iPhone 3G S Launch Sales to Exceed 3G Launch?

[carletonguy]

So Dumb...

The Apple Store at South Coast Plaza was on hyper control today. It was really dumb. Sure, they sold out of the 32gig phones by mid-day, so there was heavy traffic because of the iPhone...as to be expected...but they wouldn't let ANYONE in the store ALL DAY unless you waited in a line. I went at 8:30, shortly before the mall closed, to avoid the iPhone crowd, with the idea of buying a new iMac. There were 7 people in a line that I thought was an iPhone line... but nope, they were just not letting anyone in the store unless they waited in line. The store was as dead as it is at 11am on a Tuesday (which, honestly, is still busy...but no where near weekend traffic levels). They had 4 Apple employees waiting to at the door to stop people from going in. It was rather dumb.

I told them I was here to buy a computer and leave. I didn't need help and they could even swipe my card outside the store if they wanted since I knew what I wanted and called ahead to confirm stock... When I called they didn't tell me I'd have to wait in a line just to get in the dumb store. They said no, today you had to wait in a line no matter what. That's about as dumb as it gets. They had reps walking around, not helping customers, but they wouldn't let me in. When I said I just called and no one told me I had to wait in a line when I came down, they gave me the "oh well, get in line" speech.

So, eff that, I went home and bought it on Mac Mall. The kicker... when I was walking back a lady said she'd been waiting in line to get in the store just so she could buy a case for her iPhone for the last 20 minutes...3 or 4 other people nodded and gave a frustrated look. I can understand wanting to control the crowds, but that late with that few people? C'mon, they have a line to check out all day, every day... and on the weekends I've seen that line twist it's way through queue ropes from one end of the store to another... why they had to make it so much more difficult today is beyond me.

 

[CharlesInCharge]

You chose to not have it shipped to you and then you complain about it?

Oh believe me I would have had it shipped if I knew their system at their stores was going to be this ass-backwards. I'm lucky enough to have 2 Apple Stores within close proximity to my place so I thought that would be more convenient, especially considering I wasn't going to be at the office or my residence all day on Friday so I didn't trust the UPS guy to just leave it by my door.

 

[Stenar]

SLC sold out...

I waited in line for nearly an hour this evening to get in the Salt Lake City Apple store, by the time I did get inside, they were sold out of the 32GB Black iPhones. (I'd called 30 minutes before and they still had them in stock then.) Couldn't they have come out and told us which models they were sold out of so we didn't waste any more time in line???

 

[Banyan Bruce]

Queues at Carphone Warehouse for Iphone 3G and GS

Amazing...the first iPhone queue I've seen this time around. Clearly, you need a full time job to afford one, so couldn't get it yesterday.

 

[Banyan Bruce]

you clearly work for O2

It's $200 either way.So what?

Synching need, new offering and price to maximise market. Commonsense really.

 

[DoubleU]

I'm waiting in a Newcastle O2 store this morning. There are three people ahead of me getting their new iPhones, one upgrader and two new customers.

 

[cocky jeremy]

I waited in line for nearly an hour this evening to get in the Salt Lake City Apple store, by the time I did get inside, they were sold out of the 32GB Black iPhones. (I'd called 30 minutes before and they still had them in stock then.) Couldn't they have come out and told us which models they were sold out of so we didn't waste any more time in line???

Couldn't you haved asked specifically for what you wanted?

edit: I see what you're saying. I thought you meant when you called they could have told you.. my bad. lol.

 

[old-wiz]

The Apple Store at South Coast Plaza was on hyper control today. It was really dumb. Sure, they sold out of the 32gig phones by mid-day, so there was heavy traffic because of the iPhone...as to be expected...but they wouldn't let ANYONE in the store ALL DAY unless you waited in a line. I went at 8:30, shortly before the mall closed, to avoid the iPhone crowd, with the idea of buying a new iMac.

My point exactly; same issue at Burlington Mass store. Hopefully by perhaps Monday or Tuesday you will be able to walk into the store and buy a computer again. It's like all of a sudden they only care about iPhones, and never mind selling computers. I thought Apple's business was founded on selling computers, not expensive phones.

 

[iPhoneNYC]

I'm surprised at the high demand for 32 gig. I have an 8 gig 1st Gen and I'm upgrading to a 3GS 16 gig. I use about 6 gigs on my iPhone now. 16 gigs seems plenty to me: I think the iPhone is too big to be an iPod and too small to be a video player. I do have a MBP and a small Nano that I use. I do take a fair amount of photos with the iPhone but delete when I sync/charge. So all this adds up to I don't think I would ever have a need for 32 gigs.

 

[voltes]

I'm surprised at the high demand for 32 gig. I have an 8 gig 1st Gen and I'm upgrading to a 3GS 16 gig. I use about 6 gigs on my iPhone now. 16 gigs seems plenty to me: I think the iPhone is too big to be an iPod and too small to be a video player. I do have a MBP and a small Nano that I use. I do take a fair amount of photos with the iPhone but delete when I sync/charge. So all this adds up to I don't think I would ever have a need for 32 gigs.

