Apple headed to top ten handset makers

 Pacific Crest analysts believe Apple to have reduced its planned iPhone production targets by up to four million units, though reasons for this have not been given. Some speculation exists suggesting the production reduction is a response to continues stale mate in plans to launch the device in China, for example.

Apple will now build a total of 14 million to 15 million iPhones in the second half of the year, the analysts said. Pacific Crest also raised its second half iPhone unit sales projection to 11 million from 8 million.

Despite the reduction in production, these figures still put Apple in seventh place for sales in the global smartphone market, prompting Forward Concepts analyst Will Strauss to tell EE Times that he is confident that Apple will make it into the top 10 handset makers this year. "A remarkable achievement," he said.

Apple has achieved strong sales in most global territories it has introduced the iPhone in, with one previous report claiming sales in Japan to be slim (a report widely-reported by based on ‘guessing’) clearly trounced by Eurotechnology Japan analyst Gerhard Fasol in mid-August, as revealed by The Australian. He estimates Apple "shifted between 75,000 and 125,000 units in July. At that rate, he thinks 2008 sales could total between 645,000 and 1 million." that month-old report informs.