How Apple blew the launch

[corriewf]

Wow, talk about being spoiled. Apple doesn't have to do pre-orders. It's a nice feature they've offered in the past. How many other big tech companies allow you to pre-order?

What? It would be easier to name the companies that don't. Most companies engage in preorders. It's pretty common practice now. Even gaming consoles do preorders.

No offense, but I am not really concerned about the experience in Canada or Europe. That's why I live in the US. I'm proud Apple is an American company. Look at all the great tech that Europe and Asia get that takes half a year to a year to make it to the US. Sucks, but that's life. Companies that reside in a certain country tend to release their products there first.

This was not a bait and switch situation. The further this conversation goes the more detached your criticisms are getting from reality. That's why I said you were trolling. The post above simply supports that impression.

Nope. Someone described what tactics Apple was taking and called it smart and up selling. I called it what it was without the sugar coat. I will admit that I don't have proof but neither did the poster that described the up selling win approach. It does make sense though.

 

[Surf Monkey]

What? It would be easier to name the companies that don't. Most companies engage in preorders. It's pretty common practice now. Even gaming consoles do preorders.

Good lord. How many times do people have to say this before it sinks in?

You say "they should have allowed pre-orders" as if no other factors were involved. Ignore supply, ignore international launch requirements, ignore the fact that you have no idea what mitigating factors may have been in play behind the scenes... ignore, ignore, ignore and just moan about how Apple should have done it... because YOU know better than Apple how it's done.

 

[canadianipad]

What? It would be easier to name the companies that don't. Most companies engage in preorders. It's pretty common practice now. Even gaming consoles do preorders.

No offense, but I am not really concerned about the experience in Canada or Europe. That's why I live in the US. I'm proud Apple is an American company. Look at all the great tech that Europe and Asia get that takes half a year to a year to make it to the US. Sucks, but that's life. Companies that reside in a certain country tend to release their products there first.

You may not be concerned about the international launch but I'm sure Apple is. And it's all good that Apple releases its products in the US first, we all understand that.

And I may be wrong, and sorry if I am, but I don't recall Microsoft, Nintendo, or Sony preordering their latest consoles. I seem to remember huge lineups for them when they were released. Maybe the stores did pre-orders. Again, I could be wrong on this point.

 

[Krandor]

Really preordering ( and you pick it up in the store) would have been great, then people wouldn't have had the whole mess being chaotic and so mismatched. ESP when you have large populations of people and you only have 1 store get inventory.

So there were problems with supplies at the store and yet Apple should reduce the supply to stores by doing preorders?

I think we are seeing why there were not preorders. Supply to the stores was not enough to meet demand so with this they needed to get as many units to the stores as possible so no preorders.

There were two lines for the iPhone 4 launch. One line (the longer one) was for reserves and the other was for walk ups. I didn't feel sorry for those in the walk up line that didn't reserve one. They knew they were taking a risk. In this case Apple didnt care enough to do it.

I wouldn't say they didn't care. Maybe... just maybe they had issues with reserves in the iPhone 4 launch with a lot of people reserving but not showing up to pick up their phone so they were left with stock they could have sold.

Apple guaranteeing you an item is a risk for them in case you don't show up when they have a line of people they could sell it to right now.

I would bet that people not showing up on previous launches after reserving is what caused this decision. As usual, a couple of idiots can ruin things for all.

 

[deeddawg]

How quickly we forget. The iphone4 launch was chaos as well; reports of taking one non-reservation customer per ten reservation customers, reports of people turned away in the non-reservation line for their model not being available when there were stacks of that model sitting there for "reserved" customers (some who didn't show up). Reported instances of people with a reservation not getting one due to stock-outs.

That was with only TWO models available, not EIGHTEEN.

Standing in line for something on launch day at Apple is taking a risk. I understand the disappointment in not getting one, but that's the chance you take.

No, I don't have an ipad2. I didn't sell my ipad1 and I will likely stick with it until more info about iOS5 comes out. So yes, it's easy for me to talk, but I also made a conscious choice NOT to participate in the drama -- part of the reason being that I do use my ipad regularly and don't wish to go back to the previous way of accomplishing the things for which I use it.

 

[Axiem]

Just a thought; let's do some math.