If you plan to do some videos then the bigger space will definitely give you a good amount to work with which I plan to do

 

[CharlesInCharge]

I'm surprised at the high demand for 32 gig. I have an 8 gig 1st Gen and I'm upgrading to a 3GS 16 gig. I use about 6 gigs on my iPhone now. 16 gigs seems plenty to me: I think the iPhone is too big to be an iPod and too small to be a video player. I do have a MBP and a small Nano that I use. I do take a fair amount of photos with the iPhone but delete when I sync/charge. So all this adds up to I don't think I would ever have a need for 32 gigs.

Yea, you'd be surprised how quickly the memory can go when you are using the iPhone as your sole iPod. I've already filled up my 16 GB 3GS with only a couple apps and all of my music.

 

[Wyvernspirit]

I'm surprised at the high demand for 32 gig. I have an 8 gig 1st Gen and I'm upgrading to a 3GS 16 gig. I use about 6 gigs on my iPhone now. 16 gigs seems plenty to me: I think the iPhone is too big to be an iPod and too small to be a video player. I do have a MBP and a small Nano that I use. I do take a fair amount of photos with the iPhone but delete when I sync/charge. So all this adds up to I don't think I would ever have a need for 32 gigs.

Actually, like you, I am upgrading from an 8GB iPhone Classic to a 16GB 3G S⃣ , however the iPhone replaced my ipod 2 years ago (and a palm E2). With the 16GB I now hold more then my old 15GB ipod (3rd Gen) could.

I also use my iphone as a video player while at work, I have watched many a movie on it. It is also my book reader, using he kindle app, I have read about 6 books (and am in the middle of 3 others) on it since its release. And now that I can read white on black on the kindle app, its even easier to read.

 

[tivoboy]

This may seem like a diatribe not related to the thread but my 3GS buying experience has me pissed.
I don't understand why Apple doesn't put proper cash checkout stations in their stores as they certainly have the volume. I was even more dumbfounded when I heard that Apple Stores don't accept cash. To restate in different words: An American business does not accept federally issued paper currency.

I don't think you can buy a CELL phone with cash anymore, I think it requires some credential and CC, but that may just be for contract cells

 

[GQB]

My point exactly; same issue at Burlington Mass store. Hopefully by perhaps Monday or Tuesday you will be able to walk into the store and buy a computer again. It's like all of a sudden they only care about iPhones, and never mind selling computers. I thought Apple's business was founded on selling computers, not expensive phones.

You think the fact that they changed the name from Apple Computer to Apple Inc might be a hint here?
And hand-helds are where computers are going btw.

 

[SandynJosh]

Even if Apple does exceed sales of the 3G launch, I think it would be interesting to see what the sales COULD have been had they allowed all iPhone users to upgrade. At the very minimum I would think that the non-upgradable users would have accounted for 50,000+ sales. That ends up as millions of dollars in missed sales.

Keep in mind that the "they" in your post is AT&T, not Apple. So, therefore the "millions if dollars in sales" may be Apple's loss, not AT&T's. Remember, ALL of those "lost sales" are people wishing to upgrade, which does not mean a single new customer to AT&T, nor one single dollar in sales.

And, in the short run, there are no lost sales even to Apple. These old iPhone users will eventually upgrade, just later than they wished. The cash registers will ring and everyone will eventually be content. In the mean time, these "upgraders" won't be clogging the lines which are filled with a lot of first-time buyers switching to AT&T, and that means REAL sales to AT&T and Apple.

Meanwhile, back at Sprint, the Palm Pre, which is mostly being sold to the old Palm crowd, the cash registers are staying very quiet. I suspect that the total sales of the Pre, including the head start they got, won't total what Apple/AT&T did in this one weekend of sales alone.

I heard at one time that the total downloads from the Palm store was only 18,000 aps since the Pre went on sale. That doesn't say much for the total sales volume of Palm phones, both old and the Pre.

 

[SandynJosh]

This is the 3rd phone for Apple --> seems to reason that they would be learning from any past mistakes they made with selling this thing and getting it activated for millions of people. Also, the things they got right have been tweaked also to be more efficient.

You don't need lines and lines of people if you're going to really sell stuff. You just need an effective routine.

You only need lines that take forever if you want to give the illusion of selling a lot (Palm Pre and Sprint's slow-on-purpose Sales team) -- let's keep the lines long for as long as possible!

That's BS.

Perhaps. There are a lot of people that enjoy the shared anticipation of being part of a group of people who are part of something special. That's why we wrap Christmas presents and store them under the tree. That's why we have the little rituals of marriage and birthdays.

If you don't get a kick out of that, and delayed gratification is just a hassle to you, then buying your own presents on-line is the way for you.

 

[SandynJosh]

I own 3 macs and stock but the phone sucks. Now if it was called something other than a phone then things might be different but I need one that I can use to call .

The dropped call problem is/was with the carrier, not the iPhone. Place the fault where it belongs.

