Apple Store dropped the ball on iPhone 5 cases!

[Agent OrangeZ]

Apple dropped the ball on cases!
Yesterday after receiving my UPS delivery at 9:20am, I hit a few stores for cases.

Best Buy had the absolute best selection period. Probably 30 or more different case & color combinations.

Sprint was #2. Also the only place that had BOTH Otterbox Defender and Commuter cases. Were actually in the middle of receiving even more cases while I was there and the employees were showing them to us as they were unpacking the boxes.

Verizon came in third. Having a decent selection snap, slider and kickstand cases. Had only 2 Otterbox Defender cases in stock.

AT&T had the worst case selection. They were the first place I visited... and I actually bought the case I liked most from them.... but they were the most expensive too. $40 for a Speck Candyshell. Other stores sold cases in the $25-$35 range.

Apple Store had NONE. Period. Didn't get any at all.... according to the reps manning the entrance to the store.

 

[Cynikal.Mindset]

my speck candyshell was 34.95 here in Canada at Futureshop, they had a wide variety of cases on display from most major players

 

[PhoenixMac]

Apple said they did not come out with any and weren't in a hurry to sell third party ones when I talked to a manager.

 

[DArsenault]

It's not really dropping the ball if it was intentional. Pretty sure if they wanted to stock cases they would have. Not 100% sure why they decided against it, but the lack of anything on the website suggests that it was intentional.

 

[KPOM]

AT&T stores had tons of them. I don't think Apple is selling iPhone 5 cases yet. Note that some manufacturers of higher-end cases and phone wallets, like Sena, haven't come out with their new designs yet. Perhaps when they do we'll see Apple stores start to carry them.

 

[OneMike]

I have to say seems intentional as well so can't really say dropped the ball.

That said I'd buy on Amazon or somewhere I can get a better deal than from Apple anyway so no issue to me.

 

[Agent OrangeZ]

Apple said they did not come out with any and weren't in a hurry to sell third party ones when I talked to a manager.

It's not really dropping the ball if it was intentional. Pretty sure if they wanted to stock cases they would have. Not 100% sure why they decided against it, but the lack of anything on the website suggests that it was intentional.

Stupid for Apple not to have cases in stock. Hell... at the Apple "Antennagate" press meeting, Steve Jobs partially blamed the issue on the "lack of a healthy case market for the iPhone 4. That the 3GS befitted from sharing the same design of the 3G and had a healthy case market from the start."