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Any thoughts why the demand for iPhone 4 is so much greater than for 3S last year?

Manatee said:
LOL! I'm looking forward to it. Actually, now that Apple has become "the establishment", I'm watching for signs of rebellion. It's starting to feel like Tommy's Holiday Camp. Good thing the products work so well.
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... and iPhone day 2012 really will be the end of the world :D
 
The reason is because everyone that didnt reserve theirs last yr figured out that its alot better than sitting in those frigin lines all day.
People just dont want to waste their day away in those lines.
I doubt its much more than that.
 
First Generation iPhone was expensive (not that it didn't sell). A lot waited for the second revision (3G). When they got it, they signed a 2 year contract. The 3GS came out, it wasn't worth an upgrade and plus it would cost them more out of pocket to upgrade because they're in contract.

So now you have people with contracts expiring that want a new phone plus the white model is out of stock which is forcing many to buy the black because they absolutely want it now.

The end.
 
The reason why i did not really care about the 3gs was literally because there was no real good feature. I brought one a couple of weeks after launch and the reason at the time was because of the voice control and i have never used it really. But the reason why i actually got up at 5am uk time waiting for pre orders to start is because this phone is so much better. The pre orders didnt even start till 9am uk time and took me 2 hours to actually get through and order but it will be worth it because it is so much better than the 3gs
 
Also the "cheaper" data plans will attract some more customers. $15 is pretty cheap considering what we paid of $30 for the past 2 years
 
auero said:
First Generation iPhone was expensive (not that it didn't sell). A lot waited for the second revision (3G). When they got it, they signed a 2 year contract. The 3GS came out, it wasn't worth an upgrade and plus it would cost them more out of pocket to upgrade because they're in contract.

So now you have people with contracts expiring that want a new phone plus the white model is out of stock which is forcing many to buy the black because they absolutely want it now.

The end.
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If that was the (only) case, the number of iPhone 4 owners would be equal to or smaller than the number of 3G owners.

iPhone upgraders are just a small subset of these numbers. This phone is going to be huge.
 
Manatee said:
I'm wondering what's causing the huge increase in demand for the iPhone 4 over the 3S last year. When I ordered my 3S on day 1, it just took one try. This time I had to wait a day to get through. Now I'm reading about the huge demand for the new phone. Why? What's different since the launch of the 3S last year?

Is it because of the new features? Front camera? LED flash? Hi resolution screen? Gyroscope? Yes

Is it the new OS version? Slight multi-tasking? App grouping in menus? Gaming network? No

Is it the physical styling of the new phone? Yes

Is it the iPad aura that's carrying over to the new phone? No

Are there notable apps available now that weren't available last year? No

Something else? 3G users contracts are up. Plus, new people to the iPhone, plus 3GS users, plus hand-me down users making a break for it.

I really don't get it. I don't see much different since last year. I've bought all the iPhones early, and I've never seen demand like this.

Btw, is the same thing happening with other platforms, like Android? Maybe I just don't notice since I've committed to the iPhone, and don't pay close attention to the others.
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Answers in bold
 
Likely the dude leaving the prototype in a bar (intentional or not) didn't hurt things either. More press, conspiracy thoughts etc.
 
Well, part of it could be that every other person on here seems to have ordered 1 or 2 more than thy plan to actually buy (for a "backup"). It's like trying to buy gasoline or bottled water on the Gulf coast before a hurricane comes through. People stock up at the last minute and then there is not enough to go around. I'm kidding. Just picking on some of you. :D

I think the answer is that the 4 looks like a fantastic phone, which is why I am upgrading from my 3G. I saw the 3GS as a modest upgrade, so I skipped it.
 
Small White Car said:
Yep. This is for ALL smartphones, btw.

When a whole product category starts to enter that phase, watch out! This is 'smartphone growth,' not 'iPhone growth.'

Everyone's sales will be up this year. The race is not to see who wins or loses, but who "wins more" than the other guys.

