Look, if Apple manufactured 100,000 iPhones a day for the last three months, they sold them all opening weekend. What would you have them do to satisfy demand, bend the laws of physics?
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Apple Halts In-Store Pickup Option for iPhone 5s Orders in Online Store
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Look, if Apple manufactured 100,000 iPhones a day for the last three months, they sold them all opening weekend. What would you have them do to satisfy demand, bend the laws of physics?
So bummed out about this since I was going to do this by the end of the week. Now it's going to be more difficult for me to find a 5s :-/
(Thanks for the credit MR
)
(Thanks for the credit MR
)
This is incorrect. It was explained to us last night when we ran to get 32 gig silvers we saw online. The online order and in store orders are pulled from the same stock. They have people in the back room who are constantly pulling for online orders or pulling phones for the people on the floor selling. Our sales representative was not the one who got the phone from stock. He used his iPhone sales point to tell them what he needed in back and they brought it out.
In other words people online can get to the end of an order only to find out it's gone before the order is finished. There's a bunch of posts in the forum about this. And is likely the real reason they decided to take 5S out of the system.
I just wish they would have left it so you could see what's in stock.
We could not order our iPhones for in store pick up due to trade ins. So we were using it just to see when the shipment arrived. We saw silver 32s arrive and got in the car and made a run for it. We had to wait 20 minutes for an available rep and got almost the last two because so many people were buying them online for in store pick up.
I personally don't think the 5C is a bad phone or an ugly phone or anything. However, I think the price gap is just not wide enough. Take me for example, my wife wants to give the in-laws an iPhone so they can Facetime and more easily communicate with us, and since they are overses we have no option but to buy one at full price.
Given that there is only a $100 price gap between the two phones, I told her that I'd get my self the new one and just turn around and give the in-laws my "old" iPhone 5. Since the in-laws are not into the whole tech thing anyways. Which the wife was fine with. But lets just say if the price gap is closer to $200 or even $250, I'd have to go with the 5C and just keep my current phone.
But either way I'm glad I got in the system before they halted the in-store pick up.
Given that there is only a $100 price gap between the two phones, I told her that I'd get my self the new one and just turn around and give the in-laws my "old" iPhone 5. Since the in-laws are not into the whole tech thing anyways. Which the wife was fine with. But lets just say if the price gap is closer to $200 or even $250, I'd have to go with the 5C and just keep my current phone.
But either way I'm glad I got in the system before they halted the in-store pick up.
And that is why they pulled it. Imagine how upset you'd be standing in line and seeing someone walk right past you and 15 mins later walk out with a phone? I could see people making serious threats. Of course if you were smart you'd just order with your Apple app while in line and walk right in...but too much confusion and too much opportunity to really make people angry with the reservation system. Still its a big loss and would have been great to have that continue on for people but I can understand the 'why' for pulling it.
The sales will still only count when the money changes hands and phones are delivered. The shipments that are not until Oct will still not be Sept sales.
Yes, they should have kept check availability feature and remove reserve option, so people can check online before driving to store.
I'm so glad I hopped on this yesterday. I cancelled my October ship date order at 10:30am pst. Yesterday....then I kept checking and checking in my area (Bay Area California) around 3:15pm about 8 stores had 64gb silver AT&T. I did the in store pickup right away! Got my 2 emails from apple and picked it up no problem. I really hope they re-activate this for those who weren't able to take advantage yesterday.
Whew so glad I did this yesterday. Ordered at 6pm, ready pick up at 6:20pm, got out of the store at 7:30pm. Makes sense why they stopped it though, there was multiple lines at the Brea, CA store and not enough staff. In store pick up had a small line too.
It would've been disastrous for Apple to delay release of the 5S. And they exceeded what they thought they would sell anyway, hence the revision of their quarterly guidance.
I think a lot people are failing to understand what it takes to set up a production line with state-of-the-art production equipment, making state-of-the-art components and products. Perhaps in the case of the 5S, it wasn't so much final assembly that was the constraint since the design was mostly the same as the 5. It would be component fabrication at full capacity, i.e. A7, M7, Fingerprint Sensor, where constraint would be understandable.
