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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

#111
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…

> The tech crowd tends to look at devices as bricks with feature lists attached to them, but consumers don't. That's one unusual conclusion. One could argue that the main difference is that the tech crowd knows what they're buying better than average misinformed consumers. We have a saying where I live. Billions of flies eat shit every day, but that doesn't mean so should we. Apple certainly doesn't sell shit, their…

I disagree that it's an unusual conclusion... it's been my general experience, which is why I brought it up. Tech-savvy people tend to undervalue user interface and holistic design quality and overvalue individual features and overall feature count, in particular features that they're specifically looking for often without fully realizing how that feature fits into the larger picture.

In other words, nerds tend to have tunnel-vision. This isn't surprising, they're usually specialists. I'm just sayin, it doesn't lead to accurate predictions of the larger market.

Furthermore, this fact is valuable in determining your own (perhaps nerdy, myopic, or short-sighted) biases in your own market or business strategy.

Re: iPhone 5 First Weekend Sales Top Five Million

#112
post #11

This is not a success by the expectations and hype created. Analysts projected 10Million sales and worst case scenario of 6Million sales before launch: http://articles.cnn.com/2012-09-19/tech/tech_mobile_iphone-5...

http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2012/07/24Apple-Reports-Thir... gives 26M iPhones sold in the last _quarter_. Even assuming all of those were top of the line, 5M sold would be 2.5 weeks of 'regular' sales. I guess 'top of the line' is less than 50% of normal sales. If that is true, at least a month's worth of customers wanted this product so much that they went to a store in the first weekend. Also, to get to 10M, they would have to sell almost a quarter's worth of top of the line iPhones in one weekend.

So, 5M looks like a good start to me. Of course, one cannot declare succes on basis of one weekend of sales. For all we know, 4.999M of those phones will be returned to the store and none will be sold afterwards.

Re: iPhone 5 First Weekend Sales Top Five Million

#113
post #84
post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think putting an iPhone in a case is like leaving a plastic cover on a $3,000 couch. They are made to feel nice when your skin meets their design. Life happens. Enjoy things that won't harm you without the rubberized prophylaxis.

Not all of us can afford for life to just "happen" and grab another iPhone.

Get AppleCare+ then, it's $99 for 2 years of replacement coverage (3x). If you can't afford life to happen to it, either don't get the phone, or get a coverage plan and hedge your bets.

I don't put my 4S in a case, but I did get AppleCare+ (haven't had to use it).

Re: iPhone 5 First Weekend Sales Top Five Million

#114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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/ ).

Sorry, I just don't see it. Lets call it what it is: a nice, incremental upgrade to catch the iPhone up (in term's of hardware).

Re: iPhone 5 First Weekend Sales Top Five Million

#115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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").

I can respect that. It would be really tough for me to switch to another platform after Windows Phone.
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