How come other companies don't have to sell out of all their units?

[Kendo]

I don't get how people equate a product selling out with success? Giving a number like 15 million being sold doesn't do a thing for a consumer, but if there are news that the iPad 2 sold out (without giving any numbers), it is considered a success? What if the iPad 2 only had a total inventory of 5 million during its launch? That is considered more of a success than 15 million iPad 3s being sold out of 18 million? By the way I just threw out arbitrary numbers to make a point.

How come movies, games, and car companies aren't subject to this same critique? If Halo 4 comes out, people expect to be able to walk into a store and pick up a copy the day of release. That is the whole point of introducing a product, isn't it? To bring out a new product and have it available? What is the point of introducing a new product and not having it available the next day it comes out? Why isn't Lexus and their cars or Samsung and their HDTVs subjected to this same type of logic? They don't sell out of all their new models the day of release. Is that considered a failure too?

 

[Gregintosh]

I think people just falsely believe that the iPad needs to sell out in order to be a success. What people are not taking into account is that unlike previous launches where this was the case Apple had built up their inventory to a much higher level this time around.

So when people are comparing this launch to the last one the impression is that this one was not as successful because there's inventory remaining. But I bet that we will soon hear about how Apple sold so many millions of units that all of this talk about it not being a good launch will be quickly silenced.

 

[isaac65]

I think you're right. There is still stock left, not because the launch wasn't successful, but because they made the largest batch yet. Otherwise they wouldn't be launching it in all those other countries as well as the US. I also remember a rumor that Apple started production on the new iPad as early as November. That seems reasonable since this wasn't a major redesign for the iPad. Maybe next year we'll see shortages again at launch.

 

[ZBoater]

I guess people saying this launch was a dud think Apple will keep making the same mistake every single launch and either deliberately or through incompetence create a short supply situation. Because Apple loves scalpers...

Maybe, just maybe, they've learned their lesson and decided to invest and time the launch to avoid stock shortages because they are confident the stock will eventually sell. Maybe they learned and improved.

Or maybe the new iPad launch was a complete dud.

 

[whtrbt7]

Apple managed this launch really well. The availability of pre-orders with higher initial stock, and good organization made this a very successful launch without the nightmarish lines and fighting people normally associate with Apple product launches. I think the Beijing iPhone 4S launch really taught them that human being are innately insane and that Apple was fostering an attitude to their launches that would endanger lives. It remains to be seen how many units they sell in their next quarterly.

In regards to why other companies don't sell out of their products, it's because they also use supply and demand cues in order to estimate a production amount. Other companies also sell way less of a single product to consumers. They will produce a variety of products and keep rolling production to fill demand. The exception to the rules are normally popular products such as a Motorola RAZR, Wii, and the PS3. Apple's had a lot of success over the past 10 years and it's shown. The main thing is Apple's products are "iconic".

 

[pat park]

Apple probably didn't want to repeat previous launch shortages and ramped up production. After all, they had 2 previous iPad launches to learn from.

Whatever they are doing, it got me to wait in line in the cold to get my new iPad. Failure launch? No way.

 

[hcho3]

You know... last time apple was less prepared and many people have to wait for like 3-4 weeks to get their iPads delivered. They had to call store everyday and every hour.

Apple also found out that many people were just buying and selling them for profits. So, they decided to start the production sooner and quicker to meet the demands.

Last year, people complained that they could not get their ipads.

This year, people are complaining because there are plenty of iPads to go around for everyone.

What do you all freaking want? You all wanted to sell iPAds for profit, but cannot do it this year? IS this why u all complaining?

 

[ZBoater]

Last year, people complained that they could not get their ipads.

This year, people are complaining because there are plenty of iPads to go around for everyone.

What do you all freaking want?

LOL! That is so true! I guess they want there to be the EXACT number of iPads in EXACTLY the right places (on line, Apple stores, resellers) so everyone who wants one gets one, but by the end of the day everyone is out of stock....

Geez louise...

 

[hcho3]

LOL! That is so true! I guess they want there to be the EXACT number of iPads in EXACTLY the right places (on line, Apple stores, resellers) so everyone who wants one gets one, but by the end of the day everyone is out of stock....

Geez louise...

So, they just want apple to magically figure out the exact numbers and make them?

What is wrong with this country....

 

[dukeblue91]

This is not very scientific but my Fedex driver said that he had a whole lot more iPad deliveries this time then last year with the iPad 2.

 

[Dstopsie]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9B179 Safari/7534.48.3)

To me a failure would be measured in the product not selling. It is not measured by the inflated prices in eBay, it's measured by the units sold. Went to 2 different apple stores last night (looking for a sleeve for my new baby) and while there were no lines, the stores were packed crazy busy and people were leaving, bags in hand after purchasing their iPads.

The success of the new iPad will be measured by the units sold. Apple had a lot of supply and based on what I saw there were a lot of people buying iPads.