Analysts figured that Apple would sell 600,000 iPads in the first weekend. Initial numbers suggest up to a million. Let's go with a million. And it's known that everything is sold out.

This would imply that Apple had a stock of one million iPads prior to launch, that were designated for domestic store sales (as opposed to foriegn stores or online orders).

It has been noted that there are approximately 10,000 stores that launched with the iPad.

1,000,000 / 10,000 = an average of 100 iPads per store.

The line I was in was sitting at about 600 people, by my estimate. Clearly a large portion of the line had no chance. Though shortly after 5pm, an employee came by asking people which models they wanted; when she said my preferred model was unavailable, I left the line. I lost some time in my life, but them's the breaks.

It seems to me that if Apple screwed anything up with this launch, it was not having built up sufficient supply prior to launch. It seems clear that the current units was already rushed--so we are talking immense supply shortages, relative to demand.

Let's assume that the 600 people in my line was typical, and indicative of an average. In order to completely satisfy demand, they would have had to have 600 * 10,000 = 6,000,000 units produced. So, six times what they had on hand.

(I recognize that I'm conflating Apple Stores with Authorized Retailers, and line sizes and stock sizes are drastically different between the two. I'm shooting for an average. I'm also conflating the 18 different SKUs for simplicity)

Personally, I think they should have delayed two weeks, and launched everywhere at the same time. I think it would have balanced their stock better, and would have given them more time to manufacture more. But, they were trying to rush to market in order to stymie competition.

I'm neutral about the pre-order question.

What I'm curious about, though, is whether this will follow the same pattern the Nintendo Wii did, or if Apple has better production capacities for meeting demand.

My prediction: by the end of the month, most stores will have some models on-hand for regular walk-in customers. By April 11th, all models will be available for walk-in customers, and this whole supply-shortage will have been finished.

And also, seriously. Gain perspective. People are complaining about not being able to buy something that costs 500$. That's more money than half the people in the world accumulate in their entire lives. Everyone lining up has running water to their house, consistent and reliable electricity, and probably owns at least one car if not two. They certainly already own a computer. Everyone on this forum is, by virtue of being here, in the top 5% wealthiest people in the world.

Having to wait an extra month is really not that big of a deal.

 

[Surf Monkey]

I don't think they could afford to wait two weeks. There are too many other tablets hitting the market right now and in a product cycle dominated environment two weeks is an eternity.

 

[Malakas07]

Yeah.. too bad that pesky earthquake and tsunami stole their thunder.

They got the lines but not the media attention. AAPL was expecting this mass amount of media coverage to spread the word on the popularity of the iPad 2. A min or less on my local news stations before going back to the Earthquake/Tsunami coverage.

 

[goMac]

Good lord. How many times do people have to say this before it sinks in?

You say "they should have allowed pre-orders" as if no other factors were involved. Ignore supply, ignore international launch requirements, ignore the fact that you have no idea what mitigating factors may have been in play behind the scenes... ignore, ignore, ignore and just moan about how Apple should have done it... because YOU know better than Apple how it's done.

Ah yes.... launch requirements that would have prevented pre-orders.... such as...

Huh. I can't think of any launch requirements that would have prevented them from taking pre-orders. Can you?

I think the reason is VERY obvious. Apple didn't have the supply in order to do pre-orders. They sent all inventory to stores and there is still huge supply issues. Had they taken pre-orders, there would have been none or even less for the stores.
Plus look at how many countries are launching on the 25th. Apple has to be putting some aside in order to get decent quantities out to all those countries in 2 weeks.

They seemed to have the supply as they did send large amounts of inventory to all the stores... Not iPhone 4 levels, but still significant... Not to mention, they would have had at least a minimum known quantity to ship.

 

[Surf Monkey]

Huh. I can't think of any launch requirements that would have prevented them from taking pre-orders. Can you?

Are you even reading the thread? The iPad is rolling out in 25 countries by the end of the month. Clearly some percentage of stock needs tomb dedicated to those launches. So the answer to your question, which has already been answered a dozen times in this thread including in the post you just quoted, is yes.

 

[Sodner]

I took a vacation day, got my butt to the store at 9:30am waited 7 and a half hours for them to open and got the exact model I wanted.

