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All iPads Is anyone actually buying this "our supply can't meet demand" thing?

S

stonyboys

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 16, 2012
323
3
Think about it guys, one of the biggest and highest grossing companies in the entire world (possible THE biggest company? I don't keep up with such things) really can't meet demand for one of their highest grossing products? They're saying iPad Mini won't catch up to demand until the end of this year. Assuming it's launching near the end of November, it's gonna take them an entire month before they're able to ship them out regulary? WHAT A SURPRISE IT'S RIGHT AFTER THE HOLIDAY SEASON EH??????

So anyone who was thinking about getting an iPad mini as a christmas present for a family member has only one choice now: buying the more expensive full size product! Perfect marketing strategy for Apple, considering that anyone who was planning to get an iPad Mini still would rather spend more for the bigger one than buy a garbage Android tablet.

Another example is for the iPhone, seems like nothing is in stock except for the 32 and 64GB versions! Sure this is partly because most people get the 16GB, but again being the biggest company, you really don't think they'd be able to keep up with the demand for the 16GB version? Everyone here is aware of the insane profit margin difference between the 16,32,64 so do you really think that the best possible situation for Apple (having only the highest profit margin products in stock) wasn't on purpose?

I'm not against Apple, I love their products (iOS ones at least). I just think they're pulling some serious shenanigans here, ones that you don't expect from the biggest company on earth.

TL;DR Apple has the greatest mobile devices on the planet, and they also have the greatest marketing strategy team ever to go with it.
 
Apple doesn't manufacture the displays. They buy them. If the suppliers can't manufacture them defect-free fast enough, nothing Apple can do about it.
 
I have to guess some people have never been in a business where you have to make things, and buy things, and maybe even assemble them.

These are very slick parts. Apple needs MILLIONS to even release them. They have to be about as close to perfect as possible. Not just okay, but damn near perfect.

Why do some people think everything is "the man" trying to play games?

If the supply is low enough, it will force people to the Kindle, etc.

Never mind, not sure why I even bother.
 
Your post assumes that just because something costs the consumer more, the manufacturer makes more money on it. This is often not the case. A vacuum cleaner might net the manufacturer 10% profit, while the vacuum bags are 90% profit.

My guess is Apple's net profit margin is nearly the same for the Air and Mini. I do agree that they probably make more money on higher capacity storage models, but that's why the lower capacity models are typically sold out...they cost the consumer too much.
 
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stonyboys said:
Think about it guys, one of the biggest and highest grossing companies in the entire world (possible THE biggest company? I don't keep up with such things) really can't meet demand for one of their highest grossing products? They're saying iPad Mini won't catch up to demand until the end of this year. Assuming it's launching near the end of November, it's gonna take them an entire month before they're able to ship them out regulary? WHAT A SURPRISE IT'S RIGHT AFTER THE HOLIDAY SEASON EH??????

So anyone who was thinking about getting an iPad mini as a christmas present for a family member has only one choice now: buying the more expensive full size product! Perfect marketing strategy for Apple, considering that anyone who was planning to get an iPad Mini still would rather spend more for the bigger one than buy a garbage Android tablet.

Another example is for the iPhone, seems like nothing is in stock except for the 32 and 64GB versions! Sure this is partly because most people get the 16GB, but again being the biggest company, you really don't think they'd be able to keep up with the demand for the 16GB version? Everyone here is aware of the insane profit margin difference between the 16,32,64 so do you really think that the best possible situation for Apple (having only the highest profit margin products in stock) wasn't on purpose?

I'm not against Apple, I love their products (iOS ones at least). I just think they're pulling some serious shenanigans here, ones that you don't expect from the biggest company on earth.

TL;DR Apple has the greatest mobile devices on the planet, and they also have the greatest marketing strategy team ever to go with it.
Click to expand...

I don't think it's a marketing gimmick (it could be, but my opinion is that it isn't). That display in the mini isn't easy to produce at the levels the iPad requires I'm sure. That display has a very high ppi and probably tajes time to make.

I'm sure Apple has it under control. They have always followed the 'under promise, over deliver' mantra. Like iPad battery life. They claim ten hours but every iPad I've owned has achieved beyond that.
 
If they really wanted to get people to buy the iPad Air instead for the holidays, they wouldn't release the iPad Mini until 2014.
 
stonyboys said:
Think about it guys, one of the biggest and highest grossing companies in the entire world (possible THE biggest company? I don't keep up with such things) really can't meet demand for one of their highest grossing products?
Click to expand...

Apple is actually not that big of a company. They have the biggest market cap, which means they are worth a lot of value based on their stock prices. However, in terms of company size, they are pretty small and have less than 100k employees. Samsung, for example, is 5 times bigger than Apple. Sony, LG, Nokia, Google, Dell, etc....pretty much all of Apple's big name competitors are all bigger companies than Apple. The Apple brand and recognition along with their market cap gives the impression that they are a much bigger company. Only HTC is smaller in the cell phone world now that Motorola is part of Google.
 
