[aturnis]

Originally Posted by Dave

Yep.

A lot of lemmings in the world today...

It's not a bad thing. Economic analysts have been projecting that the iphone 5 would help boost the economy quite a bit...

In a note to clients on Monday, Feroli said sales of the smartphone could add between 0.25% to 0.5% to fourth quarter annualized growth in the U.S., Reuters reported.

“Calculated using the so-called retail control method, sales of iPhone 5 could boost annualized GDP growth by $3.2 billion, or $12.8 billion at an annual rate,” he wrote.

Analysts at the financial services firm project that Apple will sell 8 million iPhone 5s in the fourth quarter, each with an expected sales price of around $600, according to Reuters.

With $200 in discounted import component costs, the U.S. government can include $400 per phone into its GDP for the fourth quarter, the agency said.

Feroli added that his estimate for annualized growth should be met with some skepticism, as it “seems fairly large,” but emphasized that “recent evidence is consistent with this projection.”

He pointed to the iPhone 4S’s strong sales — which outperformed expectations — when it launched last October.