During a conference call with analysts this morning to discuss Q1 results, announced this morning, Verizon Communications (VZ) management remarked that the next version of Apple’s (AAPL) iPhone will be a “world phone,” capable of working with other carriers’ networks.

Verizon CFO Fran Shammo, asked about the sluggishness of the company’s ARPU growth in Q1, when the iPhone was introduced — growth was just 2.2%, compared to 2.5% in Q4, remarked:

The fluctuation, I believe, will come when a new device from Apple is launched, whenever that may be, and that we will be, on the first time, on equal footing with our competitors on a new phone hitting the market, which will also be a global device.

The iPhone 4 that Verizon carries, based on the “CDMA” technology standard, does not have nearly as broad support by network operators throughout the world as does the “GSM” standard used in the AT&T model of the phone, which Apple sells in numerous countries throughout the world.

Apple COO Tim Cook said during Apple’s conference call last night that Apple had signed only two other carriers in the world to use the CDMA iPhone, SK Telecom in South Korea, and Saudia Arabia’s Saudi Telecom. Cook said Apple was considering other carriers to whom it might distribute the CDMA unit. But a world phone at Verizon, presumably using the 4G standard dubbed “Long Term Evolution,” would allow Verizon to sell a phone that can roam on networks in Europe and other parts of the world just as AT&T’s model does.

That would presumably be of special interest given that Vodafone (VOD) in Europe owns a stake in Verizon’s wireless business.

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Apple (AAPL) management held a conference call this evening with analysts following a fiscal Q2 report that substantially beat analysts’ estimates and a Q3 view that expressed the typical conservatism in Apple’s outlook, coming in about $800 million shy of estimates in terms of revenue.

Revenue rose more than 80% to $24.7 billion, the highest March quarter in Apple’s history, CFO Peter Oppenheimer noted at the outset of the call. Operating income was at an all-time high of $7.9 billion. Net income of $6 billion nearly doubled.

While Apple has more or less balanced supply and demand for its Mac, iPhone and iPod products exiting the quarter, COO Tim Cook said the company was “heavily backlogged” for its iPad 2 and that it was working to close the gap.

Oppenheimer said that the company ended the quarter within its target range of 4 to 6 weeks of inventory for the iPhone, but that ending inventory of 850,000 iPads was below the same target for that device.

“The demand on iPad 2 has been staggering,” said Cook. He noted that K-through-12 schools were ordering iPads on a one-to-one basis with their Mac purchases, which Cook said surprised him, given the conservative nature of the K-through-12 market.

Despite the iPad constraints last quarter, confidence in the “manufacturing ramp” inclined Apple to go ahead with introduction of the iPad in another 25 countries at the end of March, Cook noted. “So, I’m very confident that we can produce a very large number of iPads for the quarter. We have gotten off to a materially better start and produced a lot more units than we did on the original ramp of the first iPad.”

Oppenheimer said the expected rise in iPad shipments this quarter is the primary reason Apple is modeling its Q3 gross profit margin to decline from Q2 by about three and a half percentage points. Cook noted that the company doesn’t typically buy components for its machines on the spot market, and so the company expects to be relatively unaffected should component prices rise this year.

Cook noted that iPhone sales in the U.S. rose 155%, trumping IDC’s estimate for smartphone growth of 48% in the quarter. iPhone sales in China “continued to be on a tear,” said Cook, rising 250%. “In terms of the June quarter, I would expect to see a significant year-over-year increase in sales,” of iPhone, said Oppenheimer.

Cook declined to say what average selling prices were for iPhone and iPad, so as not to “help out our competitors.”

All told, the company has now shipped a cumulative total of 189 million devices based on its iOS operating system.

During the Q&A, Mike Abramsky with RBC Capital asked Cook and Oppenheimer if they were concerned that the battle with Google’s (GOOG) Android operating system could repeat the battle between Mac OS and Microsoft’s (MSFT) Windows in the early ’90s, and become an obstacle to Apple’s growth.

