It’s a brave new world, my friends – we’ve reached a point in time where the launch of a particularly anticipated product can measurably impact the economy of the largest country in the world.
You’re probably sick of hearing about Apple, Inc. at this point – what, between them becoming the largest company in the history of the world and launching the iPhone 5, you’re a bit Apple sick. Well – just this one more piece, okay?
United States GDP
In 2011, the United State’s official Gross Domestic Product was $15.09 trillion. That’s ‘T’rillion, with a T… as in a number that barely double digit numbers of other countries have reached with their GDPs. However, like a company reporting results publicly, GDP is reported per quarter – so when the BEA releases their reports you see quarter over quarter and quarter over the year ago quarter. But think about the size of quarterly GDP – you’re talking (roughly – there are seasonal differences) about ~ $3.75 trillion. So .1% growth on that would be $3.75375 trillion – every percentage point is around $3.75 billion in GDP.
Now that you know the scope of a GDP increase and the high amount of actual production required to make significant change, let’s look at the iPhone 5.
Michael Feroli at J.P. Morgan took a look at the predicted sales of the iPhone. Their rough guesses – 8 million phones at $600 a pop, with a $400 margin contributing to GDP… or $3.2 billion in sales that otherwise wouldn’t have happened (people holding out for the iPhone 5). Seem like ridiculously high for a single product? Maybe – but the iPhone 4 release (not the 4s) may have measurably impacted GDP… so there is precedence.
A Brave New World
So, do you think Apple can pull it off? Can the largest company in the world brighten the statistics of the largest country (by economy…) in the world with a single product?
