Cynical, and calculated

[imanidiot]

As a relatively recent (3 years) convert to the Apple Way of Doing Things, I find myself somewhat baffled by the 5S rollout. I say this because it seems to be calculated; new device; little inventory; make lines. I thought that Tim Cook seemed to be a decent guy; stepping into the shoes of a legend cannot be easy. But even with Apple, with all their clout and cool credibility, this just reeks of hubris. Show the world how bad they want us. Make them beg, we will give them what they want when we choose to. But most importantly, we are Apple; we rule the universe, and They will eagerly take what we choose to give them.

I will buy an iPhone 5s, because I'm due an upgrade. But I won't stand in line to do it.

I love Apple. But not unconditionally.

 

[1981d]

Maybe they're really not doing it on purpose. IDK, we always hear how huge Apple is, how rich and powerful. But maybe making more than 9 million iPhones in 2 months is really beyond them and their supply partners? Like I said, IDK, but I'd like to think that they don't do this on purpose.

 

[Carlanga]

Why this rant today... I could understand the first weekend, but not today.

 

[eyoungren]

As a relatively recent (3 years) convert to the Apple Way of Doing Things, I find myself somewhat baffled by the 5S rollout. I say this because it seems to be calculated; new device; little inventory; make lines. I thought that Tim Cook seemed to be a decent guy; stepping into the shoes of a legend cannot be easy. But even with Apple, with all their clout and cool credibility, this just reeks of hubris. Show the world how bad they want us. Make them beg, we will give them what they want when we choose to. But most importantly, we are Apple; we rule the universe, and They will eagerly take what we choose to give them.

I will buy an iPhone 5s, because I'm due an upgrade. But I won't stand in line to do it.

I love Apple. But not unconditionally.

Tim Cook is no different than Steve. Steve killed the floppy drive with the iMac. Apple fans threw a fit. Steve killed OS9, he killed PowerPC Mac, he ignored Antennagate (you're holding it wrong!), Steve killed the optical drive in the MacBook Air.

No, Tim Cook isn't the first to pull this kind of stuff, give Apple fans the middle finger and tell them to deal with it.

 

[user-name-here]

Why this rant today... I could understand the first weekend, but not today.

Exactly.

I ordered mine on BestBuy for in store pickup the night before launch day. When I went into the store to pick it up there was no lines whatsoever and simply random people coming in every now and then on their lunch to buy one.

No reason to stand in line if you are after a common model and are smart about it.

 

[kerrikins]

I really don't get why people think that this is all manufactured... Every year people say the same thing and I've yet to see any 'evidence' that it's actually the case. Until then I'd hazard a guess that Apple, like most companies, would rather get as much product into as many hands as possible vs have posts like this with people speculating about their motives.

 

[imanidiot]

Tim Cook is no different than Steve. Steve killed the floppy drive with the iMac. Apple fans threw a fit. Steve killed OS9, he killed PowerPC Mac, he ignored Antennagate (you're holding it wrong!), Steve killed the optical drive in the MacBook Air.

No, Tim Cook isn't the first to pull this kind of stuff, give Apple fans the middle finger and tell them to deal with it.

I am not indicting Tom Cook; I am suggesting that the iPhone 5S rollout was somewhat calculated. Known shortage=lines in Apple Stores. Frankly, shoddy stuff. I would have thought Apple better than this. But they're a company. And I, like many, should realize that companies are just companies. They have no social conscience, they don't care about you. I think the Steve Jobs stuff has to be put to rest. He didn't care about YOU; neither did John Lennon.

 

[Troneas]

I will buy an iPhone 5s, because I'm due an upgrade. But I won't stand in line to do it.

I love Apple. But not unconditionally.

lol apple doesnt care if you stand in line or not, as long as you buy it.


if you dont love apple unconditionally you would have considered other handsets instead of posting this tantrum here.


sometimes its good for a relationship to take a break. i appreciate apple in a lot of ways and have some of their products. i *did* have an iphone until i saw iOS 7 and their insistence on holding on to a 4 inch display.

so i switched. its very liberating and i learnt a few things along the way. 3 years is a long time using the same system and its natural you feel some sort of apprehension of letting go. i felt it too. you are brainwashed in sites such as this one how other OS are unstable, virus-prone, and so on. this might have been the case 3 years ago but today there are very good alternatives to iOS - you just need to find what you like and if it is indeed the iphone, then you'll have to suck it up and admit you can't do without it

 

[kenknotts]

I will buy an iPhone 5s, because I'm due an upgrade. But I won't stand in line to do it.

who says you have to? People have been ordering them online for a week and getting their phones without setting foot in a line.

