Apple Prepping to Launch New iPhone Incentive Programs, Has an 'Army' of Products in the Works

[tardman91]

It's really a bad time to buy an iPhone. If Apple decided to give me $100 for the iPhone 5 on contract I still would not pull the trigger. My wife had a iphone 4 last year and it ran like crap on iOS 6; and that was a 2 year old phone. As a verizon customer I'm getting raped $220 a month. Saving $100 on a phone that is almost a year old is meaningless (at least for me). If I was on a cheaper service with a low monthly then it might make sense. I want the latest and greatest when I get locked into a 2 year contract. Even after a year these phones show their age.

Yeah. I'm dropping Verizon and going with tmobile. I'm going to buy the 2 phones outright. I'll save about $60 a month and get much more in terms of service. I'm lucky that I live in an area with excellent tmobile coverage, including LTE. If the 5S happens to blow me away I'll sell my 5 and upgrade, but so far the rumors aren't really getting me excited at all.

 

[anthonylambert]

My firiend showed me his Apple][ then, I got one, then a Mac, then another, then others, then a PowerBook, and another... Quad G5, iPhone, 3G, iPad, 4, 5 and Macbook retina.... one product leading to another.... I can't see it myself....

 

[jonnysods]

Does anyone miss just going to check the apple site every Tuesday to see if something new had come out?

 

[Constable Odo]

My experience has been entirely the opposite. At least when it comes to iPhones, I much rather deal with somebody at an Apple Store versus a carrier or big box retailer.

That said, I imagined this dissonance was mostly a matter of convenience: my carrier has locations everywhere but there's only one Apple store. Doesn't really matter where I get the phone, so why not choose the easiest solution possible. For repairs, I know I'm going to have a much quicker and smoother experience going directly to Apple, so I'm willing to go out of my way.

Retail stores are highly overrated. Google is activating almost a billion (haha) Android smartphones a day and probably 99% of them are bought at a carrier or big box retailer. Poor Apple is spending all that money on retail stores and yet Android devices are running circles around them in sales. Timid Cook better do something quick or Android smartphones are going to own 95% of the smartphone market and Apple will end up with a P/E ratio of around 4 because Apple makes investors nervous.

 

[phoenixsan]

Ok.....

as the original iPod, the iPhone now is the hub for Apple to sell related products. I got it. And seems worth that Apple wants a bigger chunk of the cake if they make the hardware and the software. But seems to me, that somebody in the Sales department in Apple overlook/underestimate how much money a given carrier can get from the iPhone sales.....

 

[chadley_chad]

Dont hold your breath!!!!

 

[warriorz]

As a former Apple employee, I'll say this:

While Cook's vision is of making Apple Retail a destination for consumers, the numbers they show here indicates that it serves only as a destination for service and support. Until Apple can find a way to raise the standard of Retail and make it a uniformly pleasant experience for customers (by increasing hiring standards for the employees and raising compensation to draw desirable candidates), the stores will continue to be only visited out of necessity. Apple Retail has come a long way since it started, but has in the past five years since iOS was released, they have shown that they still have plenty to learn.

Gotta agree. Whilst Apple retail stores are better than most retail stores, I rarely see or experience truly excellent customer service on the stores. I'm often redirected when I try to pay for goods, there's literally no till point, you just gave to try your luck finding someone who has a handheld payment processor. Also although there seem to be a fair, not lots, of staff around, they'll invariably tell you they're serving someone just now. So more staff, somewhere clear to pay, and when approached staff that will help you immediately or get someone to help straight way rather than the customer having to walk around trying to find someone.

----------

'Army of Products': Guess it will be an exciting time for Apple fans. Though I'm becoming a bit jaded with the whole consumerism thing recently. I love tech but the whole chasing products, being 'flooded' by products tends to leave me feeling tired by it all these days.

 

[Glideslope]

Amazing how many newbs populate this site. Post after post saying, "yea the iPhone was my first Apple product, and then..."

Don't get me wrong, I'm delighted that it has been working. Getting non-Apple users to buy Macs & iPads because they got an iPhone first.

And it all sort of makes sense. The amount of sheer stupidity that gets posted here definitely makes a little more sense understanding that most posters are not long time Apple users. Rather, recent converts.

I bought an iPhone because of how much I loved OS X.

Haters will always Hate. Can't stop it.

Just appreciate the fact that when on a commercial flight you're Cockpit Crew (growing daily) has an iOS Device assisting on the Flight Deck. Angry Birds is fine for Ice Cream Cone, Peanut Butter Cookie, Milkshake, and Android Fragmentation 4.0 in Y Class.

