Apple: Citi Says Verizon Launch Delayed By Chipset Mfg Issue (Updated)

The launch of the Apple (AAPL) iPhone on Verizon Wireless (VZ, VOD) has been pushed back to Q4 of this year or Q1 of next year, from an originally expected Q3, due to “a manufacturing delay of several months in a key component,” according to Citigroup analyst Richard Gardner.

Just what component is causing the issue, he doesn’t say in his research note this morning.

Update: In response to an inquiry from Tech Trader Daily, Gardner says via e-mail that there has apparently been a 2-month delay in the Qualcomm (QCOM) chipset for the phone at contract chip manufacturer Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM).

Gardner adds that the delayed launch on Verizon is not a function of extended exclusivity on AT&T (T).

The Citi analyst contends the build plan for the CDMA iPhone for calendar 2010 remains 6-7 million units.

Meanwhile:

• Kaufman Bros. analyst Shaw Wu says he continues to think an iPhone deal with Verizon is inevitable,� but that it will be “complicated,” and could take longer than the consensus thinks. He says Verizon Wireless may need to agree to pay Apple 2x-3x the subsidy paid to other handset makers. Wu repeats his view that the iPhone could show up first on T-Mobile or Sprint. He also says that Research In Motion (RIMM) would be “much less” impacted by iPhone on Verizon than the consensus thinks.
• J.P. Morgan analyst Mike McCormack this morning trimmed his 2009 EPS forecast for AT&T to $2.19 from $2.22, to reflect the margin impact from the mid-year launch of a new iPhone. He also lifted his forecast for net subscriber adds to 3.1 million, from 2.7 million.
• Morgan Stanley analyst Simon Flannery writes this morning that he has “increasingly higher conviction” that worries about the impact on AT&T of a Verizon Wireless iPhone launch are overdone; he notes that most iPhone subs are on two-year contracts, that AT&T is improving its data network, and that the company will also offer more Android phones in the coming months. He keeps his Overweight rating on AT&T.

In today’s trading:

• Apple is up 4 cents at $235.86.
• AT&T is down 12 cents, at $25.83.
• Verizon is down 19 cents, at $31.04.
• RIMM is down 37 cents, at $74.55.