 

[scaredpoet]

But even with Apple, with all their clout and cool credibility, this just reeks of hubris. Show the world how bad they want us. Make them beg, we will give them what they want when we choose to. But most importantly, we are Apple; we rule the universe, and They will eagerly take what we choose to give them.

You're operating under the assumption that Apple is purposefully holding back production. But the people who adopt this conspiracy theory completely forget that Apple does have shareholders to account to, and they don't like to see product shortages. we saw this last year when there weren't enough iMacs rolling out of the assembly line, and that trasnalted to poor sales on paper.

The best way for Apple to say "look at us and aaaaalllll the people who want our stuff!" is to put as many iPhones in as many hot little hands as they can, as fast as they can. If they can say they sold 12 million, or 20 million iPhones, that's a lot more credible when it comes to demand than saying "well, we could've sold that many, but we couldn't make enough."

Not to mention, every person who wants to buy an iPhone 5s but can't right now is a potential missed opportunity. Some will settle for the 5c, giving Apple less cash for it, AND be disappointed, potentially meaning less loyalty later. Others might stick another year with their existing iPhone, skipping this upgrade cycle and making Apple miss out on a sale altogether. Still others might jump ship and get a Galaxy S4. Investors in Apple hate that possibility and could show their displeasure with Tim Cook for it if the supply constraints go on long enough.

So, I prefer to go with the more plausible explanation: 9 million phones is a lot of phones to sell in a single weekend. Demand was under-estimated (partly due to naysayers who said even fewer people would want the 5s). And you don't want to make too many phones either... when you have a glut of phones that not enough people are buying, you end up having to write down their value, and that lands you in even worse trouble.

So no, I doubt there's any evil plan to keep needy iPhone fanatics waiting in line. That just angers people in the long run, and that's not good for business. But hey, if YOU have the ability to churn out tens of millions of phones in an instant, I'm sure Tim Cook would love to have a word with you.

I will buy an iPhone 5s, because I'm due an upgrade. But I won't stand in line to do it.

So basically, you're rewarding what you think is bad behavior. Why? They're mistreating you as a customer. Punish them, if that's really what you think is going on.

 

[braddick]

Damned if they do (an overabundance of iPhone5C), damned if they don't (an under abundance of iPhone5S).

 

[StevenT42]

The only thing that I see is that the 5C was available for a 1-week preorder and the 5S was not. Apple had to know that they had enough inventory to support a week's worth of preorders for the 5C and still deliver to stores. They also knew that the 5S was going to be constrained, and that stores and online orders would experience shortages. Not calculated, per se, but definitely predicted.

I don't think this was cynical, I think it was realistic.

 

[Jimmy James]

It seems like barely half of the demand has been met. They produced 9 million units in advance. Surely they could have snapped their magical fingers and made 18 million.

 

[Bryan Bowler]

...Known shortage=lines in Apple Stores...

I'm sorry, but I think you're way off the mark. Believe me, Apple would love to sell an iPhone 5s to every person that wants one. Turning people away doesn't do anything for Apple.

Bryan

 

[alent1234]

As a relatively recent (3 years) convert to the Apple Way of Doing Things, I find myself somewhat baffled by the 5S rollout. I say this because it seems to be calculated; new device; little inventory; make lines. I thought that Tim Cook seemed to be a decent guy; stepping into the shoes of a legend cannot be easy. But even with Apple, with all their clout and cool credibility, this just reeks of hubris. Show the world how bad they want us. Make them beg, we will give them what they want when we choose to. But most importantly, we are Apple; we rule the universe, and They will eagerly take what we choose to give them.

I will buy an iPhone 5s, because I'm due an upgrade. But I won't stand in line to do it.

I love Apple. But not unconditionally.

happens every year
apple sets a daily production rate but the demand for the first month is a lot higher. once it dies down iphones can be bought anywhere.

no sense spending money on production lines just for the first month's demand

 

[noisycats]

No one can convince me that Tim would not have preferred to boast they sold 20 million the first weekend. They are making and selling as fast as they can.

 

[Italianblend]

Maybe they're really not doing it on purpose. .

Then delay the launch for 2-3 weeks and have ample supply so that your customers don't have to waste their time camping for phones. Seems calculated to me. Nobody knows their supply numbers but apple.

 

[wrathofmac]

you want the 5c, you're going to have to wait.