Oppenheimer responded by rattling off the accomplishments of iOS:

On a worldwide basis, we are — we just did 18.6 million iPhones, which is up 113%, which is materially faster than the market rate of growth. And we launched the iPad 2 and sold every one of them that we could make. As we’ve said before, we’re gaining traction in enterprise on both iPhone and iPad with astonishing 88% and 75%, respectively, of the Fortune 500 companies deploying or testing these. We’ve got the largest app store with over 350,000 apps for iPhone and over 65,000 iPad-specific apps on iOS, versus what appears to be fewer than 100 on Android. And so, we feel very, very good about where we are and we feel great about our future product plan. We’ve also paid over $2 billion to developers, and we’ve had well over 10 billion applications downloaded, and so our business proposition is very, very strong.

Q3 Outlook: When Toni Sacconaghi with Sanford Bernstein asked Oppenheimer why Apple expects Q3 revenue to decline from Q2, given that the opposite has been the case in prior years, Oppenheimer pointed out that Apple had a build-up of iPhone channel inventory last quarter, something Apple hadn’t managed at the same point in the prior two fiscal years. Moreover, the year-ago Q3 had the introduction of the original iPad, whereas it came in Q2 this year.

Steve Jobs: Piper Jaffray’s Gene Munster asked Cook how close CEO Jobs has stayed during his leave of absence from daily responsibilities. Cook responded, “We do see him on a regular basis. And as we’ve previously said, he continues to be involved in major strategic decisions, and I know he wants to be back full time as soon as he can.”

Retail Stores: Oppenheimer said Apple expects to reach its 1 billionth retail store customer “in the next few days,” as the stores approach their tenth anniversary on May 19th. Retail revenue rose 90% to $3.19 billion, Oppenheimer said, as traffic to the stores rose 51% from a year earlier to 71 million visitors. Oppenheimer said Apple will open 40 new stores this year.

Japan: Asked about the repercussions from Japan, Cook said there is “nothing we feel we can’t handle” looking at the state of affairs in Japan’s supply chain through as things now stand, barring any “turn for the worse.” Although there was “some revenue impact” in the March quarter, it was “not material to Apple’s consolidated results,” he added.

“Our preference from the beginning of this tragedy has been to remain with our long-term partners in Japan,” said Cook. “And I have to say they have displayed an incredible resilience that I’ve personally never seen before in the aftermath of this disaster.”

Samsung Suit: Regarding the effect of Apple’s patent infringement suit against Samsung, filed Monday, Cook said it shouldn’t shake Apple’s ability to get parts from Samsung. “We are Samsung’s largest customer, and Samsung is a very valued component supplier to us, and I expect the strong relationship will continue. Separately from this, we felt the mobile communication division of Samsung had crossed the line, and after trying for some time to work the issue, we decided we needed to rely on the courts.”

Apple shares rose $13.34, or almost 4%, to $355.75 in late trading.

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Street views are still pouring in regarding Apple’s (AAPL) fiscal Q2 report, which comes out this afternoon, after the bell.

Consensus stands at $23.38 billion in revenue and $5.37 per share in earnings.

Brian White with Ticonderoga Securities this morning reiterated a Buy recommendation on the shares and a $550 price target, writing that, “With the continued drama over the iPhone 5 launch date, the impact from Japan, rising component prices and never-ending concerns over the health of Steve Jobs, we believe investors will be hanging on Apple’s every word this evening.”

White is looking for $22.75 billion in revenue and $5.13 in EPS, but thinks Apple can “easily” beat that. As Abhey Lamba of ISI Group speculated yesterday, White cites Apple’s court documents in its patent suit against Samsung (SSNLF), announced monday. Those documents suggest Apple may have sold 18 million iPhones in the quarter, much higher than the 15.75 million he’d been estimating.

Like Lamba, he thinks the documents suggest only 4.2 million iPad units sold, but he also cautions that, “The potential disappointment in iPad sales could be due to the timing of revenue recognition for online iPad 2 sales that began on March 11 but were quickly greeted with 4-5 week shipping times, combined with yield issues at a touch screen vendor.”

