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Maybe its because no one wants last years phone in a plastic colored case?? No surprises here.

The number of people who care about tech specifications is dwarfed, massively, by the number of people who buy the phone that looks cool.

This phone is going to be the Christmas present for teenage kids (where $100 in savings means something), the girl who loads all her Ke$ha albums on it immediately and buys the pink one because it looks "hot," etc. None of these people post on MacRumors, none of them are even aware what "last years phone" means, and none of them are waiting up until 3AM to be sure they have the phone on day #1.

Watch where the sales numbers are on December 25th -- guarantee you that the 5c will have lapped the 5s many times over.
 
People mocked those camping outside Apple stores (stupidly early mind), turns out they done the right thing because they'll be first to get their hands on the 5S.

Although saying that I'm writing off the 5C & 5S this year. Hardly any improvements. The iPhone 5 has been killed off after a year because it clearly hasn't lived up to the hype Apple likes to build, I fear the same this year with the 5S.

I notice people on the forum are already saying their waiting for iPhone 6. A few years ago, no one would be thinking about waiting, they'd all be rushing out to get the latest one. How the 5C got the greenlight, I won't ever know.


I concur. If I could swap my 5 for a 5s I would, but not if it costs me an upgrade and/or $$$ from my ubber thin wallet.
 
No hurry for me. I'll just walk to the AT&T store next weekend to get one for my family. Since 5C doesn't have any cutting edge items like the fingerprint sensor, I don't expect supply constraints at the launch.
 
Why they didn't make preorders for the 5s is still puzzling me. The 5c is the 5 in a new shell. When the 5 came on last year, they didn't do preorders for the 4s...why now, for a colorful shell?

People the 5c might share lots of the same components as the 5, but the antennae, battery, logic board have been reengineered. Further it has some new components like the FaceTime camera. It is a brand new phone. I suspect some things, like reception, will be better. Further for people who buy last years model, this is great as it is a redesign. Nobody complains when they go buy an XBox that is a several years old design.
 
As expected 5C is most popular in Asian markets there the bright candy colours are very popular. I really think this phone was primarily designed for that market.
 
"The only sign of weakness spotted so far is at Sprint, which notes that it may not be able to make delivery of all orders on September 20, with the yellow 32 GB model apparently under the tightest supply."

Yellow...the 5c is going to be huge with the ladies and younger women. Apple is going to sell a ton of 5c's. I love these folks already trying to say its going to be a flop...all it needs to do is sell better than the 4s did (middle of the pack iphone choice) last year and it'll probably do way better than that.

32GB is the most in demand - Apple should have had 64GB version available as that would just be more profit for them.

The folks that care about the latest tech (like most of the posters here) will want the 5s, but for alot of people who don't care so much about that, when they walk into the Apple store they'll just want a new iPhone and those colors of the 5c will scream for their attention.

IMHO, Apple should have made the 5s available in both visual styles (5s and 5s Color) - they'd have sold a ton of the Color's at higher margins.

Someone who gets it right here, folks.
 
Buying a 5c doesn't make you tech naive. You're guaranteed to get the latest version of iOS, the free iWork etc. bundle of apps, and hardware performance that still beats many of the 2013 Android flagship phones for GPU and browser speed.

"If tech-naïve buyers choose 5C..." does not mean that "They who choose 5C are tech-naïve." It simply means that, say, frequent readers of arstechnica or theverge are probably not representative of the general population. If the 5C is a success, and we can credit the colorful plastic shell, then that says more about what the general buyer wants then what techies are looking for.
 
The fact is Apple has announced two different phones this time. They have given us more options than ever before. Some will wait for the 5s, some are down for the 5C. You guys are quick to judge, but we don't know how many of each color of phone was made, plus with demand split between 5 colors and two capacity sizes, as well as the faction of people willing to wait a week, it's no surprise the phone hasn't sold out. From the sound of this article, it's selling well, however.
 
No hurry for me. I'll just walk to the AT&T store next weekend to get one for my family. Since 5C doesn't have any cutting edge items like the fingerprint sensor, I don't expect supply constraints at the launch.

Except for the AT&T part, I agree. More importantly I want to see and feel the new phones before I decide what I am getting. I am not buying based on pictures.
 
It's definitely interesting to watch how the 5c preorders are going compared to previous iPhone preorders, especially if you're one of the people who believe that the 5c is really the new mainstream iPhone for most people, which I do believe.

I assume that one of the big reasons that the delivery dates are still so good after six hours, besides the fact that they were probably able to produce a crap ton of these, is mostly that a lot of the people who care enough to stay up late to preorder are people who care enough to get the 5s.

It'll definitely be fun to see numbers on 5c sales vs. 5s sales, considering Apple provides them to us.

This is a great post.

IMO, the 5C is much more of an "impulse buy" - not because of the price necessarily, but because of the audience it caters to. The people who are willing to stay up are the people who want the latest and greatest.
 
The number of people who care about tech specifications is dwarfed, massively, by the number of people who buy the phone that looks cool.

