Agreed! I was hoping the site would've lasted long enough for all of us to be able to track down a retina mini with the supply constraints. Guess it'll be zip codes and
+R for me...
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Apple Shuts Down iPad Air and iPhone 5s In-Store Pickup Tracking Site
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Agreed! I was hoping the site would've lasted long enough for all of us to be able to track down a retina mini with the supply constraints. Guess it'll be zip codes and
+R for me...
I too believe it has something to do with the supply constraints, and true availability of the forthcoming Retina Mini. Let's face it, these guys are actually doing Apple a favor by releasing iPad Air, and especially iPhone5S availability by store.
Scraping data takes a toll on the servers. Either way, I'll be scraping on my private domain.
Apples secrecy and they way they control potential buyers perception of availability was compromised by this very effective tool. It's no surprise Apple killed them off.
I don't believe that has anything to do with it as there are dozens of sites that do the same thing and are still in business. The only difference is, they don't have Apple in their name.
Possibly because presenting "this is what's available in the Apple Refurb store" is very straightforward, because there's only one place to get Apple Refurb products ... where observers of the iPhone 5S site could very easily misinterpret information because that supply is more complex.
The website designer was very clever in his presentation of information, in one click, that was cumbersome to pull from the Apple site.
However, he was not so good at explaining what the data meant. It was not a measure of a particular store's stock of iPhone inventory - it was a measure of the inventory a particular store had available specifically to buy online and pick up in the store. He made the statement, if it shows green, don't go to the store because they'll probably be out by the time you get there. This was and wasn't true.
My understanding from Apple people is that there is:
- Apple Retail Store stock
-- some of which is sold online for in store pickup
-- some of which is sold off the shelf only and never listed online
- Apple Online Store stock
-- some of which is sold online and shipped to you
-- some of which is sold online and shipped to a store
- Apple Authorized Reseller stock (at AT&T et al)
- Apple Certified Refurbished Stock
-- all of which is sold online and shipped out
Anyone who has ever ordered an iPad and a case online for in store pickup, and gotten to the store only to be told, "yes we have blue iPad cases on the shelf; no you can't have one because *yours* is being shipped to the store" understands how the stock is kept separate.
Many people were using this site to interpret the overall availability of 5S phones, or the overall stock in Apple retail stores. But all it really did was measure one tiny subsegment of 5S stock. Early in the launch, nothing was available to purchase online and pick up in the store - that didn't mean no 5S phones were available, it just meant it was too much of a fiasco to use that channel. Yet later in the launch people were using this site to measure Apple's total stock.
My local store told me that at one point, if they received a shipment of phones during the day they wouldn't list any online, until the end of the day, if some were left unsold. But other stores sometimes chose to put all their stock online and not let people walk in and buy it. People were interpreting what was showing on the Heroku site as overall availability in retail stores, when it was in some cases just the leftovers.
If I were Apple, I'd leave the refurbish scraper site and take down the iPhone one too, just because refurbished is so simple and new products are so complex. I'd rather have people call me and get the straight info. I called Apple a lot during this launch and never had a long hold; they obviously staffed up and were eager for people to call.
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Apples to be congratulated for their masterful marketing and world class strategies. They've got the money making game down cold. Built a brand that commands fat prices, become supremely influential and have a following that just waits eagerly for their next chance to spend more.
The ultimate legality of Apple's request is questionable, but as usual, it will take deep pocket to defend against such request.
It's not dissimilar to the purpose of many of Apple's patents, which are not likely to ultimately hold up if properly challenged, but serve as a legal club to keep (particularly smaller) competitors out of the marketplace.
At the end, it's innovation and consumers who suffer.
If Xerox had been using Apple's tactics, nobody would have ever heard of Apple.
It's not dissimilar to the purpose of many of Apple's patents, which are not likely to ultimately hold up if properly challenged, but serve as a legal club to keep (particularly smaller) competitors out of the marketplace.
At the end, it's innovation and consumers who suffer.
If Xerox had been using Apple's tactics, nobody would have ever heard of Apple.
this proves Apple is going backward.
this proves that without Steve Jobs, Apple is dying like it was before Jobs.
so, Since they cannot innovate, they try other to do so.
wait till Google or Microsoft adds such as a feature.
Apple is DEAD AGAIN without Steve Jobs.
this proves that without Steve Jobs, Apple is dying like it was before Jobs.
so, Since they cannot innovate, they try other to do so.
wait till Google or Microsoft adds such as a feature.
Apple is DEAD AGAIN without Steve Jobs.
That site absolutely worked and worked very well. And when there was the email function, that was brilliant.
I'm very sorry to see it gone, all it did was let the customer know when to order the exact phone they wanted for an in-store pickup. In my case I couldn't pre-order as my bills are sent to a PO box.
And either Apple completely misjudged the market by not making enough gold phones or they are creating the perception of the "impossible-to-get" color. One of the Apple crew told me she'd never seen a gold one before (and this was a week ago, a long time since the release).
Apple - hire the guy who created that site.
I'm very sorry to see it gone, all it did was let the customer know when to order the exact phone they wanted for an in-store pickup. In my case I couldn't pre-order as my bills are sent to a PO box.
And either Apple completely misjudged the market by not making enough gold phones or they are creating the perception of the "impossible-to-get" color. One of the Apple crew told me she'd never seen a gold one before (and this was a week ago, a long time since the release).
Apple - hire the guy who created that site.