Lamba, for his part, revisits his ruminations from yesterday. As several Tech Trader readers pointed out, the language in the court documents is, well, legalese, and could lead to misinterpretation:

Due to the way the court document is worded (using “as of” to describe iPhone shipments and “by” to highlight iPad units), the statement could also be interpreted to mean 19m iPad units through the beginning of March which would imply that Apple could report up to 7m iPad units for F2Q11. Current consensus forecasts for iPad shipments are in the 6.0-6.5m range. We note that iPad shipments of around 4m could result in a revenue shortfall of about $1b, which will be more than offset by better than expected iPhone units.

Lamba thinks the fiscal Q3 forecast may come up short of analysts’ estimates, given what may be a push-out of the next iPhone from a traditional summer introduction to September, compounded by Apple’s typical conservatism.

Hence, while Apple might actually be able to produce $22 billion to $22.5 billion in revenue in fiscal Q3, and EPS of $4.70 to $4.80, the company might only forecast $21 billion to $21.5 billion and $4.00 to $4.25 per share in earnings.

Consensus is currently $23.8 billion and $5.25.

Apple shares today are up $6.99, or 2%, at $344.85.

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Shares of AT&T (T) are up 13 cents, or 0.4%, at $30.44 after the company met analysts’ Q1 revenue and earnings projections, and said its activation of customers using Apple’s (AAPL) iPhone rose by one third from a year earlier despite losing the exclusivity on the device.

It was the first report since AT&T said it would purchase the T-Mobile unit of Deutsche Telekom (DT) last month.

Q1 revenue rose 3%, year over year, to $31.25 billion, just a hair under the consensus $31.26 billion. EPS of 57 cents met estimates.

AT&T added 2 million wireless subscribers, for a quarter-end total of 97.5 million. That was boosted by the integration of customers of Alltel and Centennial, the company said. Postpaid net adds, leaving aside the contributions from those two deals, would have been 165,000, the company said.

Total churn in the quarter was 1.36%, up from 1.32% in Q4 and 1.3% in the year-earlier Q1.

One blemish: wireless operating profit margin dipped from 30% a year earlier to 25.8% as the company built up promotions and other marketing efforts.

AT&T said it activated 3.6 million iPhones in the quarter, up 33% from the 2.7 million it reported in Q1 of 2010. Verizon Communications (VZ) in February became the second U.S. carrier to offer the iPhone.

AT&T said 23% of those iPhone subs were new to the company, and that its iPhone-related churn was the same as it had been in the year-earlier quarter. AT&T said it sold 421,000 connected devices, including “MiFi” hotspots and tablet computers, with tablets making up the bulk, at 322,000.

Sanford Bernstein’s Craig Moffett reiterates an Outperform rating, though he asks this morning, “is this as bad as it gets, or will the real impact come only later with the iPhone 5?” Moffett notes that the strategy of giving customers early upgrades and spending like crazy on advertising has worked to stem the pain from the iPhone going to Verizon. However, the deterioration in wireless margins is a sign that it came at a cost, he writes.

Nevertheless, Moffett thinks the worst fears are overblown for AT&T:

AT&T’s Q1 results suggest that even the near term bear case – i.e. that the loss of iPhone exclusivity will crush growth in 2011 – may be overstated. If the T-Mobile deal is approved (we recently put our own estimate of the odds at ~2:1 in favor), the story will become increasingly compelling.

Michael Nelson with Mizuho Securities notes that the 2 million net additions number in wireless was above his 1.8 million estimate, a good sign after having lost iPhone exclusivity. He was also pleased by free cash flow of $3.6 billion, despite the dip in AT&T’s margins. Nelson reiterated an Outperform rating.

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Abhey Lamba with ISI Group this afternoon writes that court documents filed by Apple (AAPL) yesterday in its suit against Samsung for patent infringement suggest Apple’s sales of the iPhone in its March-ended fiscal Q2 will beat Street estimates. That could help Apple beat Street EPS estimates. apple reports results tomorrow, after the bell.