This phone is going to be the Christmas present for teenage kids (where $100 in savings means something), the girl who loads all her Ke$ha albums on it immediately and buys the pink one because it looks "hot," etc. None of these people post on MacRumors, none of them are even aware what "last years phone" means, and none of them are waiting up until 3AM to be sure they have the phone on day #1.

Watch where the sales numbers are on December 25th -- guarantee you that the 5c will have lapped the 5s many times over.

Damn first world problems and needing to be trendy and look cool.
 
As expected 5C is most popular in Asian markets there the bright candy colours are very popular. I really think this phone was primarily designed for that market.

Asian markets have been open the longest today, so that's no surprise.
Popular candy colors? How about champagne?
 
+1.. no demands for the 5C... what a waste of R&D.
Generally..... most people want the latest and the greatest!

phone nerds like us do. average consumers and people walking into a wireless store dont think that way.
 
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+1.. no demands for the 5C... what a waste of R&D.
Generally..... most people want the latest and the greatest!

How is this a waste on r&d? It's an iPhone 5 with new paint. Consumers did the r&d the last 12 months.
 
Remember the 5C as the greatest flop from Apple in the recent years.

meanwhile, next quarter watch as apple announces record sales. again.

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Not much hype for these products. Apple need to do better.

what? apple is the most profitable handset maker in the business. their iphone has been the single best selling handset. the last three iterations of iphone are the top three on Flickr. and they hold the most consumer satisfaction awards.

what on earth are you talking about?
 
My son is 14 and just 3 days ago got a used iPhone4s I got from work (old company equipment). Found out last night that the right hand edge of the screen is completely unresponsive.

Asked him if he wanted me to get him a 5c and he could pick the color. He said no, he thinks the colors are lame; there aren't any good "guy colors" (dark red, dark blue, hunter green, etc..)

Not sure what it shows, just one kids opinion of the 5c.

As for what I'm doing, not sure. Thinking of fixing the display ($30), but also considering upgrading his to a iP5 (AT&T has referbs online for $50). Or, upgrading my phone (iP5) to a 5s and giving him my old one. . . $199.

Decisions, decisions.
 
What a flop.

The Hong Kong sales are just scalpers I bet who will sell them to countries not on the release schedule

you guys kill me -- when the phone sells out at launch you bitch that they didnt make enough, its a conspiracy for press, etc.. then when they have enough at launch you still bitch.

do you realize how absurd this is?
 
meanwhile, next quarter watch as apple announces record sales. again.

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what? apple is the most profitable handset maker in the business. their iphone has been the single best selling handset. the last three iterations of iphone are the top three on Flickr. and they hold the most consumer satisfaction awards.

what on earth are you talking about?
There are more countries so it's hard to make a comparison when you have a larger number of potential customers comparing 2012 to 2013-14.
 
As expected 5C is most popular in Asian markets there the bright candy colours are very popular. I really think this phone was primarily designed for that market.

Except that it is a couple of hundred dollars too expensive for that market. They will sell plenty, but it won't be the game changer that people have been looking for that would reverse Apple's declining worldwide market share.
 
Wait...when things are out of stock we're told it's Apple artificially limiting supply to create demand. Now Apple is doomed because the 5C is still in stock. My guess is the presale is more about finding out which colors are most popular and thus would need more of in stores.
 
The decision to put the 5c on preorder first is the best decision from a company perspective and it just has Tim Cooks handwriting all over it. They can sell their already manufactured parts for the 5 in the 5c first to get rid of inventory, their profit margins on the 5c are higher and they are doing that by influencing your decision with a lower price (psychology).

When the iPhone 6 comes out, the 5c is going to be anybodys' iPhone with an even lower price (replaces the 4s) and still very good margins, when everyone again is waiting in line to buy the next best iPhone from Apple.

That's a clear win for Tim even if it isn't a very popular (Jobs) decision. Apple is not your buddy anymore, expect even more naysayers incoming.
 
Damn first world problems and needing to be trendy and look cool.

its not about being trendy and looking cool. its about having a color that brings value to you. i assume you picked your car's color -- is that about being trendy & cool? nope. its about a style or color that makes you happy.

there is absolutely nothing wrong with that, unless youre a puritan.
 
People mocked those camping outside Apple stores (stupidly early mind), turns out they done the right thing because they'll be first to get their hands on the 5S.

Although saying that I'm writing off the 5C & 5S this year. Hardly any improvements. The iPhone 5 has been killed off after a year because it clearly hasn't lived up to the hype Apple likes to build, I fear the same this year with the 5S.

I notice people on the forum are already saying their waiting for iPhone 6. A few years ago, no one would be thinking about waiting, they'd all be rushing out to get the latest one. How the 5C got the greenlight, I won't ever know.

Most are on a 24 month upgrade path because of contracts so most upgrades are going to be from 4S to 5S. For 4S users this is a decent upgrade. I really think the 5C has been designed for the Asian markets where the smooth plastic and candy colours will go down well. Most people on these forums are hungry for brightest and best, which is why they always bitch about their not being enough new features, but the vast majority of the population go for what catches their eye and has the best carrier deal.
 
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