People around these boards don't get it...the smartphone race starts now, not 3 or 4 years ago. People are talking about HD video or better screens...doesn't matter. Most shoppers are trading in their Razrs or some such thing. "HD Video" wasn't really what called them to the iPhone. It's just the timing. They've been thinking about it for 4 years and they've finally given in. My in-laws are getting 3 new iPhones this year and they fit that mold. They've been talking about getting an iPhone for 2 years and now it's finally time to do it. That's pretty much all there is to it.
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You're right. That's really what's going on out there. As a gadget geek, who works with a bunch of other gadget geeks (in software engineering), I forget that we are a small sub-culture of the phone/smartphone-consuming public. The people on this, and other, specialty forums are mostly part of that group. And in total, we're hardly more than a pin-point in the total number of potential consumers of these products. I have a pile of smartphones sitting at home, going back to the first Blackberries and other gadgets. I'm pretty blind to how many gazillions of people are still packing flip phones and candy bars.

Bosox3 said:
The reason is because everyone that didnt reserve theirs last yr figured out that its alot better than sitting in those frigin lines all day.
People just dont want to waste their day away in those lines.
I doubt its much more than that.
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Yeah, last year on drop day I was sitting out on the terrace at Tandoori Nights, having lunch and showing my new 3GS (dropped at my office by FedEx) to a friend. We were watching the swarms of people in the long lines on both sides of the Clarendon Apple Store.
 
F123D said:
Yes, 3GS was barely an upgrade.
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Huh?
The 3GS had a newer and faster CPU and graphics chip.
I skipped the 3G as it was "barely and upgrade" as you put it.

The 2G to the 3G was more cosmetic.
They simply added a 3G radio and GPS.
 
It's a physical up grade at an affordable price. If the iPhone 4 had the features it has now but still looked like a 3G/3GS a ton of people wouldn't be upgrading. This one is a legit upgrade aside from just the "speed" upgrade which most people view was the only 3GS benefit.
 
orange42 said:
If the iPhone 4 had the features it has now but still looked like a 3G/3GS a ton of people wouldn't be upgrading.
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That situation is almost too hypothetical; Apple would never have killed their own momentum like that. And besides, Jony Ive's gone on to say that the 3G design was a bit of a compromise. A re-design was as likely as the spec bump.

I'd be willing to wager that we'll be seeing the 'new design one year / new specs the next' two year cycle for the next little bit. Expect the iPhone "4GS" next year, then an iPhone "5" in 2012. Just my hunch.
 
I don't understand why everyone thinks this is such a SIGNIFICANT upgrade, and so much better than 3G->3GS.

Excluding features specific to iOS4, which you can also get for your 3GS, what does 3GS->4 have?:

- No Capacity Increase (3G->3GS has a 100% capacity increase to 32GB)

- No RAM Increase (3G->3GS hads a 100% increase to 256MB)

- No word on Processor Speed Increase (3G->3GS had a 50% increase to 666MHz)

- Gyroscope (3G->3GS had a Compass)

- Better Camera (3G->3GS also had a better Camera)

- HD Screen & Flash (OK are cool new features that 3G->3GS didn't have)

So the 3GS->4 seems like a pretty comparable upgrade to the 3G->3GS upgrade to me.

I think the large rush to get this is all the people who bought the 3G and weren't eligible for a subsidize phone with the 3GS release now are, and the iPhone 4 is a fairly significant upgrade to the 3G (if not so much to the 3GS).

Tony
 
iPhones are very simple and easy to use. The average consumer picks up on the buzz about the iPhone and how "cool" it is, so they have to have one. It's the current fad.
 
caranddriver said:
All the new features and a lot of 3G owners skipped 3GS, just like me.
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I think this is the main reason. I'm a currently 3g owner. Like a previous statement, I didn't want to spend all this money and I knew there would be a newer iPhone coming our way. And many people were not eligible for the last upgrade either and probably thought the same way.
 
Add me to the list of people of who skipped the 3GS. Just didn't seem like a worthy upgrade from my 3G. Now iphone 4? heck yes!!!! bring it!!!
 
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