Apple Sells Out of iPhone 4S Pre-Order Stocks for Launch Day in U.S.

[Lithiumdiver]

Well this evening i ordered my 16gb white 4s!
Super excited. Unfortunately, i didnt get paid untill today so im not one of the lucky ones to get mine on day 1. Mine "ships within 1-2 weeks"
I hate waiting.
So i wonder when exactly ill get it? Any ideas? I know it gives an estimate, but im wondering if those 2 weeks start after launch day, or from the time my pre order was processed.
Anyone?
p.s. it really is great to have somewhere to post with others who share the same enthusiasm. And as its been said before, trolls will be trolls, I just tend to skip over their posts.

 

[marksman]

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Couple of days into this and phone sells out?? Come on please...this tactic gets old....not all consumers are ignorant. Lame hassle for those who really wanted or needed to upgrade. Glad I am not one upgrading this go!

Oooooooohhhh....everbody stock is limited and going out!!! Quick grab one or want one they are selling so fast we once again can't keep our supply up with the demand.

You know apple will sell more iPhone 4s in one week than all but maybe one or two android models will sell in a year right?

 

[rocknblogger]

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Do you believe in destiny? When the iPad came out I bought one then. Month later I won one. When the iPad 2 came out I was going to wait then I won one. Now iPhone is finally on Sprint and I would have had to wait 4 months to get it with all my discounts. Today out of the blue 2 new clients popped up out of nowhere. I am now going to buy the white 64GB iPhone 4S. I'm destined to have Apple products. I wonder if I'll win an Apple TV when the updated version comes out? That's the only thing I don't have yet. Amazing

 

[gnasher729]

I'm not sure if you've used other smartphones before, but even back in 2008 and definitely in 2009, the 3G screen became bottom-of-the-barrel compared to the competition. The Motorola Droid arrived in late 2009 (I think), and its display is at least 3 times superior: IPS, 854x480, 97% color gamut, good blacks, etc.

The (something by 480) screens don't use three subpixels for one pixel like every LCD monitor that you buy, but four subpixels for two pixels. That means the resolution is actually lower than the number shown. With these screens, it is not possible to create a single black pixel on a white background, only two black pixels one above the other (and not in every possible position).

 

[Alonzo84]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPod; CPU iPhone OS 5_0 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Mobile/9A5313e)

Do you believe in destiny? When the iPad came out I bought one then. Month later I won one. When the iPad 2 came out I was going to wait then I won one. Now iPhone is finally on Sprint and I would have had to wait 4 months to get it with all my discounts. Today out of the blue 2 new clients popped up out of nowhere. I am now going to buy the white 64GB iPhone 4S. I'm destined to have Apple products. I wonder if I'll win an Apple TV when the updated version comes out? That's the only thing I don't have yet. Amazing

How are you winning all this stuff? I want to play.

 

[Dcuellar]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8G4 Safari/6533.18.5)

Well this evening i ordered my 16gb white 4s!
Super excited. Unfortunately, i didnt get paid untill today so im not one of the lucky ones to get mine on day 1. Mine "ships within 1-2 weeks"
I hate waiting.
So i wonder when exactly ill get it? Any ideas? I know it gives an estimate, but im wondering if those 2 weeks start after launch day, or from the time my pre order was processed.
Anyone?
p.s. it really is great to have somewhere to post with others who share the same enthusiasm. And as its been said before, trolls will be trolls, I just tend to skip over their posts.

Why didn't you try and buy it in a store?

As for the delivery estimate, I don't think it should take that long. There were people last year with the iPhone 4 who had their estimate move closer as production was ramped up by Apple. Macrumors had an article on how iPhone production is at 150,000 units per day before release.

 

[Versus]

Great.

You cannot edit order after it has been packaged for shipment.

And I just realized my shipping address is listed as the house I no longer live at. Perfect...

 

[rockinred]

Hey if you believe this is a marketing ploy, and one that works, then why doesn't any iPhone competitors try it? Of course we know why - Apple is actually making iPhones as fast as possible and it's not a tactic and Apple & the cell co's have hard sales numbers to back it up whereas to-date no Android, BB, or Win Mo phone has come close to iPhone pre-order #s.

