I second that. Killing of the iPhone 5 for the cheaper looking 5c while keeping the 4s with 30 pin dock connector around made no sense at all. I have no complaints with the 5s or iOS7 which I think are great products. But the mid end to lower end of the market has been totally deserted by Apple. Tim Cook should really up his game...
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iPhone 5s Outsells iPhone 5c by ~3.5x in Launch Weekend According to Analytics Data
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I second that. Killing of the iPhone 5 for the cheaper looking 5c while keeping the 4s with 30 pin dock connector around made no sense at all. I have no complaints with the 5s or iOS7 which I think are great products. But the mid end to lower end of the market has been totally deserted by Apple. Tim Cook should really up his game...
Seems right to me as i bought 3 5s and one 5c.
Why 3 5s? Because i could't decide between space grey and gold so i got both, and the white one is for my collection, i didn't even opened the box.
Why one 5c? For my collection, i don't plan to use it.
You buy iPhones to add to your collection with no intention of ever using them? Wow, I didn't know the iPhone had already reached "collector's item" status.
Are you really comparing iPhone 5C with the galaxy s3 mini ???
Did you try one ?
An S3 mini? Sure. (Well, actually, a very similar model. Hard to keep all the "Galaxies" separate.) I haven't seen a 5C yet, but, I doubt if I will bother, because, if I could afford it, I would buy a 5S for a few bucks more.
I was expecting the 5C to be less phone, for, significantly less money. Sorry if that offends some people. You know, Apple once sold a lot of white Macbooks at what was a very competitive price. The Apple TV is not a bad deal compared to a Roku, and, the Mac Mini is a decent deal. Is there some reason why Apple cell phones must only be high-end?
Steve Jobs made joke about the 7-inch tablets, but he didn't say that "it didn't make any sense to go lower than 9.7 inch". Actually, the iPad mini is closer to 8" than 7", and it's diagonal so it's much larger than the 7-inch Android tablets.
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Therefore, it doesn't really matter to Apple how much the 5s is outselling the 5c, if they sell more 5s, they earn a lot; if they sell more 5c, they earn even more.
More evidence pointing to why Apple does not need to make a "cheap" phone.
And since when "cheap" is bad? How about Apple sell a truly cheap iPhone for $399 off contract?
It would kill cheap mid-end Android hordes even more.
Maybe even $1000 AAPL a pop is possible that way?
Not shocked the iphone 5c is just an iPhone 5 made out of lafft taffys.
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The 5c is hardly cheaply priced
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More evidence pointing to why Apple does not need to make a "cheap" phone.
The 5c is hardly cheaply priced
Can't compare the two.
It's a waste of time comparing sales of the 2 iPhones. The 5C is a replacement for the iphone 5, and should be compared accordingly. The confusion arises simply because it is also a new release. If we were to compare sales of the 4s and the 5 last year on launch, I think you would find that the 5c is indeed selling very well for the lower tier segment. I don't remember anyone pre-ordering the 4s last year when the 5 was released! For what it is, the 5c is a bonus for anyone who would of bought the iphone 5 this year. I truly believe the 5c will be a solid seller, and build momentum as the year goes on.
It will be interesting to see what happens next year though. Will the 5s enter the plastic realm, and become the 6c, leaving the 5c in the third tier position? Or will apple have to come up with a different strategy again next year. They will have to be careful not to confuse consumers too much. Unlike us here, most people don't follow every spec bump, when considering which one to buy. It's already a little confusing for people at the moment, as most seem to be wondering why the 5c is so expensive, and not low-cost at all. It must be remembered that apple never promised a low-cost iPhone, and that this expectation rose simply from the rumours.
It's a waste of time comparing sales of the 2 iPhones. The 5C is a replacement for the iphone 5, and should be compared accordingly. The confusion arises simply because it is also a new release. If we were to compare sales of the 4s and the 5 last year on launch, I think you would find that the 5c is indeed selling very well for the lower tier segment. I don't remember anyone pre-ordering the 4s last year when the 5 was released! For what it is, the 5c is a bonus for anyone who would of bought the iphone 5 this year. I truly believe the 5c will be a solid seller, and build momentum as the year goes on.
It will be interesting to see what happens next year though. Will the 5s enter the plastic realm, and become the 6c, leaving the 5c in the third tier position? Or will apple have to come up with a different strategy again next year. They will have to be careful not to confuse consumers too much. Unlike us here, most people don't follow every spec bump, when considering which one to buy. It's already a little confusing for people at the moment, as most seem to be wondering why the 5c is so expensive, and not low-cost at all. It must be remembered that apple never promised a low-cost iPhone, and that this expectation rose simply from the rumours.