Everything is fine. Watch Asia carefully when the new "Plastic" iPhone arrives. The new phone is designed for Asia, not the US. IMO, there will be no 5S. IMO, we will have iPhone / iPhone Pro. No more numbers.

Apple will never be what it was with Steve again. But, IMO, it's on a new path now, and I like what coming.

 

[IbisDoc]

Gotta agree. Whilst Apple retail stores are better than most retail stores, I rarely see or experience truly excellent customer service on the stores. I'm often redirected when I try to pay for goods, there's literally no till point, you just gave to try your luck finding someone who has a handheld payment processor. Also although there seem to be a fair, not lots, of staff around, they'll invariably tell you they're serving someone just now. So more staff, somewhere clear to pay, and when approached staff that will help you immediately or get someone to help straight way rather than the customer having to walk around trying to find someone.

Agree with all of this. Apple's retail stores are a disaster. Nowhere to pay, nowhere to ask for assistance. Apple just wants you to walk around like an idiot until some employee does NOT turn you away.

And during a major release period......instead of ordering it online or purchasing it elsewhere, they expect to have more people expose themselves to that mess? LOL, Tim.

 

[brewcitywi]

iPhone Sales

I would love to make my iPhone purchases at the Apple store. However, being on an AT&T business mobile share plan restricts the purchases to the AT&T store.

I would be that some users are restricted by similar carriers and plans.

Can Apple update the technology so that i could make my purchases at the Apple store?

 

[eisbaer14]

for me it began in 2007 with an ipod classic 80gb, than ipod classic 120gb, than ipod classic 160gb.

in 2010 my first iphone 3GS, than 4, than 4s, and now a 5.

after the iphone my brother had a MBP and in 2011 i bought my first MBP13" which i still use, but upgraded a lot. time machine and apple tv just followed. because i dont had an apple retail store next to me, my first experience was in grand central station nyc last year whre i bought my apple tv.

i knew already all products (my wife got a 15" MBP and a 21" iMac), but was still a nice experience.

i would like to buy an iphone there, but all last years i wanted to have it immediately and i am not liking to wait, especially in a huge line. that's why i bought my last 3 iphones in the apple online store. i was one of the first buyers to order the new one. thats exciting enough...

5s will be the first one i ll miss, but the 6 will be bought online again.

btw, my mbp was bought at amazon, because 120 EUR cheaper than at apple!

 

[maxosx]

I'm confused to as to why they seem to want to release these products all at once. It's been a dry year for new releases. Better to spread the new products out over the year than launch all in the same quarter.

I do agree that it's best to spread out new product introductions.

However in this case I think Apples very aware that to outsiders they appear to have gone into hibernation.

At this point it may be Apple desperate to catch up and stop the blogosphere from continuing to point out that Apple has been absent for some time now.

Who know's but the "Army of products" comment is quite revealing of Apples somewhat paranoid state at this juncture.

 

[Dirtfarmer]

apple retail

Hilariously, Apple does retail the way it does products: it forces you to change your expectations, and then convince yourself that this is somehow better. And you swallow it, since you just parted with hundreds or thousands of dollars for a piece of disposable consumer electronics and are keen to convince yourself that it was a good idea.

Who the heck wants to find a cashier in a retail store? Apparently no one, according to Apple. (Same answer to those who want to email more than 5 pictures from their phone.)

Everyone who isn't comfortable with Apple's "our way or the highway" approach to customer service is welcome to go elsewhere.

(One option would be to quit Apple for the the market leaders, who meet the needs of their customers rather than always trying to teach their customers that they don't actually want what they think they want.)

According to Apple, apparently, the 4 out of 5 consumers worldwide who currently vote against iOS when selecting a smartphone just don't know what they don't want.

Reality distortion field anyone?

 

[macpeach55]

Hilariously, Apple does retail the way it does products: it forces you to change your expectations, and then convince yourself that this is somehow better. And you swallow it, since you just parted with hundreds or thousands of dollars for a piece of disposable consumer electronics and are keen to convince yourself that it was a good idea.

Who the heck wants to find a cashier in a retail store? Apparently no one, according to Apple. (Same answer to those who want to email more than 5 pictures from their phone.)

Everyone who isn't comfortable with Apple's "our way or the highway" approach to customer service is welcome to go elsewhere.

(One option would be to quit Apple for the the market leaders, who meet the needs of their customers rather than always trying to teach their customers that they don't actually want what they think they want.)

According to Apple, apparently, the 4 out of 5 consumers worldwide who currently vote against iOS when selecting a smartphone just don't know what they don't want.

Reality distortion field anyone?

