Best Buy Expects 'Minimal Inventory' of iPhone 4 on Launch Day

[tylertech]

How's it feel to be a proven wrong fanboy???

http://www.toptechreviews.net/tech-news/motorola-droid-outsells-the-iphone-and-the-nexus-one/

http://erictric.com/2010/03/16/motorola-droid-outsells-iphone-in-first-74-days-on-sale/

http://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/day_74_droid_outsells_iphone_and_google_nexus_one

http://duncansadviceonmoney.vox.com...-droid-outsells-iphone-android-vs-iphone.html

http://mobile.venturebeat.com/2010/...phone-ranked-second-in-u-s-smartphone-market/

http://mashable.com/2010/05/10/android-outselling-iphone/

Or do you enjoy living in denial viewing Apple through rose-coloured glasses? Or do you only look at data that shows Apple in a positive light?

Not trying to be a fanboy or anything
But you can't really compare Android to the iPhone because Android is a phone OS consisting of many different phones, and the iPhone in these terms is one phone.

Now as far as the data comparing the number of hardware sold (Droid vs. iPhone), this data is comparing the Droid to the first iPhone, which did cost a lot more when it was first released. And comparing any newly released Android phone to the iPhone 4 (which sold 600,000 just in pre-sales), see if the data is anything close to that.

 

[SeaFox]

How's it feel to be a proven wrong fanboy???

No, no. Angelchild. I'm no Apple Fanboi, but allow me to handle this one.

http://www.toptechreviews.net/tech-news/motorola-droid-outsells-the-iphone-and-the-nexus-one/

http://erictric.com/2010/03/16/motorola-droid-outsells-iphone-in-first-74-days-on-sale/

http://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/day_74_droid_outsells_iphone_and_google_nexus_one

All three of these these websites are citing the same Flurry Analytics report. In other words, you can only count this as one source, not three. Also, Flurry's own numbers are "an educated guess" based on apps that use their service. Plus this is only referring to the Motorola Droid, and it's only for the device's first 74 days of availability compared to the iPhone's first 74 days, so its statistics are pretty much worthless today.

http://duncansadviceonmoney.vox.com...-droid-outsells-iphone-android-vs-iphone.html

Uh, this is some random chick's blog - not a serious news source. FAIL. Also, she's referencing the NPD report you're already using a source in this next venturebeat article. Once again, repeating a source multiple times.

http://mobile.venturebeat.com/2010/...phone-ranked-second-in-u-s-smartphone-market/

NPD points to a Verizon buy-one-get-one-free promotion for all of its smartphones as a major factor in the first quarter numbers. Verizon saw strong sales for the Motorola Droid and Droid Eris Android phones, as well as the Blackberry Curve, thanks to its promotional offer.

Phone outsells iPhone by being given away. Film at 11!

http://mashable.com/2010/05/10/android-outselling-iphone/

This ALSO references the same NPD data! Also, I like this part:

The news follows a report last month from AdMob that showed Android’s share of the mobile OS market had actually grown past that of iPhone OS, at least in the U.S. Worldwide...

Hmmm, an AdMob report showing Android had passed iPhone? Yeah, there's no connection there at all...

Or do you enjoy living in denial viewing Apple through rose-coloured glasses?

Wow, buddy. You got, what, TWO actual reports here out of six links? Did you actually read any of this stuff before you posted?

 

[-=XX=-Nephilim]

This is all nothing but propaganda to get the iSheep in the lines for shopping...

I mean comon - lol

 

[JajoPGH]

I don't like Best Buy much either, but when Apple completely *****s the bed with their pre-order process (don't blame ATT only), what choice do I have? I went ahead and preordered at Best Buy. I'm #15 in line. And if they don't have enough phones for me, so be it.

I reserved one at the Apple store too, but I doubt I'll want to wait in line for a phone on Thursday.

By the end of August, everyone and their mother will have one, and none of you will be as "cool" as you were on June 24th, 2010.

 

[Dobbs2]

We're mostly hating on Best Buy because they're a crappy retailer in general, and this iPhone issue is only further proof.

And yes, it actually is their fault. They should have, as a retailer, confirmed how many units of merchandise they were going to receive before they started taking pre-orders. Or, not taken pre-orders at all if they didn't think they were going to be getting many units to start with. They were afraid of losing sales to AT&T and Apple who had started taking pre-orders themselves, and recklessly started promising customers merchandise they they had no firm hold on yet.

Can you not read anything I posted? I said Apple promised most Best Buys a certain amount. We took pre-orders. Then half way through they said oh wait we can't do the white iphone. Then hey wait that number we promised your store is no longer valid. Hence, why I said they "Best Buy" sent out a memo saying stop pre-orders immediately. My store was lucky that we didn't have more pre-orders than the phones we are getting and might possibly have quite a few more than what we had for pre-ordered. We still are getting no where near the original "promised" amount.

