by the 4S, which managed one million pre-orders in the same time period, and the iPhone 5 doubled this to two million.
Seeing as the 5c was supposed to a cheaper model, but hasn't actually turned out to be very cheap, any increase in the price will shake the confidence of investors and public alike.