 

[imanidiot]

Let me clarify

I am not suggesting that Apple is doing anything, um, shady. Only that I feel to launch a new product without having inventory to support the launch is, well, unprofessional. Apple knows well what demand for a new iPhone is like, and they went with this schedule knowing they would not be able to support demand, and I suggest that this is not exactly cricket. The current demand conundrum is exactly what they want. Someone else said it first, but I will concur: they want lines. They want people desperate for the New Thing. I'm really not criticizing; it's good business; keep the fanbase hungry and rabid. But this time, this approach simply reeks of hubris and Hollywood. I am disappointed in Apple. And I know that's naive.
But, as I am sure someone will say, they are a company. They exist to make money, not to please anyone. How can you be disappointed in something so crass as a company? Point taken.

But still.....

 

[kudukudu]

earlier reports said yields with the fingerprint reader were lower than expected. This seems like a more plausible explanation to me than any kind of conspiracy theory....

 

[imanidiot]

No conspiracy theory; just what I feel is a badly thought-out launch for a much anticipated product. No in-store availability; order on-line? Shipment window: October. October is a big month; could you, you know, be a bit more specific? Like maybe what week in October, or something?

I think this is just bad all around. Apple should be above this stuff, or just know better. As I mentioned before, it reeks of hubris, and I think that it benefits no-one; not Apple nor it's many fans. I don't know what Cook and the BrainTrust were thinking; what I suspect what they were thinking greatly disappoints me.

Go ahead and rip me.

 

[scaredpoet]

Then delay the launch for 2-3 weeks and have ample supply so that your customers don't have to waste their time camping for phones. Seems calculated to me. Nobody knows their supply numbers but apple.

And I'm sure if the release had been delayed 2-3 weeks, there wouldn't been someone posting a thread about how poorly Apple executed the launch because they dealyed way too long, and they should've just released what they had.

 

[APhillyApple]

I dont think they were doing this intentionally, why wouldn't they want to make the sale? I do think that they knew the shortage would happen and then they drum up the want factor. But thats how you market your product and get the hype machine going.

 

[koigirl]

I am not suggesting that Apple is doing anything, um, shady. Only that I feel to launch a new product without having inventory to support the launch is, well, unprofessional. Apple knows well what demand for a new iPhone is like, and they went with this schedule knowing they would not be able to support demand, and I suggest that this is not exactly cricket. The current demand conundrum is exactly what they want. Someone else said it first, but I will concur: they want lines. They want people desperate for the New Thing. I'm really not criticizing; it's good business; keep the fanbase hungry and rabid. But this time, this approach simply reeks of hubris and Hollywood. I am disappointed in Apple. And I know that's naive.
But, as I am sure someone will say, they are a company. They exist to make money, not to please anyone. How can you be disappointed in something so crass as a company? Point taken.

But still.....

i don't know if it was intentional or, more likely, simple production constraints, but I don't think the dramatic wait sits well with the average customer (not referring to the Apple fans, me included, on this forum ). I was out last Saturday morning (weekend of launch) at a shopping center in our area. As I entered beside the Apple Store, I noticed they had ropes up for a line with employees at the entrance giving customers tickets to get in. It made no sense because the store was not close to full (I've seen many more people browsing on other weekends) and there were very few people entering the line (none actually standing in line) and yet they had this elaborate roped-off setup to gain entrance. I saw several groups of people walking by, attempting to just walk in and look around and being told to get in the (nonexistent) line and they all looked perturbed. I heard one woman telling her family the entire situation was "ridiculous" and "not worth it at this point". So I do give some credence to the theory they might be staging demand. It just seemed that way. I walked back by after lunch on my way back to the car and there was still no one in line. I would have liked to walk in and check out the gold iPhone 5s but did not want to go through a hassle to enter so I walked on. This was at Southpoint in Durham, NC.

 

[imanidiot]

i don't know if it was intentional or, more likely, simple production constraints, but I don't think the dramatic wait sits well with the average customer (not referring to the Apple fans, me included, on this forum ). I was out last Saturday morning (weekend of launch) at a shopping center in our area. As I entered beside the Apple Store, I noticed they had ropes up for a line with employees at the entrance giving customers tickets to get in. It made no sense because the store was not close to full (I've seen many more people browsing on other weekends) and there were very few people entering the line (none actually standing in line) and yet they had this elaborate roped-off setup to gain entrance. I saw several groups of people walking by, attempting to just walk in and look around and being told to get in the (nonexistent) line and they all looked perturbed. I heard one woman telling her family the entire situation was "ridiculous" and "not worth it at this point". So I do give some credence to the theory they might be staging demand. It just seemed that way. I walked back by after lunch on my way back to the car and there was still no one in line. I would have liked to walk in and check out the gold iPhone 5s but did not want to go through a hassle to enter so I walked on. This was at Southpoint in Durham, NC.

Exactly. I feel that this is being managed, and not in the most graceful way.