ChangeWave destroys all blabbering of supposedly weak iPhone 5 demand

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If you’ve been watching Apple’s stock price rise and fall as analysts debate whether it’s the end of the world or simply a bad day for the iPhone 5, you’re forgiven for feeling like a a yo-yo. However, to add to your confusion comes another set of charts illustrating everything’s fine with iPhone 5 demand.

Indeed, according to a new ChangeWave survey based on a poll of 4,061 consumers in North America, demand for Apple’s handset is as strong as ever. Specifically, 50 percent of respondents said they are planning to buy the iPhone 5 in the next 90 days, which jives well with Apple’s previous iPhone launches. In fact, the iPhone 5 interest was higher than the iPhone 4S peak.

A series of charts also prove that iPhone interest, though flattening six months following the launch, remains high and even above rival Samsung. It all comes down to whether your cup is half-empty or half full…

The ChangeWave report is telling on many levels.

Not only was iPhone 5 demand at 50 percent in December, but the percentage of people who said they would buy the smartphone at its September 2012 release was at 71 percent – higher than the iPhone 4S, iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS or iPhone 3G.

What about the much-discussed explosion of demand for the Samsung Galaxy – its obviously affecting iPhone 5 demand, right?

Well, if you turn to consumers and ask their spending plans, you get a different story.

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At the same time observers were forecasting the sky was falling, demand for the Samsung Galaxy S III was at 21 percent, less than half of an iPhone 5 supposedly on its death bed. Also, when the Galaxy S III was introduced in June of 2012, just 19 percent of consumers polled were interested in buying the smartphone.

But wait, Android is vastly more popular and is set to pass iOS any day now.

Eh, maybe not, according to ChangeWave’s charts.

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While nearly three out of four Apple customers said they were Very Satisfied with iOS, finding that level of satisfaction among Android users is about equal to flipping a coin.

Take these charts along with a report earlier today by well-connected Apple watcher Shaw Wu and you begin to question the Wall Street Journal article that precipitated Apple’s Wall Street swan dive. As he’s reported earlier and reiterated today, Wu proposed that the decline in orders for iPhone 5 parts was an indication of improved supplier performance.

As a “result of improved yields,” Apple has had to order fewer components, Wu told investors. That supposed 50 percent reduction in supply orders is actually much smaller, the hardware hawks at NPD DisplaySearch told the New York Times.

It could be also a sign of Apple’s wide-scale adoption of Sharp’s IGZO panels across the family of iOS devices, according to John Paczkowsk of AllThingsD.

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Which scenario should be believed?

AAPL stock at 1pm Eastern was off more than 13 points at $488 after opening Tuesday morning at $498. As one analyst described an earlier punishment of Apple stock over rumors of a demand downturn: this is “insanely insane.”

There is also another explanation here, per John Grubber who writes that “billions of dollars at stake if AAPL stays near or under $500 a share until January 19 and then makes a run after that”.

Yeah, good ol’ stock manipulation ahead of Apple’s impending earnings call.

Here’s Jim Cramer explaining how the stock market is being manipulated.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOS8QgAQO-k#!

Billions are at stake here, people.

Worse, it’s legal.

This happens every time ahead of Apple’s earnings, just like clockwork.