This has happened on the wifi ipad, and 3g ipad. And for the most part they promised it wouldn't happen on this one, but it did again. I love apple, but they always find a way to screw over their third party vendors on launch days.

It's not just Best Buy that is not getting the amount they were promised. Radio shack, att and apple are canceling pre-orders for the iphone. Apple probably didn't expect as much demand for a launch day, or is doing what nintendo did with the wii and holding supplies to make demand greater.

 

[rickdollar]

Referring to the Droid sales vs first iPhone:

I don't see how you can compare sales numbers of a phone, or ANY item for that matter, that is "Buy One Get One Free" to one that wasn't 2+ years before it.

The Droid may be a fine phone. But that is a crazy, desperate comparison and really says nothing.

Not only that, it cheapens the brand. It says, "We have to give away our product to get our sales up".

I guess Motorola doesn't care about that. They have a war to fight.

 

[utahnguy]

Not worried...

I live in a small town, 2 hours away from the closest Apple store but luckily 10 minutes from the local Best Buy. Because of the problems pre-ordering over the net i was forced to go through Best Buy and only had to show up about 45 min early to be the second person in line.

Long story short, I ordered 3 phones: 32 GB black, 32 GB white, and 16 GB white. On Saturday I drove down and talked to one of the head guys at their mobile department that I know from back in high school and apparently he had JUST spoken with one of the main district guys who ABSOLUTELY VERIFIED that not only would they have PLENTY of phones AT LAUNCH, but they WOULD have the white models as well.

I absolutely loath dealing with Best Buy but apparently they're using this as a way to bolster up their relatively new and mostly unknown mobile department. They're actually being pretty cool with their policies. They were only supposed to let each person pre-order ONE phone but all the people like me who got there first and ordered multiple phones will have ALL their pre-orders honored AT LAUNCH. They're also not screwing over the people who ordered a white model from a store that won't actually receive any at launch, those people will be contacted before hand and given the opportunity to change to a black model. They're also going through the trouble to maintain priority lists (for people that come in at launch without a pre-order) and making appointments for people to come in so no one will have to spend hours waiting in line.

Basically, every Best Buy is different and one policy doesn't necessarily dictate what will happen to the hundreds of stores in the country. If you pre-ordered your phone from them don't get bummed out by posts like this and get a hold of the mobile department (doing it in person can help) and just ask what the situation is at that specific store. Even though their policy says to not give exact info, most of the employees are pretty reasonable and understand that people need to know specifics to help decide if they're gonna need to get in line at other stores.

**EDIT**
I also forgot to say that this particular store had ALREADY received TONS of accessories, including the sold out Apple bumper cases. I asked if I should try and pre-order any right then to avoid getting screwed when I went to pick up my phone and he said they had so many come in that there wouldn't be any point to it. He's also going to try and see if they will let me be there when they open one up on the 22nd or 23rd (whenever they get their shipment) so i can mess around with one early. I honestly think 50% of all this hysteria is generated to help create a buying hysteria on the 24th. The best way to turn someone from undecided, to fighting for a chance to buy something, is to give them the impression that even IF they wanted one, they couldn't find it. They've used that sales trick since sales have existed.

 

[idonotliketostu]

As some of the best buy employees guaranteed an iphone for the preorders, assuming that's what the 50 dollar deposit is for, will best buy be allowing refunds?

 

[kr00k322]

As some of the best buy employees guaranteed an iphone for the preorders, assuming that's what the 50 dollar deposit is for, will best buy be allowing refunds?

I doubt they would do that.

 

[Dobbs2]

As some of the best buy employees guaranteed an iphone for the preorders, assuming that's what the 50 dollar deposit is for, will best buy be allowing refunds?

Yes they will give refunds or if they don't have one available you can wait and they will call you. You can cancel the pre-order at anytime and get a full refund. Thats what we did the past two launches.

 

[ValSalva]

So I guess it's too late to start waiting in line at Best Buy? Maybe that's ultimately what Best Buy is trying to avoid with their statement: Go wait in line at an Apple store where they will have many more iPhones available on a first come first serve basis.

 

[jrbaker02]

 

[severe]

I heard they were giving out Purple Hearts in here.

 

[jrbaker02]

Best Buy Preorder 3rd in Line!

