MOSCOW, November 4 (RIA Novosti), Ekaterina Blinova — The launch of the iPhone 6 has triggered unexpected growth in Australia’s retail sales, data from the Australia's Bureau of Statistics have revealed.
"In central Sydney, the queue for the new model stretched around three city blocks on Sept. 19, when the iPhone was released in Australian stores. The country’s largest phone company Telstra Corp. ran short of stock," Bloomberg reported.
Following "anemic" 0.1 percent growth in August, Australia's retail turnover jumped to 1.2 percent growth in September, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) emphasized, praising the release of Apple's iPhone 6 as a catalyst for the unexpected growth. On the whole, Australian shoppers spent almost A$1.53 billion ($1.33 billion) "on electrical goods" in September 2014.
"On a seasonally-adjusted basis, total retail sales increased 1.2 percent from a month earlier, compared to the 0.3 percent average of 25 economist estimates," Bloomberg stresses.
Australia can thank Apple for timely economic boost http://t.co/QdtJs47y46
— ABS-CBN News Channel (@ANCALERTS) 4 ноября 2014
Australian Bureau of Statistics credits Apple's iPhone 6 for stoking retail surge http://t.co/NudnFyZG8E
— AppleInsider (@appleinsider) 4 ноября 2014
Meanwhile, the New York Times points out that Apple's rising stock has evidently made an impact on the US economy as well.
"The iPhone is having a measurable impact. It's a little gadget, but it costs a lot and it seems that everybody has one. When you do the multiplication, it's going to matter," said Michael Feroli, the chief United States economist for JPMorgan Chase, according to the New York Times. The expert estimates that Apple's iPhone sales are adding around "one-quarter to one-third of a percentage point to the annualized growth rate of the gross domestic product."
Additionally, according to Paul Hickey, the co-founder of the Bespoke Investment Group, "Apple accounted for 18 percent of the entire rise of the S&P 500 index this year."
Bloomberg reports that global iPhone sales have grown 16 percent compared with the fourth quarter of the previous year. In the first weekend of sales, the company sold more than 10 of its iPhone 6 and 6 Plus smartphones. Experts underscore that the device has been praised for bolstering retail sales worldwide, particularly in the US, Australia and Hong Kong.