Last year had the production been available, I'm pretty sure Apple would've jammed a Retina display into an iPad mini. But it apparently couldn't be done, so we got the slightly less-powerful version at $329. Now a year later and Apple is going to put that honker display into that product, include the A7 and keep the price at a decent $399.

But you're shocked that supply might not meet demand? The one thing people continually wanted on a mini was a Retina display, and now it has it. So it's going to be hella popular in the holiday quarter. GEE, I CAN'T IMAGINE HOW THERE COULD BE SOME GIANT SURGE IN DEMAND.

You also can't just magically make as many displays as you want. These factories can't just hire a ton of temporary workers to do such skilled tasks. This isn't Target staffing more salespeople for Black Friday. This is inventing the process to create the displays -- these displays hadn't existed before -- and getting it to manufacture right at a good yield. You cannot just turn that up like a switch.

If you want one, order it online from Apple.com. I ordered my iPhone 5S silver 32GB from Apple in the middle of October and got it within 10 days, the night before I could activate it and port my number without getting charged an ETF. If anybody has them, the chances are insanely in favor of Apple's online stockpile being the location.
 
In the old days, all big apple releases happened day 1 of Macworld. They spent 12 months preparing for the single hour it all hit. I would even argue that Steve's passion for product creation was in anticipation of that special moment.

If something started coming off the line in November, it sat in big rooms and was well stocked for ship day. If something was ready in March, there were big queues when it finally hit. It had a concreteness that was reassuring.

This is different enough to feel arbitrary, but apple is still locked into the holiday months. They could choose to not announce until feb when stocks are good, but miss out on both the coannouncement with the air and the big shopping season. Better to push constraints for 2 months.

Bottom line, the screen design they chose is hard to do and they weren't willing to wait.
 
I just think that Apple execs didn't do regression analysis to forecast demand and set up the supply chain the right way to get units out on time. Sharp is making a batch of the mini Retina displays and if memory serves me right, they ran behind on Retina screens when they first started due to QC demands. I think Apple decided to go with 1 particular model to push (iPad Air) and make enough easier to make screens for those rather than start earlier production cycles for the mini Retina screens. There is probably going to be low supply until 2014. At least the consumer will have a decent unit when the mini retinas finally become available in larger quantities. I'm halfway to picking up an iPad Air since the weight reduction might be about right. My first choice is still the new mini retina right now due to its convenience.
 
stonyboys said:
Think about it guys, one of the biggest and highest grossing companies in the entire world (possible THE biggest company? I don't keep up with such things) really can't meet demand for one of their highest grossing products? They're saying iPad Mini won't catch up to demand until the end of this year. Assuming it's launching near the end of November, it's gonna take them an entire month before they're able to ship them out regulary? WHAT A SURPRISE IT'S RIGHT AFTER THE HOLIDAY SEASON EH??????

So anyone who was thinking about getting an iPad mini as a christmas present for a family member has only one choice now: buying the more expensive full size product! Perfect marketing strategy for Apple, considering that anyone who was planning to get an iPad Mini still would rather spend more for the bigger one than buy a garbage Android tablet.

Another example is for the iPhone, seems like nothing is in stock except for the 32 and 64GB versions! Sure this is partly because most people get the 16GB, but again being the biggest company, you really don't think they'd be able to keep up with the demand for the 16GB version? Everyone here is aware of the insane profit margin difference between the 16,32,64 so do you really think that the best possible situation for Apple (having only the highest profit margin products in stock) wasn't on purpose?

I'm not against Apple, I love their products (iOS ones at least). I just think they're pulling some serious shenanigans here, ones that you don't expect from the biggest company on earth.

TL;DR Apple has the greatest mobile devices on the planet, and they also have the greatest marketing strategy team ever to go with it.
Click to expand...

I agree, it's a game a silly game at that.


It would be so much better for all to just I dunno, MAKE ENOIGH FOR EVERYONE?

You make more as a company, save more per unit since you're doing it in bulk, have happier customers because they were able to just go in and buy what they wanted, and you make the news for setting sales records.


Apple DOES have the greatest mobile devices except the phones. IPhones are under featured devices that get old features and calls them new.
 
thehustleman said:
I agree, it's a game a silly game at that.


It would be so much better for all to just I dunno, MAKE ENOIGH FOR EVERYONE?

You make more as a company, save more per unit since you're doing it in bulk, have happier customers because they were able to just go in and buy what they wanted, and you make the news for setting sales records.


Apple DOES have the greatest mobile devices except the phones. IPhones are under featured devices that get old features and calls them new.
Click to expand...
That's partly true...but Google shoehorns in as many half-baked features as they can find the Apple rumor sites reporting on and they try to release them all right away as software releases if they can. Most of the time the said feature isn't actually usable for quite some time. At first google was adding things that Apple legitimately didn't have but now it's just trying to throw spaghetti on the wall to see what sticks UX be damned so they can say they beat Apple to the punch. That is why you don't see Galaxy watches flying off the shelves.
 