I live in a city with about 320,000 people. We have 1 Best Buy that will be selling the iphone 4. So with that in mind, I'd say our store will get at least get 20-40 phones easy. I was the third person in line for the iphone preorder when the store opened last Tuesday. So even if our store gets only 3 phones, I should have nothing to worry about. Oh yeah and if you preordered from the apple store your in the same boat as any other preorderee. Why, because apple will have more phones avaliable through the apple store of course, which means more people preordered at the apple store than Best Buy. Well guess what? at either place all preorders were exhausted. They stopped all preorders at one point because there was not enough preordered phones. Thats why some apple store preorders were cancelled, and the same may happen with Best Buy it just depends. No difference. Either way, if you preordered early, you should be safe. First come, first serve is one of the golden rules of any business. If you preordered and a store tells you that there are no more phones and your out of luck, well then there shouldnt be phones for walk in sales either. When Best Buy found out that they were not getting as many phones as promised, well either two things happened. One, they ended up having just enough to fulfill preorders and maybe some for walk ins (maybe). Or two, there was not enough preordered phones so some preorders would be cut. But the early preorderees should be safe. The same rule applies to ATT, radioshack and any other store. Remember in the end its just a phone. Your more important that it is. Put Christ first and keep on rollin!

 

[myjay610]

Well, BB can't be any worse than Radio Shack.....there is one about 2 blocks from me so I went their for S&Gs, they couldn't even get through to their internal ordering system which for the most part is a web server on their Intranet. What a joke. Anyway, crossing my fingers for BB.

 

[wwjdjoe]

Apple Store still probably best. There will be many reserved phones that won't be picked up on the 24th that should be available on the 25th.

 

[fribhey]

Yes they will give refunds or if they don't have one available you can wait and they will call you. You can cancel the pre-order at anytime and get a full refund. Thats what we did the past two launches.

no, best buy is not giving refunds on pre-orders of the iphone 4... what they are doing is giving you a $50 gift card if you choose to not get the phone or wait.

giving a refund means they are refunding you money. pre-ordering an iphone at best buy for $50 is a non-refundable transaction because no matter if you get the phone or not, best buy gets $50 of your money.

 

[fribhey]

I live in a small town, 2 hours away from the closest Apple store but luckily 10 minutes from the local Best Buy. Because of the problems pre-ordering over the net i was forced to go through Best Buy and only had to show up about 45 min early to be the second person in line.

Long story short, I ordered 3 phones: 32 GB black, 32 GB white, and 16 GB white. On Saturday I drove down and talked to one of the head guys at their mobile department that I know from back in high school and apparently he had JUST spoken with one of the main district guys who ABSOLUTELY VERIFIED that not only would they have PLENTY of phones AT LAUNCH, but they WOULD have the white models as well.

you should be worried because all of that info is complete BS. there WON'T BE ANY WHITE PHONES at best buy, nor will there be "plenty" of phones at launch.

 

[summerpeach]

no, best buy is not giving refunds on pre-orders of the iphone 4... what they are doing is giving you a $50 gift card if you choose to not get the phone or wait.

giving a refund means they are refunding you money. pre-ordering an iphone at best buy for $50 is a non-refundable transaction because no matter if you get the phone or not, best buy gets $50 of your money.

not true at all. the gift card has a 30-day return policy. confirmed by two separate best buy locations.

 

[ihonda]

bestbuy said i could return my preorder and get my money back, they made this very clear.

 

[alhedges]

I'm glad I did NOT order my iPhone from Best Buy. Looks like many of those people will NOT be getting their iPhones on launch day.

And this makes them different from people who went through Apple or AT&T how, exactly?

 

[jamesryanbell]

:frustrated sigh:

I pre-ordered from Best Buy to circumvent the crap going on with AT&T stores and Apple's website. I wanted to be at the front of the "I wish I would've done that" movement. They "guaranteed" me a phone on launch day. Fix it. Not cool. I wanted to "win" by doing it this way.

Oh well.

 

[mattnotis]

If Best Buy, Apple Store, etc. had enough iPhones on June 24th for everyone who wanted one, then they couldn't have "iPhone 4 Sells Out" as a headline in anyone's paper.

 

[Shumdit]

This reminds me of that Seinfeld episode when Jerry reserves a car at the airport and they no longer have it.

Jerry: Where is my car?
Attendant: We no longer have it.
Jerry: Do you know what reservation is?
Attendant: Yes sir, I know what it is.
Jerry: I don't think you do!

Not exact quotes but something to that nature!

"You know how take take the reservation. You just don't know how to hold the reservation"

 

[Shumdit]

Long story short, I ordered 3 phones: 32 GB black, 32 GB white, and 16 GB white. On Saturday I drove down and talked to one of the head guys at their mobile department that I know from back in high school and apparently he had JUST spoken with one of the main district guys who ABSOLUTELY VERIFIED that not only would they have PLENTY of phones AT LAUNCH, but they WOULD have the white models as well.

.

Good luck with that. Let's see what people who preordered have to say Thursday. Some people will be happy, but some are gonna be pissed.