I want some of what you're smoking!

 

[iKrl]

If Apple really wants to get more iPhones to be bought at Apple Stores in order to showcase its other products it really should start thinking about opening stores in more countries. They have always taken the cautious side and decided to open in places where the will definitely sell a lot. However, this doesn't mean that developing countries other than China (and Hong Kong) wont be viable for their success. Their retail strategy isn't really in line with their goals.

 

[seoutah3]

Still with that in mind I can honestly say I have never purchased anything from a mac store they are always the very most expensive for anything.

 

[eisbaer14]

Still with that in mind I can honestly say I have never purchased anything from a mac store they are always the very most expensive for anything.

... except for iPhones without a contract.

 

[SockRolid]

Right. And this a meeting for Store Leaders only, with information leaked from SL's (according to the article). So much for secrecy.

Nice out-of-context quote attempt there.
Let me walk you through an explanation. Bear with me.

Here's the original quote that I was referring to. It's a rather poor troll attempt about upcoming Apple products:

"Apple has an "army of new products" in the works"

Yeah, just like Steve Jobs had left 4 years of new products in the pipeline, of which we have yet to see any sign.

I replied with an appropriately snappy smack-down:

Do the words "doubling down on secrecy" trigger any neurons for you?

4 years of new products "of which we have yet to see any sign."
Hence my reply about "doubling down on secrecy." Totally apropos.
Are we all on the same page now? Good. Let's move on.

 

[Neodym]

One of the main reasons that 80% of iPhones are sold out of Apple stores is that there aren't enough Apple Stores. I live in Iowa City, Iowa, a town with a Big Ten University, and the nearest Apple Store is 100 miles away in Des Moines (the only one in Iowa).

Strange - 50% of all iPhone owners seem to live close enough to visit an Apple store for troubleshooting...

 

[elev8d]

Gateway

A Titanium Powerbook was my gateway to the iPhone
I was getting it repaired in the mall and saw the iPhone and made a $600 impulse buy

 

[NOTORIOUS187]

Amazing how many newbs populate this site. Post after post saying, "yea the iPhone was my first Apple product, and then..."

Don't get me wrong, I'm delighted that it has been working. Getting non-Apple users to buy Macs & iPads because they got an iPhone first.

And it all sort of makes sense. The amount of sheer stupidity that gets posted here definitely makes a little more sense understanding that most posters are not long time Apple users. Rather, recent converts.

I bought an iPhone because of how much I loved OS X.

I disagree. There is almost as much stupidity coming from Apple "veterans" as there is from "newbs." Your post, for example, falls into this category.

 

[blitzer09x87]

i guess it'd be, iwatch, iphones 5s, apple tv, apple gaming console.

 

[beaniemyman]

oh wow, i was getting really bored with the current style of playing the game by apple, cant wait to buy the iWATCH.

 

[TouchMint.com]

This isn't true. Take a look at Apple's website and the websites of other Apple authorized retailers (AT&T, WalMart, Best Buy, Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile, etc). The prices you see in the Apple Store are identical to the prices that Apple has on its website. The prices are also identical to the prices you'd get if you were going to go and get a MacBook Pro from say Best Buy. The only time they're different is when these 3rd party retailers are offering special promotions, which actually doesn't happen that often.

Sometimes it's even more expensive at the third parties. As an example, when I was eligible for upgrade in October 2011 I wanted to get my first iPhone. I've been AT&T subscriber for years. I did a little research. I wanted to get the 32gb iPhone 4S. I started the transactions on both AT&T's and Apple's respective websites. The phone was going to cost me $299.99 if I ordered it from AT&T and they were going to charge me shipping. If I ordered it through Apple's website, the iPhone was only going to cost me $299.00 and no shipping. So I saved a few bucks by getting it directly from Apple instead.

The thing is those places have sales time to time. Apple stores dont really have "sales" (besides something like this of course). For example I purchased my iphone5 from frys electronics about 2 months after it came out for $129. I purchased my imac from macmall for about $70 off on released day + no tax.

 

[pimentoLoaf]

....Until Apple can find a way to raise the standard of Retail and make it a uniformly pleasant experience for customers (by increasing hiring standards for the employees and raising compensation to draw desirable candidates), the stores will continue to be only visited out of necessity...

Did you work in the Berkeley area? People in that part of the country are far more knowledgeable about computers than many other places in the US, so I wouldn't doubt your claim. My own experience from visiting stores in Wisconsin and Chicago is that people are jammed into these things buying, learning, and yes, getting service.

On the other hand, since the App Store came into being, there isn't an incentive for many to show up anymore to browse the software shelves.