For those of you that did not do the same and did not get what you wanted, tough cookies.

iPad2 launch = SUCCESS!!! At least thats what Apple and approx 1,000,000 iPad 2 owners think.

 

[dmaul1114]

Pre-orders can be done without knowledge of stock a variety of ways.

1. Announce a couple months ahead of launch date and use pre-orders to figure out how many to make.

If that's not possible....

2. Take preorders and make it clear it's just a list to get your name on, and not a guarantee to get one day one. Just that you're name is on an ordered list and your spot is reserved in a first come, first served way and you'll get a call when it's in. That's how they do video game console pre-orders for one example.


Again, I think the haters are making too big a deal complaining about it. But at the same time, the Apple fanboys are making too much of it being IMPOSSIBLE for Apple to have done preorders etc.

They CHOSE to do it this way rather than doing preorders like they did with the iPad 1, iPhones etc. for whatever reason. Likely for publicity from longer lines, but we'll never know the real reason. But they could certainly have done preorders if they so chose. But of course there may have been problems with that too.

In any case, I think the launch was fine. Those of us who don't want to wait in lines (especially with Apple nuts!) had the option to order online. All lack of preorders means is it takes a bit longer to get our new toys. But again, that's hardly the end of the world. Bunch of impatient whiners on this site for sure. But also a bunch of annoying fanboys shouting down the whiners. It's not worth taking tech gadgets so seriously in either direction.

 

[spinedoc77]

I lost some time in my life, but them's the breaks.

Yep, I waited 2 hours in line to get nothing and I don't hold any ill will because of it. I have to seriously LOL at people who are "hurt" that Apple didn't have an ipad2 for everyone. It's just life and if you think Apple will lose any customers or sales you are smoking crack. I ordered an ipad2 on the Apple site, and if I get one sooner in the meantime I'll just cancel my order, I have much more important things to do with my life than lament why Steve Jobs didn't personally drive down to my house and give me an ipad2.

 

[corriewf]

Yep, I waited 2 hours in line to get nothing and I don't hold any ill will because of it. I have to seriously LOL at people who are "hurt" that Apple didn't have an ipad2 for everyone. It's just life and if you think Apple will lose any customers or sales you are smoking crack. I ordered an ipad2 on the Apple site, and if I get one sooner in the meantime I'll just cancel my order, I have much more important things to do with my life than lament why Steve Jobs didn't personally drive down to my house and give me an ipad2.

What the hell are you talking about? No one has said. The only thing this thread has talked about is how disorganized the launch was. There were measures they could have taken that they used in past, but didn't. They were going to sell the same amount of ipads regardless. I just don't see why they couldn't do it.

 

[Surf Monkey]

What the hell are you talking about? No one has said. The only thing this thread has talked about is how disorganized the launch was. There were measures they could have taken that they used in past, but didn't. They were going to sell the same amount of ipads regardless. I just don't see why they couldn't do it.

Reports indicate that Apple moved something in the neighborhood of a million iPads in one day. I wouldn't call that disorganized. Stop playing disgruntled Monday morning quarterback.

 

[dacreativeguy]

I don't think Apple blew the launch at all since Steve jobs can't sit straight.

 

[corriewf]

Reports indicate that Apple moved something in the neighborhood of a million iPads in one day. I wouldn't call that disorganized. Stop playing disgruntled Monday morning quarterback.

Again, this is not that hard, simple reading comprehension, sales numbers do not reflect buyer experience.

 

[spinedoc77]

What the hell are you talking about? No one has said. The only thing this thread has talked about is how disorganized the launch was. There were measures they could have taken that they used in past, but didn't. They were going to sell the same amount of ipads regardless. I just don't see why they couldn't do it.

The launch seemed VERY organized to me, simply put Apple ran out of stock. If they did a preorder I would assume they would have still ran out of stock. I would assume there is a physical limit on how much hardware the factory can churn out.

 

[ravenas]

The line I was in was sitting at about 600 people, by my estimate. Clearly a large portion of the line had no chance. Though shortly after 5pm, an employee came by asking people which models they wanted; when she said my preferred model was unavailable, I left the line. I lost some time in my life, but them's the breaks.