You just don't get it. It is really not that hard to get an estimate of projected sales. You don't think they can ask ATT if they are going to allow an early upgrade? You don't think that they can get the estimate of 3g upgrades along with the early upgrades? Also, the same for the other carriers? That gives a really close estimate for sales and that is a basic approach.

You guys really don't know much about business if you are trying to argue that Apple is just shooting from the hip with production and trying to keep up. It is not rocket science and it is basic stuff here that all businesses do.

The point I am saying is it is a marketing strategy and a lousy one to many of us. Many businesses use this cheap tactic... "quick we have limited supply and they are selling out quicker than we can get them"..."hurry on over". I think it is crappy for people to have to get up in the middle of the night to order and also, crappy for those who just wanted to get an upgrade and have to play this game. It is a freakin joke.

The whole iPad 2 was even worse. "oh... we got 5 more in today... hurry". "Tomorrow we hopefully get the one you want.. we don't know... so if you want one now, here is an inferior one"... I have one word for this tactic. WEAK!

 

[Alonzo84]

Great.



And I just realized my shipping address is listed as the house I no longer live at. Perfect...

This happened to a lot of us. I noticed this while trying to complete my order on Friday but was unable to edit it. I called Apple and was informed that this was happening to a lot of people. I was only able to edit the shipping address by phone after I placed my order because the site was down. Even though it says you are unable to make changes to your order while it is preparing for shipment, I would still call them and try.

----------

You just don't get it. It is really not that hard to get an estimate of projected sales. You don't think they can ask ATT if they are going to allow an early upgrade? You don't think that they can get the estimate of 3g upgrades along with the early upgrades? Also, the same for the other carriers? That gives a really close estimate for sales and that is a basic approach.

You guys really don't know much about business if you are trying to argue that Apple is just shooting from the hip with production and trying to keep up. It is not rocket science and it is basic stuff here that all businesses do.

The point I am saying is it is a marketing strategy and a lousy one to many of us. Many businesses use this cheap tactic... "quick we have limited supply and they are selling out quicker than we can get them"..."hurry on over". I think it is crappy for people to have to get up in the middle of the night to order and also, crappy for those who just wanted to get an upgrade and have to play this game. It is a freakin joke.

The whole iPad 2 was even worse. "oh... we got 5 more in today... hurry". "Tomorrow we hopefully get the one you want.. we don't know... so if you want one now, here is an inferior one"... I have one word for this tactic. WEAK!

A marketing strategy that limits inventory wouldn't make much sense. Estimates are just that, estimates. Verizon and Sprint would have no real way of coming up with an educated estimate for launch and AT&T and Apple are basing their estimates off of last years numbers. Is it not as simple as the 4S is doing better than expected? I can't think of another company that could sell out of their pre-order stock and be thought of negatively by people.

 

[Versus]

This happened to a lot of us. I noticed this while trying to complete my order on Friday but was unable to edit it. I called Apple and was informed that this was happening to a lot of people. I was only able to edit the shipping address by phone after I placed my order because the site was down. Even though it says you are unable to make changes to your order while it is preparing for shipment, I would still call them and try.

Good to know, thanks! I tried calling them before I posted, but they're closed for the weekend. I'll call again first thing tomorrow morning. Worst case scenario, I'll have to pick it up from my old town's post office, which is only 15 mins. away. Thankfully, it requires a signature, or I'd have to stake out the old neighborhood until the postman came.

 

[Alonzo84]

Good to know, thanks! I tried calling them before I posted, but they're closed for the weekend. I'll call again first thing tomorrow morning. Worst case scenario, I'll have to pick it up from my old town's post office, which is only 15 mins. away. Thankfully, it requires a signature, or I'd have to stake out the old neighborhood until the postman came.

Unfortunately in my experience the driver doesn't verify the signature, so anyone could sign for it. If you can't get a hold of Apple I would contact the delivery company (presumably FedEx) once it ships and see if they can forward it to your current address.

 

[bergmef]

You just don't get it. It is really not that hard to get an estimate of projected sales. You don't think they can ask ATT if they are going to allow an early upgrade? You don't think that they can get the estimate of 3g upgrades along with the early upgrades? Also, the same for the other carriers? That gives a really close estimate for sales and that is a basic approach.

You guys really don't know much about business if you are trying to argue that Apple is just shooting from the hip with production and trying to keep up. It is not rocket science and it is basic stuff here that all businesses do.

