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iPhone 5 First Weekend Sales Top Five Million

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Re: iPhone 5 First Weekend Sales Top Five Million

#101

Post by lwhi »

sbuk wrote: post #97
lwhi wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe Apple is becoming too prescriptive; both in terms of its iOS ecosystem (e.g. policing and moderation of the AppStore) and in terms of the way it interacts with its customers (e.g. the connectors available to users). While many people will say "it's their product, they can do what they like", I find this argument disingenuous, especially when the company in question begins to aggressively attack market growt…

Why should they, or anyone else, sit back and watch a competitor get rich off of their work? That's the crux of the matter, isn't it? The validity of some of the patents is undoubtedly questionable, but then Samsung are suing based on FRAND patents that have already been paid for. That's far worse IMO, yet this is constantly glossed over. Samsung are no mor innocent than Apple are guilty. Hate on a corporation all yo…

How am I vilifying consumers?

I don't believe I have done; however, the fact you feel I have is significant. Many Apple customers feel affronted by criticism of Apple, which is testament to the strength of their marketing.

--

I agree that the validity of some of the patents is questionable. However I do not feel the issue simply involves Apple fearing that competitors will get rich from their hard work. I believe the situation is more complex.

Apple lost the fight against Microsoft in the 1980s / 90s largely because MS produced a product (MS Windows) that was sold as a compliment to commodity hardware (the IBM compatible PC). Apple wasn't able to gain as much exponential growth in market-share as the IBM-compatible/MS combo.

Cut to today - Apple risks losing the fight against Google, largely because Google have produced a product (Android) that's sold (in kind) as a compliment to commodity hardware (made by a host of hardware manufacturers).

Apple is repeating history.

Re: iPhone 5 First Weekend Sales Top Five Million

#102

Post by madoublet »

mike-cardwell wrote: post #76
calinet6 wrote: post #9

Turns out people just wanted a more refined iPhone with 4G. Who would have thought? Seriously though, I remember naysayers about the iPod back when it was first released, bemoaning the interface, design, and pointing out dozens of other mp3 players with longer feature lists at better prices. Yet the iPod still won out because it offered a consistent and predictable user experience, from the purchase to the day-to-day…

They would have still sold millions if they'd just kept the exact same phone but put a number 5 on it.

For the most part, that is what they did.

Re: iPhone 5 First Weekend Sales Top Five Million

#103

Post by lookingsideways »

pja wrote: post #4

20% more than the iPhone 4S managed. (iPhone 3GS: 1,000,000 orders, iPhone 4: 1.7 million, 4S: 4,000,000 sales (all first 3 days after release)) After filtering out the inevitable Apple PR hyperbole, I can't work out whether this is good (largest iPhone numbers ever in 3 days after release!) or bad (terrible fall off in growth rate of 3-day iPhone sales after release!). Take your pick :)

Talking to some friends who work in phone shops here in the UK it's pretty apparent the stock just isn't available. There haven't been enough phones to cover pre-orders let alone the constant stream of people coming in every day asking if they have any iPhone 5s available.

Re: iPhone 5 First Weekend Sales Top Five Million

#104

Post by bornhuetter »

josephlord wrote: post #95
bornhuetter wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I don't think that they artificially limit supply initially I'm pretty sure they do. It would have been deeply embarrasing for Apple if they couldn't claim that "demand outstripped supply" - and it would hurt them on their next launch, because people would be less inclined to pre-order.

What you take 'artificially limit supply to mean? 1) Launch before you can fulfil supply. 2) Resist taking too much from future supply by limiting use of air shipment. Also saves shipping costs. [I'm more used to TVs, phones may be mostly air shipped normally] 3) Have warehouses of stock backed up ready to release. (2) can be similar to having floating warehouses while items are sea shipped. I guess that Apple are do…

I think there is definitely an element of (3) in their strategy.