I don't expect them to bend the laws of physics. I understand that there isn't enough stock to satisfy demand but I'd expect them to communicate better about it.
- They allowed people to queue outside their stores at launch even when they knew there was not enough stock to serve one hundred people at some stores. Some stores received less than 200 phones yet no advice not to queue or that stock was limited so people waited for nothing. A wasted journey.
- They allowed two phones per customer and many then went on eBay. I can't say what I want to say but at one store I went to the queue was clearly full of opportunists.
- The Apple website suggests go to store and get the iPhone on a first come first served basis but some stores have not received any stock since the launch. A wasted journey.
- The stores won't tell you when stock will be in because they don't know. If you call in advance to check before travelling, the demand is so high you wait 20-30 minutes to be told that there is no stock. If there was, it would be gone by the time you reached the store.
- If stock was so limited, why did they not restrict the supplies to online or pre-order only saving people time and money travelling to stores? I suspect publicity at the consumer's expense.
- Their online store says October - not two weeks or four weeks so we have no idea whether this means their estimating a few weeks or they're going to push it right through to the end of the month (6 weeks from ordering).
- They allow US customers to pay and collect which means they get to bump the queue. Good for some, bad for others (and I would certainly try this if it was available in the UK). They then withdraw with no explanation.
- They haven't offered the online reservation like previous years which would at least reduce unnecessary journeys and queuing for some.
- If stocks were so limited, they should have launched in less countries rather than spread stock so thin across the world.
So what I'd expect is better communication, fairer and simpler purchasing. Personally, I think they should've delayed launch until they were ready to offer a decent supply, preventing the chaos and disappointment that currently exists. However, I suspect being a publicly listed company, they needed to satisfy their shareholders but announcing sales in this quarter.
Same. I think I pissed a few people off that were standing around trying to grab one.
I did in-store pickup yesterday. The line was long and slow, and the Apple Store employee told me that they didn't receive any advance notice from Apple that in-store pickup was going to begin. As such, they weren't staffed up like they normally would be.
Don't know if this has anything to do with the change.
Don't know if this has anything to do with the change.
I't's an interesting problem. Which is worse: postponing the release date until they have so many phones sitting around doing nothing that they cannot possibly sell out, by which time *nobody* gets one and some people lose interest (and, meanwhile, while people aren't buying the current model because they know it's about to be replaced), or to go ahead and start selling when they have a few million ready to go and fill other orders as fast as they can make them?
Now that's interesting. If so, it would make sense not to offer that service for items where supply is this constricted, because it further divides what little inventory exists.
Oddly enough, even though this is the opposite, it makes even more sense as a reason to stop.
If you want to go with the "deliberate shortage" theory, it *would* make a kind of sense to have only the number of phones you need to sell this quarter to look good available, and let the rest count for the next one. I'm certainly not saying that's their goal, especially given that next quarter includes Christmas anyway so it hardly needs the extra boost, but it's a rational possibility.
Same here. Had the 32 GB 5C been 500-550, I'd have got it. But if the phone's going to be 650 anyway
I always feel guilty doing that sort of thing. Not ordering online while staining in line, but ordering a replacement from the device it's replacing. Yes, I know that's irrational.
Many people do, in fact, have more than one phone on an account. What would you have them do? The limit of two should cut down significantly on reselling while only inconveniencing those legitimate customers who want to upgrade three or more.
Chances are they *can't* do that to their carriers, and it would be foolish to do it to their own physical stores. Besides, some people prefer to buy in person, even if it means waiting and, as for certain movie openings, some apparently enjoy the wait itself as a sort of event.
Which is a better, when you cannot have both: accuracy or precision?
Do I understand correctly that you are complaining BOTH that they offered this service AND that they no longer do?
Somehow I doubt you'd feel that way if your country was one of those cut.
Actually, if Apple had said UK iPhone stock was limited or would not be available until the end of October then I would not have sold my iPhone 5. So whilst it would have been frustrating having to wait, at least we would have known and made decisions accordingly.
If I knew that my online order will definitely not be fulfilled until the end of October, I might choose a contract rather than SIM free.