The point I am saying is it is a marketing strategy and a lousy one to many of us. Many businesses use this cheap tactic... "quick we have limited supply and they are selling out quicker than we can get them"..."hurry on over". I think it is crappy for people to have to get up in the middle of the night to order and also, crappy for those who just wanted to get an upgrade and have to play this game. It is a freakin joke.

The whole iPad 2 was even worse. "oh... we got 5 more in today... hurry". "Tomorrow we hopefully get the one you want.. we don't know... so if you want one now, here is an inferior one"... I have one word for this tactic. WEAK!

As secretive as Apple is, I think it's more like we are starting production so many days before the launch and not a day sooner. Then they make as many as they can starting at that time. Apple could just play with the dates on the website if they wanted to. I really don't think it's a marketing ploy.

 

[Dcuellar]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8G4 Safari/6533.18.5)

Hey if you believe this is a marketing ploy, and one that works, then why doesn't any iPhone competitors try it? Of course we know why - Apple is actually making iPhones as fast as possible and it's not a tactic and Apple & the cell co's have hard sales numbers to back it up whereas to-date no Android, BB, or Win Mo phone has come close to iPhone pre-order #s.

You just don't get it. It is really not that hard to get an estimate of projected sales. You don't think they can ask ATT if they are going to allow an early upgrade? You don't think that they can get the estimate of 3g upgrades along with the early upgrades? Also, the same for the other carriers? That gives a really close estimate for sales and that is a basic approach.

You guys really don't know much about business if you are trying to argue that Apple is just shooting from the hip with production and trying to keep up. It is not rocket science and it is basic stuff here that all businesses do.

The point I am saying is it is a marketing strategy and a lousy one to many of us. Many businesses use this cheap tactic... "quick we have limited supply and they are selling out quicker than we can get them"..."hurry on over". I think it is crappy for people to have to get up in the middle of the night to order and also, crappy for those who just wanted to get an upgrade and have to play this game. It is a freakin joke.

The whole iPad 2 was even worse. "oh... we got 5 more in today... hurry". "Tomorrow we hopefully get the one you want.. we don't know... so if you want one now, here is an inferior one"... I have one word for this tactic. WEAK!

I agree somewhat with you. Honestly, if that were the case I wouldn't mind.

Companies pay tons of money managing their inventory. The biggest waste of money is product sitting on shelves or in warehouses. The most ideal scenario would involve JIT, which from what I've read Tim cook is great at.

There is also a lot of money involved in forecasting. Apple has increased production for the 4S compared to the iPhone 4 despite the analysts predicting less than stellar sales. If they forecasted too much this inventory would collect more costs. If they don't make enough they have lost opportunity. Of the two, making less is the lesser of two evils and also creates demand. If Apple decided to make more than enough you could expect to see higher prices vs longer wait times. Which of the two would you prefer?

 

[Rafterman]

All this talk of artificial marketing ploys to limit inventory is nonsense. Remember a while back, when one of the i-devices, I don't remember if it was the iPhone or iPad, had screens with yellow tint? Eventually, the tint went away. Why? Because the glue in the screen hadn't fully dried yet. Yes, they were literally shipping devices directly from the assembly line, straight into shipping boxes.

That doesn't sound like an artificial marketing ploy. It does sound like a manufacturer who cant manufacture enough devices, trying to keep up with orders. Apple doesn't have to drum up business with cheap ploys. The demand is already there.

 

[Dcuellar]

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All this talk of artificial marketing ploys to limit inventory is nonsense. Remember a while back, when one of the i-devices, I don't remember if it was the iPhone or iPad, had screens with yellow tint? Eventually, the tint went away. Why? Because the glue in the screen hadn't fully dried yet. Yes, they were literally shipping devices directly from the assembly line, straight into shipping boxes.

That doesn't sound like an artificial marketing ploy. It does sound like a manufacturer who cant manufacture enough devices, trying to keep up with orders. Apple doesn't have to drum up business with cheap ploys. The demand is already there.

There are plenty of manufacturers ready and willing to make them. Choosing the right amount of manufacturers is key. I agree the demand is already there, but availability can add demand or just as well take away from it.

 

[Rafterman]

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There are plenty of manufacturers ready and willing to make them. Choosing the right amount of manufacturers is key. I agree the demand is already there, but availability can add demand or just as well take away from it.