From the link - "While we have sold out of our initial supply, stores continue to receive iPhone 5 shipments regularly and customers can continue to order online and receive an estimated delivery date"

I think they estimated how many they can sell, gave shops 80% (or some other fraction) of that, and made sure they had millions more ready to provide to these shops over time.

The ideal situation for a manufacturer is to "sell out" in the first few days, but not sell out for so long that people go to rival products.

Apple are exceptionally good at supply chains and hype management, so I have no doubt that they made are controlling supply to make this launch look as successful as possible.

The best way to manage this is having a bit of a stockpile.

Re: iPhone 5 First Weekend Sales Top Five Million

#105

Post by [deleted] »

josephlord wrote: post #95
bornhuetter wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I don't think that they artificially limit supply initially I'm pretty sure they do. It would have been deeply embarrasing for Apple if they couldn't claim that "demand outstripped supply" - and it would hurt them on their next launch, because people would be less inclined to pre-order.

What you take 'artificially limit supply to mean? 1) Launch before you can fulfil supply. 2) Resist taking too much from future supply by limiting use of air shipment. Also saves shipping costs. [I'm more used to TVs, phones may be mostly air shipped normally] 3) Have warehouses of stock backed up ready to release. (2) can be similar to having floating warehouses while items are sea shipped. I guess that Apple are do…

[deleted]

Re: iPhone 5 First Weekend Sales Top Five Million

#106

Post by sbuk »

lwhi wrote: post #101
sbuk wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why should they, or anyone else, sit back and watch a competitor get rich off of their work? That's the crux of the matter, isn't it? The validity of some of the patents is undoubtedly questionable, but then Samsung are suing based on FRAND patents that have already been paid for. That's far worse IMO, yet this is constantly glossed over. Samsung are no mor innocent than Apple are guilty. Hate on a corporation all yo…

How am I vilifying consumers? I don't believe I have done; however, the fact you feel I have is significant. Many Apple customers feel affronted by criticism of Apple, which is testament to the strength of their marketing. -- I agree that the validity of some of the patents is questionable. However I do not feel the issue simply involves Apple fearing that competitors will get rich from their hard work. I believe the…

Often when one sees criticism of $COMPANY, it usually follows with derogatory comment and vilification of $COMPANY's users. I made an assumption and it made an ass of me and for that I apologies.

Re: iPhone 5 First Weekend Sales Top Five Million

#107

Post by ceejayoz »

madoublet wrote: post #102
mike-cardwell wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They would have still sold millions if they'd just kept the exact same phone but put a number 5 on it.

For the most part, that is what they did.

As someone who picked up a 5, bullshit.

Mine's dramatically faster, LTE is remarkably speedier, and the extra real estate is a big deal in some apps (http://instagram.com/p/P7fGmzFalN/).

Re: iPhone 5 First Weekend Sales Top Five Million

#108

Post by pooriaazimi »

madoublet wrote: post #100
untog wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree that the criticism of the iPhone 5 was overblown, but I don't think these figures are a tremendous validation of the iPhone 5, either. The simple fact is that the vast majority of people are on two year cellphone plans, and it's been two years since the iPhone 4 came out. They took the upgrade in front of them. The iPhone 5 was good enough that people didn't want to switch to Android, but that isn't the stron…

Well, the Nokia 920 is a genuinely better alternative: better screen, better camera, better OS. And, the HTC 8x is close. But, the awareness is not there.

Not trying to be a troll, but untill I can install OmniFocus, Instapaper, ReaddleDocs, Numbers and a few other key apps (that I use and depend on), I can't switch to any other platform. Even if they're 5 times better than iPhone.

Other people's mileage varies of course. Just wanted to remind you that app ecosystem is maybe more important than camera, wireless charging or bigger screen (or even Android "intents").