Writes Lamba:

Apple disclosed approximate shipment information for its iPhones and iPads in its court filing against Samsung. Based on the article, Apple had sold more than 108m iPhones as of March 2011. Given the cumulative shipments of about 90m through December 2010, the data implies that Apple sold at least 18m phones during the quarter, which compares with consensus of 16-17m devices.

He sees Apple’s iPhone shipments missing, however:

The filing also indicates that Apple sold over 19m iPads by March 2011, which implies F2Q11 units of at least 4.2m. Current consensus forecast for iPad shipments is in the 6.0-6.5m range. The lower than expected iPad units could result in a revenue shortfall of about $1b, which will be more than offset by better than expected iPhone units.

Lamb expects Apple may be able to post EPS of $5.75 to $6 per share. Current consensus is for $5.35.

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Craig Berger with FBR Capital this morning reiterated an Outperform rating and raised his price target on Qualcomm (QCOM) shares to $62 from $60, writing that Street estimates are too pessimistic about the impact of possible order cuts from customers LG Electronics (LGLD) and Samsung (SSNLF).

Qualcomm reports its quarter this Wednesday.

The Street’s estimate for fiscal Q2 ended in March, $3.62 billion in revenue and 67 cents in EPS, is likely too low, he writes, given Qualcomm may come in at the high end of its forecast of $3.45 billion to $3.75 billion in revenue and may even beat its EPS forecast of 77 cents to 81 cents. He also thinks Qualcomm may forecast revenue for the current quarter above the Street’s $3.4 billion.

A “wave” of concern about order cuts at LG and Samsung reflects an attitude that’s too “stodgy” about the robust growth of smartphones, Berger writes, and it’s likely that shipments to Apple (AAPL) for the iPhone 4 and for the iPad 2 boosted results.

Berger also writes that his checks with the supply chain indicate that QUalcomm has been able to get ahead of chip makers such as Altera (ALTR) and Xilinx (XLNX) in securing supplies of “Bismaleimide Triazine Resin,” the so-called BT Resin, which is used to package chips. Shortages of BT Resin as a consequence of the disaster in Japan have been a top concern for the entire chip industry since last month’s earthquake.

Trading at 16 times this year’s projected profits, Qualcomm shares are, “reasonable but not cheap for a gold-standard story with deep competitive barriers,” writes Berger.

Qualcomm shares are down 65 cents, or 1%, at $52.49.

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It’s worth it to own Apple (AAPL) shares, despite the fact that sales numbers for the iPhone, Mac and iPod will likely be in line with consensus, because numbers for the iPad are a wildcard, according to analysts at Piper Jaffray.

There is unusually high visibility into numbers for most Apple devices, the firm argues, but for the iPad 2, the persistence of a dramatic supply constraint means the demand for the device far exceeds the supply, making reported numbers irrelevant.

“The takeaway likely will be that iPad was supply-constrained and has an open growth opportunity in calendar 2011 and calendar 2012,” wrote analyst Gene Munster in a research note.

Assuming Apple’s guidance for June is consistent with past guidance, implies revenue of $23.39 billion and EPS of $4.73 (compared to consensus figures of $23.85 billion and $5.27), Munster wrote. But Apple may guide gross margin and EPS even more conservatively than usual, depending on constraints in Japanese component supply.

“These supply constraints may have forced Apple to push the launch of the iPhone 5 later in the September quarter,” he wrote. “We note, however, that the impact of iPhone launches has typically hit in the September quarter anyway following late June quarter launches.”

Still, sales last quarter in Japan contributed 5% to Apple’s revenue, Munster notes. The quake, tsunami and nuclear crisis affected the March quarter demand, and will likely be a headwind for part of the June quarter.

Munster rates Apple at Overweight with a $483 price target.

Apple shares are down 0.3% at $336.13 in premarket trading.

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Apple (AAPL) has not released a production roadmap for iPhone 5 as the production lines of iPhone 4 suppliers continue to be fully occupied meeting high shipment volumes of that phone, according to a story by Digitimes, citing sources at Taiwan-based touch panel makers.