Its not manufacturers to assemble the iPhone that's the problem. Its the availability of individual parts that limit things, especially screens.

 

[Dcuellar]

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There are plenty of manufacturers ready and willing to make them. Choosing the right amount of manufacturers is key. I agree the demand is already there, but availability can add demand or just as well take away from it.

Its not manufacturers to assemble the iPhone that's the problem. Its the availability of individual parts that limit things, especially screens.

True, that could very well be the case but I haven't seen anything regarding shortages on iPhone screens with this launch. Ive seen it with the iPad.

Either way, there is no doubt that availability can create or decrease demand.

 

[gramirez2012]

Mine's "Prepared for shipment" as well. White 16GB.

 

[jphall]

Here is what AT&T is showing me for my order status. I ordered at about 1:30AM PST on the night of the launch.

Everyone else see this for AT&T as well (if you ordered from them)?

I finished my order through ATT.com at around 4 AM EDT (about 30 minutes before you), and am showing a similar status. As I recall, this is the same thing I saw with the iPhone 4 in June 2010, and the shipment arrived one day early. That was very cool, and part of why I ordered again through AT&T (the other was it was the first site, before the Apple Store, that got to the order completion step for the purchase).

Fingers crossed and sitting on my porch on Thursday morning! ::grin::

 

[Dcuellar]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8G4 Safari/6533.18.5)

Here is what AT&T is showing me for my order status. I ordered at about 1:30AM PST on the night of the launch.

Everyone else see this for AT&T as well (if you ordered from them)?

I finished my order through ATT.com at around 4 AM EDT (about 30 minutes before you), and am showing a similar status. As I recall, this is the same thing I saw with the iPhone 4 in June 2010, and the shipment arrived one day early. That was very cool, and part of why I ordered again through AT&T (the other was it was the first site, before the Apple Store, that got to the order completion step for the purchase).

Fingers crossed and sitting on my porch on Thursday morning! ::grin::

I ordered through Apple and got it a day early as well. Hopefully, the same will happen this year.

 

[rsocal]

A phone in which every thing has changed except the beautiful, one-of-a-kind exterior. No other phone even comes close in stylistic beauty.

I'm sold, and can't wait till mine arrives on the 14th. Glad to have contributed to the pre-order sell-out

I'm with you as I have loved the iPhone 4 design and I think they did it right with iPhone 4s! I know when they make the jump to iPhone 5 it'll be another quantum leap. I'll have iPhone 4s in my hands until then

 

[Versus]

Unfortunately in my experience the driver doesn't verify the signature, so anyone could sign for it. If you can't get a hold of Apple I would contact the delivery company (presumably FedEx) once it ships and see if they can forward it to your current address.

I just got through. They aren't able to change it, unfortunately, but a Supervisor came on the line and said he'd try to contact the carrier for a redirect or stop shipment so that I could pick it up directly. Of course there are no guarantees.

Whatever. The current shipping address was my Grandmother's old house. The woman she sold it to seemed nice enough. I'm sure she won't get all up in my phone if she happens to accept the package. I think my Grandmother may actually have her number, so maybe she can call there or something. I'm not gonna stress about it...much.

 

[Alonzo84]

I just got through. They aren't able to change it, unfortunately, but a Supervisor came on the line and said he'd try to contact the carrier for a redirect or stop shipment so that I could pick it up directly. Of course there are no guarantees.

Whatever. The current shipping address was my Grandmother's old house. The woman she sold it to seemed nice enough. I'm sure she won't get all up in my phone if she happens to accept the package. I think my Grandmother may actually have her number, so maybe she can call there or something. I'm not gonna stress about it...much.

That's good. I'm sure you'll get it just fine. If you're lucky, it may show up a day early! That's what I'm hoping for

 

[sdavies8]

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Don't look like it when they sold 200,000 units in 12 hours

 

[rquick]

Good to know, thanks! I tried calling them before I posted, but they're closed for the weekend. I'll call again first thing tomorrow morning. Worst case scenario, I'll have to pick it up from my old town's post office, which is only 15 mins. away. Thankfully, it requires a signature, or I'd have to stake out the old neighborhood until the postman came.

It will be shipped Fedex, not by the post office. Fedex will hold it for you or possibly even change the delivery address if you can prove its yours.