There was a huge leap in snappiness and performance between the 4 and the 4s - my wife's seems really fast. I don't think a truly cheaper phone with 4s-level performance but perhaps a 4" screen be a bad thing at all.
Makes perfect sense
Tim Cook did up his game - that's why Apple was able to move 6 million iPhone 5S units in a single weekend.
You guys don't seem to get it. The reason why Apple moved the form factor of the 5C away from the form factor of the 5 is because there's no way on earth for Apple to manufacture enough units to meet the combined demand if they retain the same form factor for the mid-priced model. That's because the 5 and 5S rely on complicated aluminum milling instead of the simpler stamping and molding techniques used to make the 5C. If both phones used the same form factor, they'd have only been able to sell 6 million phones this past weekend, because that's all of the milled aluminium shells they can manufacture.
Changing "last year's model" to use a simpler to manufacture form factor dramatically enhances Apple's ability to meet overall consumer demand for their phones - something they've had extreme difficulty doing the past few years. They could probably churn out 6 million 5Cs in addition to 6 million 5S models if they needed to.
It also provides much more dramatic differentiation between the two models.
I'd also guess that the 5C will rapidly become cheaper for Apple to manufacture, and that we might see a price cut headed into the holiday season, if Apple really wants to put the squeeze Samesung.
Tim Cook did up his game - that's why Apple was able to move 6 million iPhone 5S units in a single weekend.
You guys don't seem to get it. The reason why Apple moved the form factor of the 5C away from the form factor of the 5 is because there's no way on earth for Apple to manufacture enough units to meet the combined demand if they retain the same form factor for the mid-priced model. That's because the 5 and 5S rely on complicated aluminum milling instead of the simpler stamping and molding techniques used to make the 5C. If both phones used the same form factor, they'd have only been able to sell 6 million phones this past weekend, because that's all of the milled aluminium shells they can manufacture.
Changing "last year's model" to use a simpler to manufacture form factor dramatically enhances Apple's ability to meet overall consumer demand for their phones - something they've had extreme difficulty doing the past few years. They could probably churn out 6 million 5Cs in addition to 6 million 5S models if they needed to.
It also provides much more dramatic differentiation between the two models.
I'd also guess that the 5C will rapidly become cheaper for Apple to manufacture, and that we might see a price cut headed into the holiday season, if Apple really wants to put the squeeze Samesung.
Exactly! Well said. So many people are missing the point. It's clever and smart business from Apple, whether you like it or not. The 5s and 5c are both great products in their own right, and there seems to be still heaps of ip5's on the market if you are quick, and prefer that as a mid-tier phone. I think the low-cost RUMOR, has been the only confusing point in the whole exercise. People need to forget about that, and accept that if they want low-cost...Buy a Samsung. The fact that some people want a cheap iPhone, really has nothing to do with what makes good business sense for Apple. People may grumble, but they will still shell out for an iphone in the end, the sales statistics clearly show that. Also a good point made that apple maybe able to lower the cost later on, as the manufacturing costs of the 5c come down. Certainly more of a possibility with the plastic manufacturing, than with the aluminium. On the whole, you have raised great points, and it's nice to see that some people 'get it'!
Whether you like it or not, they were aiming to gain share in the low cost market by stopping the policy of cascading down previously flagship phones and replacing them with a new line that are cheaper to make.
Unfortunately they failed by a combination of using components that are too expensive (the 4S performs absolutely fine on iOS 7) and the greed of maintaining exhorbitant profit margins.
Had they used 4S components as I've suggested they would retain a decent margin as well as delivering the lower price the market was expecting.
The 5C will still sell, but not to the market Apple was targeting at those launch prices.
Like i've said before the 5C would have sold better in different colours, even a translucent/transparent would have been superior to the current run of colours that actually hurt my eyes.
Colours are polarising for most and not to offer a black/white above the option of different colours was a mistake.... However.
The 5c is intented for as a Chinese market killer so it's no surprise that it's not sold as many in US markets.
Colours are polarising for most and not to offer a black/white above the option of different colours was a mistake.... However.
The 5c is intented for as a Chinese market killer so it's no surprise that it's not sold as many in US markets.
It's now it's 5th day since the 5s and 5c launched. In the first 5 days the buyers are the technology/apple/ focused who use an iPhone all the time, which can be categorised as pro users effectively. Pro users, regular users, will want an iPhone 5s. The 5c was never meant for us guys, the 5s is marketed for us.