As for the two limit per person, as you say, some people have more than one account. Presumably, this would show up on their accounts or they would have more than one person using the two iPhones? I agree than a one per person (or per visit/per order) is not ideal, it affects far few than it does allowing the majority of the existing stock going to eBay. I wish I had taken a photo or video of the long queue at one of the stores near me as they might explain that the system was being abused.
And I'm not complaining that they offered online pay and collect. As I said, some win and some lose with this but Apple didn't communicate it well. In fact, there is nothing Apple could have done to increase stock (and I understand that) but they could have been better at communicating their plans.
If I knew that my online order will definitely not be fulfilled until the end of October, I might choose a contract rather than SIM free.
As for the two limit per person, as you say, some people have more than one account. Presumably, this would show up on their accounts or they would have more than one person using the two iPhones? I agree than a one per person (or per visit/per order) is not ideal, it affects far few than it does allowing the majority of the existing stock going to eBay. I wish I had taken a photo or video of the long queue at one of the stores near me as they might explain that the system was being abused.
And I'm not complaining that they offered online pay and collect. As I said, some win and some lose with this but Apple didn't communicate it well. In fact, there is nothing Apple could have done to increase stock (and I understand that) but they could have been better at communicating their plans.
Why wait on the release date? Apparently they had at least 9 million ready since that's what they pushed into the system vs 5 million last year. If they had waited 2 more weeks, they might have had 18 million phones ready but 25 million people looking for them, resulting in the same issue.
There are always product shortages when Apple releases a new iPhone. It's a function of supply and demand. Waiting for supply to catch up with demand has its own risks. Announcing a new product but saying it won't be available for a month can annoy people, too. Delaying a product announcement might cause some people to stop waiting and buy something else.
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Why did you sell your old iPhone before you knew when you'd get a new iPhone? Demand outstripping supply is nothing new for an iPhone launch. It happened last year, and the year before, and the year before.
Each year, for the last 3 years, I have managed to get an iPhone on launch day. There have been manic queues but enough stock to see demand through to the weekend so anyone willing to wait has got one.
On launch day this year, there was about 100 in line before me but the store sold out before it opened so the store didn't have a limited supply but a really limited supply. Besides, the value of the iPhone 5 has dropped considerably since launch so I made more money by selling earlier. Obviously this year it has backfired on me and I don't blame Apple for this. I just wish Apple had communicated the shortages before launch and perhaps I would not have sold my existing phone.
I understand this after getting my 5s's last night.
While I understand the frustration that everyone is having, I also sympathize with Apple over this. I placed an order for 2 5s's yesterday at around noon. Everything went fine and the orders were waiting. Went to the Apple Store around 6:30 and let them know I had a prepaid order. Was told to get in line for my order. After about 10 minutes an Apple person came over and said to me, "please let the people in line behind you know that you are the last person guaranteed to purchase an iPhone tonight. We close at 9 and if we can get them in we will try but there are no guarantees". Still didn't stop 20 other odd people from getting in line.
Picked up my order after standing in line at 8:55. It isn't like you just go to the store and give your order number pickup your box and out you go. They go through the in-store activation. It took a lot longer than I thought it would but glad I have my phones now.
Next time open up preorder and ship to home. That is what I have done with every other iPhone.
While I understand the frustration that everyone is having, I also sympathize with Apple over this. I placed an order for 2 5s's yesterday at around noon. Everything went fine and the orders were waiting. Went to the Apple Store around 6:30 and let them know I had a prepaid order. Was told to get in line for my order. After about 10 minutes an Apple person came over and said to me, "please let the people in line behind you know that you are the last person guaranteed to purchase an iPhone tonight. We close at 9 and if we can get them in we will try but there are no guarantees". Still didn't stop 20 other odd people from getting in line.
Picked up my order after standing in line at 8:55. It isn't like you just go to the store and give your order number pickup your box and out you go. They go through the in-store activation. It took a lot longer than I thought it would but glad I have my phones now.
Next time open up preorder and ship to home. That is what I have done with every other iPhone.
The 5c isn't selling we'll because aren't stupid, they know it's an year old that's still pretty expensive, $100 and 2 year contract lol