iPhone 6 demand leads to retail boom Down Under

iPhone 6 and 6 Plus sure are koala-ty phones. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Apple may be blamed for hurting Finland with its success, but according to new figures from Australia’s Bureau of Statistics the popularity of the iPhone can help rescue economies, too.
Retail turnover in the country jumped 1.2% in September, compared to a minuscule 0.1% increase the month before. What could have prompted this?

“This figure was influenced by the release of the iPhone 6 during the month,” noted the Bureau of Statistics in its press release. “The increase in electrical and electronic goods retailing represents about half of the total Australian sales movement of 1.2 per cent in seasonally adjusted terms.”

Electrical goods jumped 9.2% in September, while newspaper and books, clothing, furniture and housewares all posted sales declines. The overall 1.2% increase was considerably more than the 0.4% increase predicted by financial analysts for the month of September.
The number of iPhones sold in Australia during the month of September was likely benefited by the fact that, based on international timezones, it was the first country in the world to get the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. This led to a ~~cringeworthy~~ meme-worthy moment in which Apple fan Jack Cooksey left the Perth Apple Store with one of the first iPhone 6 units and promptly dropped it on concrete in front of shocked international reporters.
In other recent Australian Apple news, noted Oz fan Steve Wozniak recently announced that he’s been hired as an adjunct professor by the University of Technology, Sydney, where he’ll start teaching in December. With Woz’s famed love of gadgets, maybe he can keep Australian retail sales on their continued upward trajectory…