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Apple needs to learn....
- Thread starter danredwing
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So, they sold more product on a single day than any other tech company in history... and that leads you to believe that they held back stock on purpose?
Please.
As I said in another thread, the aim for Apple here seems to be to saturate the market with iPads as quickly as possible, so that people don't have an opportunity to choose a Xoom or one of the other tabs that are about to drop. I see absolutely no reason why Apple would need to artificially create the impression of demand when the demand is obviously there in spades and there's no more compelling product to compete with.
Sorry, but I don't buy the "it's all a marketing ploy" line of reasoning. If Apple had had 2 million iPads made and ready to go they would have sold every single one of them as quickly as possible.
Basically, both sides have valid points here.
Apple is likely getting them out there as fast as they can.
Demand is very high for iPad 2
Lines at the retail Apple store make for a good story and an implied sense that it is a big deal
My frustration is with the broad changes to the online ordering options that were made with this rollout.
If Apple says fast shipping, I expect it to arrive within 2-3 days, maximum. When they say in their advertising that it ships on the release day, I expect that to be true as well. The first considerable batch of online orders are arriving today, which is 5 days after they were ordered.
That is not fast shipping in my book. Unfortunately, with this information, I made plans to order online and then leave town. When I ordered it at 1am in the morning and saw "ships in 3-5 days" it was too late to change my plans and go stand in line.
I dont think they sat around a table concocting some evil scheme to make you wait. The fact is they're inundated with orders. You'll get yours soon enough. If you're that angry about it, call CS and see if you can get anything for free. Other than that there's nothing anyone can do for you.
Of course not. The more likely conversation was "How in the world are we going to satisfy all the demand while pissing the fewest people off? Looks to me, based on the number of units we can guarantee for launch day that something's going to have to give." That something was pre-orders.
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Seems Apple anticipated the demand and reception better than most of the armchair experts here on MR. Funny, that.
You can't make any money that way. You always want demand to be more than supply to ensure a consistent sales pipe. Besides, there are laws for public companies that prevent fudging the numbers.
Wasn't really referring to supply and demand. I was talking about delivery expectations.
Or how about, "what approach will best make the iPad the must-have item of the year?" The one that produces long lines at every store, keeps people coming back every day to check stock, and has people waiting a month, of course. And forget pre-ordering, that doesn't make us look good enough, not enough people will be talking about it.
Nothing evil or sophisticated about it. It's simple marketing. Very simple. The bigger question is, why are so many people so personally offended by the mere suggestion that Apple is playing games with its customers? It's nothing personal.
I have no idea whether or not Apple conduct this shortage situation as a marketing ploy or they genuinely don't have stock. Tbf they sold a million devices on day one, they are launching to the rest of the world a couple of weeks after. There must be a limit to how many they can produce. I do find it interesting though. Having worked for a few companies in my experience, from the outside what looks like a planned strategy, is often on the inside the complete opposite. Obviously I can't speak for Apple.
I don't doubt that Apple fully anticipate the shortages. Whether however they are 100% intentional - I guess we'll never know.
I don't see how Apple did not see this demand coming. With the huge sale numbers of the first iPad over the past 10-12 months, how could anybody deny that the second generation demand would be anything less. Look at the iPhone, gets more popular with every launch. I think Apple dropped the ball big time with this one.
Original estimates were 250,000 would be sold opening day. These were revised to 500-600,000. The actual number seems to be close to 1,000,000. I think they made a reasonable attempt to anticipate demand.
Oh I think they might have thought this one out ... the 5pm start time was perfect for the lines to form and get quoted in every news source across the country.
well played Apple
They definitely planned the lines. I don't think they planned for the sheer number of orders they got.
That is a lot of units, even 500,000 is a lot. Some sort of statement from Apple would be nice, regarding upcoming supply or current situation. The BB store I waited at never got their initial shipment, they still have only received a very small number of ipads, no where close to what they were supposed to get.
Natural disasters and underestimating demand are rational explanations; however, nothing explains why everything about this launch is so cloak and dagger. Actually I fully believe there was a room full of apple higher-ups scheming how to make the lines as long as possible for launch. Love or hate Apple no one can dispute that they are marketing geniuses and the absolute masters of making you believe that you have to have every product they launch. Making ipads as hard to find as possible just adds to the mystique and guarantees that the next product they launch could be absolutely useless and the lines will be the same.