Re: iPhone 5 First Weekend Sales Top Five Million

#109

Post by josephlord »

bornhuetter wrote: post #104
josephlord wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What you take 'artificially limit supply to mean? 1) Launch before you can fulfil supply. 2) Resist taking too much from future supply by limiting use of air shipment. Also saves shipping costs. [I'm more used to TVs, phones may be mostly air shipped normally] 3) Have warehouses of stock backed up ready to release. (2) can be similar to having floating warehouses while items are sea shipped. I guess that Apple are do…

I think there is definitely an element of (3) in their strategy. From the link - "While we have sold out of our initial supply, stores continue to receive iPhone 5 shipments regularly and customers can continue to order online and receive an estimated delivery date" I think they estimated how many they can sell, gave shops 80% (or some other fraction) of that, and made sure they had millions more ready to provide to…

The easiest way to manage it is to have a stockpile. The best way is to have a pipeline of shipments coming off boats each day and going through distribution centres as quickly as possible.

Unless you are sure that you are going to sell out everywhere keeping some back makes sense so that you can send them where you need them most. Doesn't make sense to have them sitting in the regions where they aren't needed when other places need them. I picture less than 20% but would see it as distribution strategy rather than a shortage strategy.

Re: iPhone 5 First Weekend Sales Top Five Million

#110

Post by mitchty »

w1ntermute wrote: post #74
mitchty wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've used my friends cyanogen and non s3's, honestly Androids not bad. The problem for me is the phones themselves. I have "girl hands" (size 7.5), I can't do bigger phones and use them with one hand. As for public transit info any developer can register their app to provide that data. And to be honest I think its not that bad of an idea to let transit providers update transit information rather than having Google tr…

> I can't do bigger phones and use them with one hand. I can't personally relate to this issue, but yes, there is a lack of (flagship) Android phones with smaller screen sizes. Like many other guys, I actually need the larger screen size or I can't accurately hit the keys on the virtual keyboard. However, one interesting thing I've observed is that this trend is reversed in Asia - the women (who are much more petite,…

On hand size, I only bring it up because I see far too many guys that seem to be blind to the fact that a significant portion of the population has physical characteristics that differ from their own. My hands are actually bigger than most womens as well and they're still small relatively. I can't speak to the asian market but the note is a mini tablet almost. If it weren't for me being used to one hand texting I probably wouldn't care as much about the sizes. But it is a rather big factor for myself personally.

I have used the google maps app on android actually, I'm hoping for google to release it onto the apple app store (assuming it isn't rejected that is, and until we have information on that i'm not going to discuss this aspect further as its somewhat pointless).

The android 4.0 google maps is quite nice actually and it would be nice to have both apple maps and google maps. I'm not arguing that apple's take is the best way with their transit directions. Just that both have different pros/cons and currently one con with googles transit methodology is they are the gatekeeper to the updates. I'm not reading any further into that con itself and noting that a local transit authority could release their own app that updates time information on iOS 6 and fix this for their users. That to me seems a bit of a better way to go about it. Yes I'm aware of googles efforts to standardize transit data as well, in this case the fault is the data providers not feeding their schedule information to google. But hopefully with the approach apple took both sides can be fixed.

Lets be honest, this is the first version of apple maps, as such it is somewhat inevitable it won't be complete. That said, developers have been pointing out the same failings since beta1 was released. I think the hullabaloo over its failings are somewhat premature. Yes it should be better, but at this point its spilled milk.

> Please elaborate, because I don't get your point. If it's that this contrasts with my stance on maps, it's not that I want browser choice instead of a good browser - I want both (just as with maps).

My point was more that making the designation for "advanced" to include features that your favorite OS includes but not another, you're being somewhat disingenuous. This is regardless of what you want, but its hard to argue that one missing feature that not everyone uses downgrades the entire OS to not advanced. Now arguing about "most advanced" is fine as I would agree it probably isn't, but this is after all marketing blurb as promotional material. I doubt even apple would be arguing that this is any sort of absolute statement that could be empirically proven. Maybe the marketing department would but I tend to ignore such statements as hyperbole.

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