Give it time, a month or two, especially Christmas, and the 5c sales will rocket. As these buyers start deciding its what they want and they realise there not the users who want the 5s, and can save some £ in the meantime they will get the 5c. Then there friends will, and friends of friends etc.
It's solely down to at the minute the limelight is on the 5s because that's what us quick adopters of technology want.
Give it time, a month or two, especially Christmas, and the 5c sales will rocket. As these buyers start deciding its what they want and they realise there not the users who want the 5s, and can save some £ in the meantime they will get the 5c. Then there friends will, and friends of friends etc.
It's solely down to at the minute the limelight is on the 5s because that's what us quick adopters of technology want.
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Well played apple.
Telling everyone that supplies were strained, no pre orders,...getting people to buy now instead of maybe not being able to get one later...and getting people to buy a colour such as space grey which they may not have wanted for fear that there would be none cuz supplies were soooooo looooow.
Well played...
Telling everyone that supplies were strained, no pre orders,...getting people to buy now instead of maybe not being able to get one later...and getting people to buy a colour such as space grey which they may not have wanted for fear that there would be none cuz supplies were soooooo looooow.
Well played...
Maybe changing the form factor also changed the perceived value of the product.Keeping the price at the same level (as an iPhone 5 would have had) while lowering the perceived value may end up hurting sales. Also having five colors in two storage options each ready will increase inventory and capital employed. This is only a good thing, if Apple actually moves more units.
This brings me to your claim the company sold 6 million 5s. Where did you get that number from? All we know is Apple delivered 9 million units in total to customers and carriers. No way to tell what has been sell-in in what has actually been sell-through. But considering the 5c is available in practically all colors at all launch carriers in the US and internationally, I seriously doubt sell-through was nearly as good as sell-in.
The "cheap" iPhone is not cheap at all, still considerably under-powered. Half the cpu and gpu power for only $100 in savings? More evidence pointing to lower the price for the entry-level iPhone by a lot more.
It's not demand, it's that the 5 fabrication process could not be made efficient enough to get the margins Apple wanted - NOT that it couldn't be done.
Apple seems perfectly happy letting the market share erode away, as long as they sell 10% more phones year over year, with the insanely high margins they are accustomed to getting.
The problem is that they could have A LOT more users, buying apps in the app stores, buying new Macs because of their enjoyment of the environment, etc... if they released compelling iPhones down to the $399(GASP!!!!) off contract price.
But I guess Apple doesn't care about capturing more business for the developers, developing apps for iTunes and the App Store.
So 10% growth is seen as better for Apple than having more happy customers and more happy developers supporting the iOS and OS X OS's. Instead of being aggressive and taking on Android, Apple is perfectly happy waving goodbye to the position they once had, for the incremental gain.
Say it with me folks - We're #2!!! We're #2!!!! Go
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syd430
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I think you missed my point. I wasn't saying the phone is bad. I was saying that demand will be gradual, not pent up for launch weekend, because the hardware has essentially already been out for sometime. Generally people line up for the cutting edge. 5C purchases will be based more on plan comparisons of competing products when prospective customers drift into a store. By the way, the 5S outsold the 5C to ratio of 11:1 during the first 3 days here in Australia, one of the largest iphone markets.
I never said the 5c is a cheap phone. It's not. Apple doesn't need to make a cheap phone to drive sales.
It makes perfect sense. Most people really don't care about the specs of their phone. If Apple had just added the 5S and kept the 5, most people would just get the 5 because it 'looks the same' and is therefore, in their mind, the same thing but cheaper. But now, if someone wants the 'professional' looking phone and not a colorful 'fun' phone they are essentially forced to pay top dollar for the flagship model. When the 4S came out a lot of people bought the 4, this was a problem.
With the new 5C there is less cannibalization of the markets. They have the 4S for the value conscious. The 5C for those who just want a fun phone and don't want to spend top dollar and the 5S for those who want either the bleeding edge technology or want the more adult looking professional phone. You don't really have crossover anymore like you would if the 5 had been retained.
Every 4S I have ever seen has a cracked glass back. For this reason alone I would never own the 4S or a phone with a glass back. I prefer the 5, although I haven't owned either just held and used. I prefer the 5 over the 5c, which is thicker and heavier with same tech.
I could agree that 5C is a little too expensive (I'd expect 100 less), but as an s3 mini owner (my son's phone) I can say that is a totally different league ....
Should've just posted here ...
http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2013/09...paign=Feed:+rss/money_topstories+(Top+Stories)
http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2013/09...paign=Feed:+rss/money_topstories+(Top+Stories)