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Isn't Tim cook supposed to be a logistical genius?.
- Thread starter richpuer
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It's not just Tim Cook. Apple is more than a one man band. Apple has a very large sales and distribution department.
Yes, Cook oversees it but I'm not convinced they are back ordered. After several years of wild successes, and the highly skilled market research they do. I believe Apple knew exactly how many phones they needed to start with.
I'm more inclined to think this is Apple doing what Apple does best... control the minds of the customers. They've purposely created the "shortage" only to control it's length (short) and then open the floodgates with plenty of phones.
I have a friend who is highly knowledgeable in the field of retail sales and inventory control. We had a conversation last night (He's a huge Apple Fan) and he speculated the same thing.
Now obviously my thought could be completely wrong, but it has entered my mind. I know Apple well and they are never to be underestimated.
One look at the current financial position, the mountain of cash reserves, and the incredible record of revenue suggests that they know exactly how to manipulate their market so as to stimulate even more demand.
Yes, Cook oversees it but I'm not convinced they are back ordered. After several years of wild successes, and the highly skilled market research they do. I believe Apple knew exactly how many phones they needed to start with.
I'm more inclined to think this is Apple doing what Apple does best... control the minds of the customers. They've purposely created the "shortage" only to control it's length (short) and then open the floodgates with plenty of phones.
I have a friend who is highly knowledgeable in the field of retail sales and inventory control. We had a conversation last night (He's a huge Apple Fan) and he speculated the same thing.
Now obviously my thought could be completely wrong, but it has entered my mind. I know Apple well and they are never to be underestimated.
One look at the current financial position, the mountain of cash reserves, and the incredible record of revenue suggests that they know exactly how to manipulate their market so as to stimulate even more demand.
I snoozed.
Hit the snooze button like 3 times around 12:10am and gave up and passed out
Apple is most definitely not creating a "shortage" in order to generate more desire for the phone. The iPhone is not a status symbol, it is a commodity. It's in Apple's best interest to sell as many of them as they can. If shareholders even suspected that they were intentionally holding stock, there would be hell to pay.
It's very simple as to why there are "shortages".
- Apple has to allocate their resources based on the past launches. They have to be conservative on their market estimates because that is good business. (Also they simply cannot have a launch queue like that of the iPhone 4 because today's market is much more competitive.)
- Apple must set aside a number for online pre-orders based on last year's launch. Allocate phones to All the Apple stores, to ATT & Verizon's warehouses as well as their brick & mortar stores, to all resellers like Best Buy Mobile.
- They have to repeat step 1 in all the other countries that are launching on the 21st.
- They have a limited supply based on their suppliers of processors, screens, ect. They purchase and assemble only as quick as these can be delivered by Samsung, ect.
- They likely have a huge stockpile that is being distributed according to demand. Given that leaks started surfacing long ago, it shows that they have been in consumer production of the iPhone 5 for a while.
- It's in their best interest to get everyone who wants an iPhone 5 one ASAP. There are tons of other decent options out there, for cheaper, that many less die-hard fans would purchase if it were more convenient.
- I suspect that if anything, their "2 weeks, 3 weeks" shipping times are on the long end. Better to say "It'll arrive in 2 weeks" and have it arrive much earlier than it is to promise sooner and not be able to deliver.
Because it makes no sense to hold up sales until you build up enough stock to cover such initial high demand. Stock sitting in warehouses = money lost. Also, you can't build up enough capacity to cover such a short spike in sales without building so much excess manufacturing capacity that you eventually end up with empty production lines rusting away.
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Companies with low sales have to do things like this. It's ludicrous to assume Apple would need to.
I guess we'll never know if they're creating an artificial shortage, but it is fact that the iPhone 5 initial launch contains two more countries (Hong Kong/Singapore) than the iPhone 4s initial launch did, and the second iPhone 5 "international" launch is happening a week sooner than it did with the iPhone 4s.
IMO, adding new countries to the initial launch date (esp. Hong Kong), and doing the second launch sooner, both have effects on iPhone supply.
I'm curious if they'll be reduced scalping in the US since Hong Kong is in the initial launch this year.
iPhone 5 initial launch (09/21/12):
US, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and the UK
Second launch (09/28/12):
iPhone 5 will roll out worldwide to 22 more countries on September 28, including Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.
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iPhone 4S initial launch (10/14/12):
US, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and the UK
Second launch (10/31/12):
iPhone 4S will roll out worldwide to 22 more countries by the end of October including Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.
I'm gonna have to beg to differ. Maybe not in first world countries, but it certainly is in other parts of the world.
...which would be totally exposed when Apple and its parntner carriers are required to release their sales and activation numbers at the end of the quarter. Not to mention, it prevents Apple from making money, which is kinda what they're in business to do.
Yeah, no. That's the most idiotic thing a company can do with highly desirable and profitable product when shipping in the last week of a fiscal quarter. Anyone who thinks Apple is intentionally "shorting supply" doesn't understand basic business practice and is simply idiotic.
When sales exceed the forecast by 2x, and your forecast was 2x prior release sales already, you can expect shortages.
Not even Apple can forecast these things - as good as they are. Who would really think the one analyst who predicted 10M unit sales the first week would be right.
I find it hilarious how people think Apple would intentionally limit supply. You can't do this, as quarterly results are public. You would see the number of sales and the company's profit. Apple wants to make as much money as possible, because it will look good for investors and it will drive the stock price up. Which will lead to the company being worth even more than it is now.
Apple just simply cannot meet demand. The iPhone is hotter than ever, and more and more people want it. Apple can only make a specific number of iPhones at a time... And over 100 million people want to purchase one.
Apple just simply cannot meet demand. The iPhone is hotter than ever, and more and more people want it. Apple can only make a specific number of iPhones at a time... And over 100 million people want to purchase one.
You're mad because the most anticipated phone in history is going to get to you two weeks after launch day? Seriously, dude. Be there at 12:00 AM PST next time.
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I find it hilarious that sites are playing up the fact that Apple sold out 20 times faster than the 4S. They don't mention if the initial supply was the same size.
That could be half a day early
Or half a day late
Set my alarm for 3:01 am EST
+1. I stand corrected, sir. Don't do PM, go with AM. You won't regret losing a little sleep.
QTF.
Many MR posters commenting today seem to think Apple just offers a couple thousand phones so they can say "we sold a bunch really fast guys!". We get to verify the numbers. If they sold out faster than ever but turns out they had a stock half as much as 4S available that is going to be a news story.