This is the one part I found distasteful about my Apple store launch experience. The employees did absolutely no monitoring of the line. Apple fanboys started gathering in the morning (about 40 fanboys showed up by 1pm), the store closed at 3pm. During the proceeding 2 hours the line swelled to hundreds. So for 2 hours the store had a dozen or more employees holed up inside pulling out stock and communicating absolutely nothing with the customers outside. Before closing they had the stock in the back but refused to divulge how much or what models. Instead they told folks to just get in line and find out later. One employee was actually disappointed the line wasn't bigger at 1pm.

Then when 5pm rolled around it took an hour and a half for the line to progress into the store. Again no communication from the employees, just tidbits from from customers inside the store texting to family and friends outside.

I can see the uncertainty of waiting before the sale, but I was really disappointed to see how the employees managed the line. No prep, no fun, nothing but a few mall security guards to make sure fights didn't break out or the line didn't block other store entrances. When news finally came that they were sold out of all but one model the line just disintegrated and people walked away in disgust. There were no offers to sign up for a waiting list as consolation. Just one employee barking at the crowd that they were "sold out".

Compare that to the little Best Buy Mobile in the mall who made it known hours before exactly how many and what models they had available. That line was very cordial and we all got to play with the display device in the hour leading up to sale. If I'd been in the market for a 16GB, I would have had a pleasant experience.

Perhaps it is just that some Apple Stores did better than others. Mine is hit or miss. I was actually surprised they didn't offer to take a waiting list for the next week's shipments.

 

[Surf Monkey]

Again, this is not that hard, simple reading comprehension, sales numbers do not reflect buyer experience.

That's the central flaw in your whole argument. You think that your experience is universal. It isn't. Most people had a positive experience. You didn't and you want to claim that the launch was a failure based on that anecdotal evidence.

 

[corriewf]

That's the central flaw in your whole argument. You think that your experience is universal. It isn't. Most people had a positive experience. You didn't and you want to claim that the launch was a failure based on that anecdotal evidence.

Why should the experience differ so much? That's a blown launch.

 

[Surf Monkey]

Why should the experience differ so much? That's a blown launch.

No, that's you having sour grapes and wasting everyone's time with your unreasonable ranting.

 

[Axiem]

I anticipate a lot of differences of opinion come because different stores had different things they did; I would agree that the lack of a SOP between all the stores was not a good thing.

The employees did absolutely no monitoring of the line.

At my store, they were out and spending time with the line, passing out water bottles and that sort of thing.

Before closing they had the stock in the back but refused to divulge how much or what models.

It's quite possible they didn't know. It does take some time to count stock.

Again no communication from the employees

Like I said, in my line, after they had a count of how many there were, there was an employee who was walking down the line; her iPhone/iPod Touch had a custom app for tracking things, and so when she got to me, I said what I wanted, and she said "we're out, but we still have X" (I said "Okay, thank you for letting me know" and left).

There were no offers to sign up for a waiting list as consolation.

I don't think Apple's ever done a waiting list, honestly. They're pretty much always first-come-first-serve, for whatever reason.

That's the central flaw in your whole argument. You think that your experience is universal. It isn't. Most people had a positive experience. You didn't and you want to claim that the launch was a failure based on that anecdotal evidence.

And it also should be noted that people who stood in lines are a very particular demographic (in general, Apple fanboys who have spare time), and represent a small percentage of people who will actually buy the device. Most normal people are willing to wait a few weeks (which is really why the Wii was so disastrous: because they were still out of stock when that point hit); when I came back Saturday to ask about shipments, I noticed a lot of families and such coming in and being told "Sorry, we're out", and saying "Oh, okay. I'll come back another time".

So, "negative experience" on the launch really has little impact, I think, on most people actually buying it once it's in stock.

Assuming, of course, Apple can get rid of the supply shortages soon.

 

[corriewf]

No, that's you having sour grapes and wasting everyone's time with your unreasonable ranting.

Is that really your rebuttal??? Lol!

 

[dmaul1114]

I don't think Apple's ever done a waiting list, honestly. They're pretty much always first-come-first-serve, for whatever reason.

They did it for the iPad 1. Not sure if it started on launch day, but my girlfriend got on one a week or two later to buy one for one of her friends in another country. They called when it came in a week or so after she added her name to the list.