Sector Snap: Handset stocks mostly dip - AP - National Business News

Handset stocks mostly dipped Monday, though shares of Apple Inc. gained some ground after the company said it sold 1 million iPhones in the first three days after an updated version of the device was released on Friday.

Apple shares advanced $2.55 to $175.13 in afternoon trading.

The device, which works on a faster wireless network and has GPS capabilities, "had a stunning opening weekend," Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs said in a statement.

The launch was also impacted by software issues, as the new devices needed to connect to Apple's servers for activation, and servers were quickly overloaded. And new software released for the old iPhone required those phones be reactivated, which left many owners of those devices with temporarily unusable units.

In a client note, Morgan Keegan & Co. analyst Tavis McCourt said the launch "was clearly not as smooth as last year's launch" but said demand "was clearly strong across the U.S., with lines persisting at the Apple store in Nashville (Tennessee) at least through Saturday night."

McCourt rates Apple shares "Market Perform."

Meanwhile, American Depositary Shares of Nokia Corp. fell 97 cents, or 3.7 percent, to $25.04.

In a client note, Citi Investment Research analyst Sherief Bakr lowered his second-quarter earnings-per-share estimate for the leading handset maker to 36 euro cents (57 cents) from 37 euro cents (59 cents), citing lower expectations of units shipped.

Nokia is expected to report its quarterly results on Thursday.

Meanwhile, shares of competitor Motorola Inc. fell 13 cents to $6.86.

Elsewhere in the sector, shares of Treo smart phone maker Palm Inc. shed 23 cents, or 4.2 percent, to $5.30.

Palm launched a new Treo model Monday with Wi-Fi and GPS capabilities on Sprint Nextel Corp.'s network. The Treo 800w is the company's first major new model since it released the low-priced Centro last year.

Shares of BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd. lost 71 cents to $109.09.