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Wow. Do people actually believe this?

Apple is a company that exists to make profit. It is in their interest to have as many products available as possible to meet demand. If it were possible to have the items produced and in stock there is no logical reason to believe they wouldn't. They can't sell what they don't have.

Your assumption that people interested in the Mini Retina as gifts will buy the full sized version is also unlikely to prove true. They'll either wait, buy a regular mini, or maybe buy a step down in storage capacity version of the Air vs what they were going to buy in the mini (which turns less profit for Apple).

I actually believe that the Mini Retina will be a niche product until it replaces the existing Mini's price point anyway. The average consumer has no clue what the difference is, they just want the cheaper one.
 
I love this stuff

There's an actual shortage because the zillions of little dots don't play nice
 
You do know Apple doesn't make the displays right? Some people seriously need to either read in depth more or learn some basic business practices.
 
I don't think Apple does it on purpose but I do wish that they planned in advance before announcing a highly anticipated product.

For example right now they know everyone expects and likely wants Touch ID in next years iPads, so they should be prepping with manufacturers now. I mean they do plan future devices months if not years in advance don't they
 
I agree with the op. If Google and Amazon have been able to churn out 320+ppi 7 inch displays for the past year, how is Apple facing shortages considering Apple has a bankroll larger than many countries.

Maybe Apple purposely puts out a false shortage to get the excitement up even more. Companies have been known to do this.

It does seem awfully strange that Apple would put out the iPad Air several weeks ahead of the mini considering that last year the full size iPad's sales were destroyed by the release of the iPad mini. Are they trying to boost larger iPad sales before the iPad mini release? maybe
 
Yes, Apple is deliberately crippling their bottom line right before Christmas. </sarcasm> :eek:

Does the OP seriously think that most people are going to buy something they don't want because the one they want won't be available for a month or two? He and a few others might, but most people would rather wait a little while and get what they want.

Apple didn't become the most valuable company on the planet by deliberately frustrating their customers, although a lot of very frustrated, insecure people seem to think so.

The original post doesn't belong here, it belongs at paranoidconspiracytheories.com.:rolleyes:
 
sleepyking said:
I don't think Apple does it on purpose but I do wish that they planned in advance before announcing a highly anticipated product.
Click to expand...
The thing is due to competition from Android, I'm guessing Apple was kinda forced to release a retina display iPad Mini this year even if production isn't high enough to support demand. Did they know they will be supply-constrained if they went retina? Yes, I think so. Nothing they can do about that. However, I'm guessing they figured having limited supplies for the first couple of months is still a better option than either no new Mini or perhaps a Mini 2 with A6 CPU and 1024x768 resolution for $329-349.

macguy360 said:
I agree with the op. If Google and Amazon have been able to churn out 320+ppi 7 inch displays for the past year, how is Apple facing shortages considering Apple has a bankroll larger than many countries.
Click to expand...
The Nexus 7 was sold out for the past couple of weeks on Google Play. They only got more stock recently. Also, demand for the iPad Mini is expected to be much higher than demand for the Nexus 7 (2013) or the Kindle Fire HDX.
 
nostresshere said:
Why do some people think everything is "the man" trying to play games?
Click to expand...

. . .and FDR knew beforehand of Pearl Harbor, a UFO crashed at Roswell, the CIA killed Kennedy, the moon landing was fake, Elvis is still alive, Reagan was behind the Iran hostage crisis, Clinton was behind Oklahoma City, Bush was behind 9/11, Obama wasn't born in Hawaii and bin Laden is still alive.

People always want to believe the worst.
 
rui no onna said:
The thing is due to competition from Android, I'm guessing Apple was kinda forced to release a retina display iPad Mini this year even if production isn't high enough to support demand. Did they know they will be supply-constrained if they went retina? Yes, I think so. Nothing they can do about that. However, I'm guessing they figured having limited supplies for the first couple of months is still a better option than either no new Mini or perhaps a Mini 2 with A6 CPU and 1024x768 resolution for $329-349.
Click to expand...

Agreed but from the day last years mini came out the question was why no Retina? I am 99% positive Apple knew customers want and expect Retina this year, and they knew this last year. So regardless of what competition came out with, I wish they planned it since last Fall to have enough supply now. It just seems crazy for Apple, of all companies, to be "forced" to announce something for the sake of keeping up with competition.
 
rui no onna said:
The thing is due to competition from Android, I'm guessing Apple was kinda forced to release a retina display iPad Mini this year even if production isn't high enough to support demand. Did they know they will be supply-constrained if they went retina? Yes, I think so. Nothing they can do about that....
Click to expand...

Now there is a story that makes some sense.

These conspiracy theories are getting really old. I feel sorry for some of these folks.
 
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