The information comes amid growing speculation that Apple will delay the launch of the iPhone 5 until September, or even 2012, because of a shortage of components.

According to Digitimes, the sources speculated that Apple will likely make slight changes to the popular iPhone 4 and will stick to the tradition of announcing the new phone in June or July.

Other Apple-watchers have argued that the company will make more significant changes to the device and will postpone the launch for the purpose of working on them.

Still, Apple may be forced to introduce the iPhone 5 this year in order to compete against models using Google’s (GOOG) Android operating system and in order to take share from Nokia (NOK) as it transitions to Microsoft’s (MSFT) Windows operating system, Digitimes reported, citing sources from rival handset makers.

There is also a possibility that Apple will roll out a less expensive entry level phone in order to grab market share, the handset maker sources told Digitimes.

Apple shares are up 0.5% at $334.27 in morning trading.

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ThinkEquity analyst Rajesh Ghai today writes that Apple (AAPL) is likely to have a “steady though unspectacular Q2″ when it reports later this month.

Ghai reiterated a Buy rating on Apple shares.

Ghai is estimating $22.94 billion in revenue in the quarter ended last month, and $5.33 per share in earnings. Analysts have been estimating $23.2 billion and $5.33, on average.

The quarter will show strength from the iPad 2 introduction, the iPhone 4 kick-off at Verizon Communications (VZ), with some offset from the lost sales in Japan and higher component prices.

How margins will actually be hurt is a question mark, because a greater mix of iPhones in the quarter could actually offset higher component pricing, he notes.

Ghai expects Apple’s control of the supply chain is probably already helping the company:

Apple has already booked approximately 60% of the total available touch panel capacity. While some reports have stated that Apple will be facing component shortages for the iPad resulting from the Japanese earthquake, Hon Hai, Apple’s primary manufacturing source has stated that it does not expect any component shortages, and alternate suppliers have been lined up.

As for the possible delay of an iPhone 5 to a fall introduction, from what might have been June, Ghai’s not concerned:  it probably “puts a lid” on Q3′s forecast, but “the launch of a more feature-rich phone in the seasonally stronger second half could prove to be a boon for Apple in the long run.”

Should this ‘delay’ materialize, we believe the possibility of a more significant hardware upgrade increases dramatically with the potential inclusion of LTE technology and Near Field Communication (NFC) for mobile commerce. This upgrade could enable AAPL to maintain its lead over competing smartphones in the all important 2HCY11.

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Caris & Co. analyst Robert Cihra this morning reiterates a Buy rating on shares of Apple (AAPL) and a $460 price target, writing that the company’s forecast for fiscal Q3 will be “even more conservative than usual” given constraints on parts stemming from Japan’s turmoil, but that, “Apple benefits to at least some degree from its scale as preferred customer, margin model capable of paying up for parts and history during stock-outs where Apple’s the one product customers will uniquely “wait” for rather than buying a commodity substitute.”

More to the point, Cihra’s note is mainly concerned with the speculation over a delay in the iPhone 5 introduction. Such speculation, “misses the point,” he insists. Apple is no longer a “hit product company,” so timing matters less:

Products last maybe a year, “platforms” last decades. We believe the single biggest change in Apple over the past few years is that it has moved from being something of a “hit product” movie studio dependent on each new release back to being a better-than-ever “platform” company, where its OS plus hardware plus apps ecosystem (from developer through discovery+billing) and closed-loop customer relationship (iTunes+App Store; services integration; apps curator/delivery/billing) are what truly matters and drive longevity. Want to know what the next iPhone or iPad’s going to look like?…just picture a thinner, lighter rectangle. It’s not the hardware that matters it’s the software — well actually, it’s the software+hardware+services in a fully-integrated vertical platform. As we’ve said repeatedly, iOS IS the “what’s next?” for Apple.

Previously: Apple: Morgan Keegan Shifts iPhone Estimates For Possible September Intro, April 7th, 2011.

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