I am waiting for either a different carrier or for AT&T to improve the local coverage where I live before I buy an iPhone. (and the waiting is driving me nuts)

 

[casmith07]

The Apple Store at South Coast Plaza was on hyper control today. It was really dumb. Sure, they sold out of the 32gig phones by mid-day, so there was heavy traffic because of the iPhone...as to be expected...but they wouldn't let ANYONE in the store ALL DAY unless you waited in a line. I went at 8:30, shortly before the mall closed, to avoid the iPhone crowd, with the idea of buying a new iMac.

Why would you go during launch day for the 3GS to get a computer?

Wait a few days then go...? Seems like common sense.

 

[ontheplains]

Sold Out in Chicago?

i'm in Chicago on vacation and was traveling until just past 10 yesterday. all of the Chicago stores i've called are sold out. so there's obviously a pretty big demand for them, if all the units here have sold.

any advice on how to get one before i have to go home to my smaller hometown Monday night? i'm not sure the local store will have stock and the guy said it'd take 2 weeks to ship (which i don't think is right, but i still want one while i'm here)

 

[Kid Red]

Despite the seemingly shorter lines at the iPhone 3G S...

Dude, it's called 1st iPhone 3G launch, no online purchasing, recent 3 GS launch, apple.com and at&t both offer online ordering. Is it really that hard to figure out why the lines were shorter?!?!!

 

[skeebers]

I was third in line and second one to get the iPhone 3GS. When I went to AT&T shop only two guys were there at 6:45am. When I came out at 7:30 no one was waiting. Only 6 people by 7:30, crazy!!
And yes, the AT&T guy took 30 minutes to setup my preordered account!! Crazy! He also scratched the bazel...GRRRRRR!!
Video cam is awesome...loved it! Now restoring my backup to make the phone usable.
Happy to have it....

Is it just me or is there a pattern to every post where someone was in line? Everyone is like first or second in line.... Nobody saying " I was like 20th in line" seems to me getting your hands on a new phone is nothing like the first two launches. The thing was getting your phone and everyone else waiting for another week (hehe).

Be interesting to see speed comparisons right out of the box and after 6 mo of usage...

 

[SandynJosh]

Be interesting to see speed comparisons right out of the box and after 6 mo of usage...

Why do you expect the iPhone to slow down with usage? The iPhone should not be affected by use.

Or are you meaning that AT&T's service to become more clogged and slow as more people use the service (which is possible)? I suspect that the delay of MMS being allowed is one of the ways AT&T is buying time as they beef up their infrastructure.

It's my understanding that Verizon (the next most likely iPhone carrier) will have an equally robust 3G/4G network by 2011/2012. So if they are allowed to carry the iPhone at that time, it will be like an instant doubling of carrier capacity and all iPhones (and any other brands of phones that need 3G/4G speed) will finally have the infrastructure to support the need.

By then MicroSoft should have a mobile OS that will be almost as good as the version-one iPhone once had, and announced once again their plans for an app store. That's the year Palm will have sold their two millionth Pré and expanded their store offering to 24 apps.

The additional carrier capacity will have Apple introducing a newer faster iPhone using all custom Apple chips and video conferencing (at long last the fabled video phone of the 1960s will be a reality). The other new offering will be a lighter weight MBA that, when closed, will have a working touch-tablet on the top. When opened, the touch-tablet will become a 3D full-motion screen-saver designed to raise the heart-beat of all the other people in the coffee shop/public area entrapping them a RDF that will induce them into buying only products Apple sells (whether they have last year's model or not).

While Apple may announce the iCEO during this period of time, this prediction is a bit speculative, but if so, the iCEO will announce itself along with the new products. The distribution of the iCEO will be tightly controlled. For example, only one model will be sold to the auto industry to the highest bidder. Other industries to follow, with government sales a possibility.

 

[jknightx]

Is it just me or is there a pattern to every post where someone was in line? Everyone is like first or second in line.... Nobody saying " I was like 20th in line" seems to me getting your hands on a new phone is nothing like the first two launches. The thing was getting your phone and everyone else waiting for another week (hehe).

I got to an apple store at 10:15 Friday no line i just walked in and picked it up and was out in 45 minutes

 

[jknightx]

Is it just me or is there a pattern to every post where someone was in line? Everyone is like first or second in line.... Nobody saying " I was like 20th in line" seems to me getting your hands on a new phone is nothing like the first two launches. The thing was getting your phone and everyone else waiting for another week (hehe).

Be interesting to see speed comparisons right out of the box and after 6 mo of usage...

I walked in at 10:15 to an At&t store on friday and was in and out in 45 minutes

 

[cocky jeremy]

I'm surprised at the high demand for 32 gig. I have an 8 gig 1st Gen and I'm upgrading to a 3GS 16 gig. I use about 6 gigs on my iPhone now. 16 gigs seems plenty to me: I think the iPhone is too big to be an iPod and too small to be a video player. I do have a MBP and a small Nano that I use. I do take a fair amount of photos with the iPhone but delete when I sync/charge. So all this adds up to I don't think I would ever have a need for 32 gigs.

Same here. I bought a 16GB white 3g last year, and i still only use about 3-4GB of it. I'll stick with 16GB until 32GB is the new minimum. No need for more than 10GB for me.. ever, probably.