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Can't wait what the next .....gate will be with this one.
I'll go with "Touch-gate". People will be confused by it or think it is too sensitive or whatever and there will have to be a way to turn it off in settings. This will be followed by a press release from Samsung as why they didn't implement multi-pressure touch on their devices, followed by a commercial from them that shows Apple users being confused on how to access apps, accidentally pushing too hard, etc. If Samsung is smart they will have someone in the video attempting to use the Apple Pencil on their iPhone, wondering why they can't access the apps while someone is next to them with a new Samsung Galaxy phone using a stylus just flying through the screens (with, of course, a notation in fine print that some screen interactions having been shortened in the video).
 
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Spin.

Read between the lines here guys. The statement says they didn't sell as many phones as last year, yet some comments on this thread are congratulating them as if they have!?

What they are doing is saying we didn't do as well as last year but, we will, to save the stock price.

Now that by no means suggests its a failure. What Apple is trying to do in the long term isn't sustainable. No Apple product will be a failure, but some years will be better than others.

How is it spin when "the weekend" of which they speak is still 2 weeks away? They haven't sold a single one yet... because they aren't on sale yet. So yeah, they haven't sold as many as they did last year, even if last year they only sold 1 total phone. But their pre-orders and forecasts show that the pace they're on, leads them to believe they will sell more... when they actually start selling them... on launch weekend... you don't need to read between any lines, you just need to read the words that are actually there.
 
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Totally agree. But it took over 30 years for the PC industry to start seeing year over year decreases in unit sales. I believe this just started to happen a few years ago.
And Apple has managed to buck that trend with having increasing Mac sales for about ten years (with only a few quarters in-between with lower year-over-year sales).
 
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I will say it like it is. I want the latest and "greatest" every year so I would have got it regardless, but remember that Apple now also announced the upgrade program. I know three people who had less than zero intention of going for the 6s until that announcement, now all of them (and myself) are going for it. That is a brilliant move on Apple's behalf.
 
Notice, they are selling the iPhones a week later than normal (after Keynote), so, yeah, that could be why they are still on path to sell as many as the record breaking weekend. Normally they iPhone goes on sale a week after Wednesday's keynote.
Are you sure? I thought they always gave selected reviewers one week (after the keynote) with the handset, lifting the embargo on Thursday night.

EDIT: I see they added another week (or technically six days) this year.
 
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"sold on first weekend of availability". This means they are going to sell more pre-ordered iPhones during the first weekend they are going on sale (25th to the 27th this month).
Impressive but they did add in a whole extra week of preorders.
 
I'll go with "Touch-gate". People will be confused by it or think it is too sensitive or whatever and there will have to be a way to turn it off in settings. This will be followed by a press release from Samsung as why they didn't implement multi-pressure touch on their devices, followed by a commercial from them that shows Apple users being confused on how to access apps, accidentally pushing too hard, etc. If Samsung is smart they will have someone in the video attempting to use the Apple Pencil on their iPhone, wondering why they can't access the apps while someone is next to them with a new Samsung Galaxy phone using a stylus just flying through the screens (with, of course, a notation in fine print that some screen interactions having been shortened in the video).

Ahah, this was funny but actually I can almost see this happening!
 
Impressive but they did add in a whole extra week of preorders.

More important is that they added in a whole extra week of manufacturing time. They will sell all the iPhones they can make and ship to stores. Stores will all sell out well before the end of the weekend.
 
Huh? The weekend ended already, it either beat last year's numbers or it didn't. What on earth is "on pace"?!
You really need an explanation? Look "pace" up in a dictionary. It's rate or motion or progress. The reference is to a "race", meaning iPhone sales have only just begun with pre-orders, we're following them as if following a "race" (with last year's sales) to see if they'll surpass last year's or not.
 
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IOS9/Gold helps out a lot.
It's all about the rose gold. My wife for instance is happy with my previous phone every year when I upgrade. She was looking forward to my 128g SG6+, but as soon as she heard there's an even better camera and it comes in rose gold, she was sold and didn't even want to consider my old phone. I'm guessing the rose gold is changing a lot of minds.
 
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I will say it like it is. I want the latest and "greatest" every year so I would have got it regardless, but remember that Apple now also announced the upgrade program. I know three people who had less than zero intention of going for the 6s until that announcement, now all of them (and myself) are going for it. That is a brilliant move on Apple's behalf.


You mean that you are now going to lease the iPhone because you are going to pay more than half of the initial cost. Plus, you need to give it back once you trade the phone. Good Luck......
 
It's all about the rose gold. My wife for instance is happy with my previous phone every year when I upgrade. She was looking forward to my 128g SG6+, but as soon as she heard there's an even better camera and it comes in rose gold, she was sold and didn't even want to consider my old phone. I'm guessing the rose gold is changing a lot of minds.

Better camera? If you look at the specification they only increase the pixel size. It's the exactly same lens as last year. The minor difference is the F/2.2 stop. I wouldn't compare this camera with the one in the SG6+.
 
You mean that you are now going to lease the iPhone because you are going to pay more than half of the initial cost. Plus, you need to give it back once you trade the phone. Good Luck......

It costs an entire 28 dollars more than sticker price... you'd leave more money on the table if you were upgrading every year and selling the old one yourself, in which case you'd have 2 750 dollar bills, minus whatever you sell the original for...
 
I'm not an Apple doomsayer, but "We are on pace to beat last year's 10 million unit first-weekend record when the new iPhones go on sale September 25" is a carefully worded statement. The reader could make an interesting inference and read the statement as: "We are on pace to beat last year's first-weekend sales numbers by the time the phone goes on sale two weeks from now." In other words, Apple is giving themselves about two weeks to hit the numbers they got last year in three days.

Apple is very attentive with their public statements and I believe this is a great example of their ability to control the narrative of their message.
 
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I'm not an Apple doomsayer, but "We are on pace to beat last year's 10 million unit first-weekend record when the new iPhones go on sale September 25" is a carefully worded statement. The reader could make an interesting inference and read the statement as: "We are on pace to beat last year's first-weekend sales numbers by the time the phone goes on sale two weeks from now." In other words, Apple is giving themselves about two weeks to hit the numbers they got last year in three days.

Apple is very attentive with their public statements and I believe this is a great example of their ability to control the narrative of their message.

Regardless if whether they start pre-orders 1 week or 1 month before the product launches, there is a limit to the effect on initial sales. There are diminishing returns, as the closer we get to the launch date the more people just wait until the product is in stores. I think the bigger impact is that China is included in the initial launch this year and was not included last year.

Also, last year, the pre-orders started a week in advance. As I recall, the Street was disappointed that opening weekend sales were "only" 10 million vs the 9 million they got with the 5S, which had no pre-orders. We all know how the first full quarter of sales turned out.
 
True. I pre-ordered 2 phones, the 6s and the 6s Plus. When I go to pick it up, I will choose one of them. My friend did it as well. The final sales will tell.
Good example. Apple knows from past years that people do this (and other things), and they have factored this into their estimates, but until they get the final numbers, the estimates are only estimates.
 
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