Does this hurt the bottom line?

[tomegun]

I'm sure a forum member or two have sales/marketing experience and can answer this question.
Does making the announcement a month before release, a higher TCO and not having enough stock hurt the bottom line? Sure, there are many people out there who will wait (un)patiently, but are there a lot of people turned off by all of this enough to say:

1. I'll stay with Sprint and get an Instinct
2. I'll stay with Sprint and get a Treo 800
3. I'll wait for the Blackberry bold
4. I'll wait for the Blackberry thunder
5. Just screw Apple and AT&T

If not for the iPod connections in two of my cars, which I'm not sure will work now, I would probably be one of those people. This just seems very much like something associated with a Windows release. It is almost as if they weren't planning on being this successful.

 

[Loonytik]

I'm sure a forum member or two have sales/marketing experience and can answer this question.
Does making the announcement a month before release, a higher TCO and not having enough stock hurt the bottom line? Sure, there are many people out there who will wait (un)patiently, but are there a lot of people turned off by all of this enough to say:

1. I'll stay with Sprint and get an Instinct
2. I'll stay with Sprint and get a Treo 800
3. I'll wait for the Blackberry bold
4. I'll wait for the Blackberry thunder
5. Just screw Apple and AT&T

If not for the iPod connections in two of my cars, which I'm not sure will work now, I would probably be one of those people. This just seems very much like something associated with a Windows release. It is almost as if they weren't planning on being this successful.

Econ 101 - Lack of Supply creates demand. Why do you think your lady wants that big diamond on her finger? Apples stock price has been up and down over the last few months after an incredible climb. Their product lineup always effects their price and they had great success lately. Granted, the price has fallen of late but it will rise again. I predict the $300.00 mark for Apple within 2 years.

 

[tomegun]

Econ 101 - Lack of Supply creates demand. Why do you think your lady wants that big diamond on her finger? Apples stock price has been up and down over the last few months after an incredible climb. Their product lineup always effects their price and they had great success lately. Granted, the price has fallen of late but it will rise again. I predict the $300.00 mark for Apple within 2 years.

I understand your Econ 101 lesson. However, does that take into account a competitive market and the fact that this device is still trying to find firm footing (for some) in the smartphone category? Additionally, one thing Apple seemed to have going for it is the fact that you could always say their systems "Just work." That may not be the case with all that has happened with iPhone activation, mobileme, etc. I'm not in total disagreement with you, I'm just asking for opinion.

 

[DeuceDeuce]

Over 1 Million units were sold in 3 days... I dont think I have ever heard of that many BB's, Motos, or any other cell phone sell that much in 3 days. I think Apple is ok.

 

[DeaconGraves]

Seeing that Apple has already sold 1 Millions 3Gs when it took over two months last time around, I don't see it hurting the bottom line too much.

Ok the activation issues was a bit of bad PR, but has disappeared off the radar now that the 1 million mark hit the news cycle Sunday. MobileMe has issues but remember it's not required for the phone (and I don't think it was an instant purchase for a lot of the mainstream to begin with).

And it's not like Apple didn't realize that not everyone was going to immediately jump ship from their current phone/carrier immediately (if at all!) I don't have the stats in front of me, but if another company entered the smartphone market with the share numbers that Apple has done after 2 generations, they'd be ecstatic. The traditional Apple hubris just magnifies any setback that actually ocurrs.

 

[diabolic]

In my opinion, the number of potential customers brought to the iPhone by the hype and media coverage of the lines will be significantly higher than those who planned to buy an iPhone but changed their minds due to difficulty getting one.

You don't see lines like these forming for a new Blackberry or new Treo. And definitely not on the scale we've seen for the iPhone.

 

[Loonytik]

I understand your Econ 101 lesson. However, does that take into account a competitive market and the fact that this device is still trying to find firm footing (for some) in the smartphone category? Additionally, one thing Apple seemed to have going for it is the fact that you could always say their systems "Just work." That may not be the case with all that has happened with iPhone activation, mobileme, etc. I'm not in total disagreement with you, I'm just asking for opinion.

I personally dont consider the iphone as the prototypical smartphone. I consider it to be in the luxury web browsing/music phone category. I dont see 35 year old+ business men carrying the iphone around in the office with their white headphones hanging out of their ears listening to Pearl Jam. Plus, the integration into the office web servers will take some cooperation on the IT departments side of things. Which for now, is dominated by the Blackberry. Technically it is a smartphone but, look at the age range polls on the forums.....the majority of people are below the age of 30. Some are above 30 and even 40 or 50 years old but they are the overwhelming minority. Competition is what drives the new technology and keeps the prices reasonable...thats a good thing.

Over 1 Million units were sold in 3 days... I dont think I have ever heard of that many BB's, Motos, or any other cell phone sell that much in 3 days. I think Apple is ok.

Yes, Apple is fine but I feel like the OP was aiming toward the marketshare of Apple as it relates to the smartphone market in general. See the above response. I would guess the average age range of first weekend purchasers of the iphone was 24-28 years old. I would say the average age range of business professionals that are using a smartphone for their job is 35-45. Just a thought.

 

[tomegun]

OK. Let me understand this. If the stock was there and the processing time was cut in half, there still would have been long lines, they could have sold twice as many phones and there would still be people left without. If given a choice, would you rather have that or what the current situation is?

There is no way to measure how many, if any, customers were lost or gained this since the 11th. However, it is almost a certainty to say they could have sold a lot more than 1 million and still had long lines and people going home empty handed to keep the buzz.

I knew there was a reason why I didn't care for economics that much. My mother always taught me a bird in the hand is worth two in a bush. The customers were out, probably by the millions, and the product ran out.

 

[tomegun]

I had another thought. This is still a complete success in my mind. All it took for me to come to this realization is thinking back to my experience with a Windows Mobile phone.

The big idiots seem to be Blackberry. For all the success they've had, if they would have come out with more feature-packed consumer phone a few years ago they would have taken some market share from Microsoft. I have a curve right now and if it had HTML email and a good browser it would be killing WinMo phones. It already is, but it would be even more.