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Lack of Silver and Gold stock unacceptable
- Thread starter marddin
- Start date
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In Germany, in the Apple Store in Main-Taunus Zentrum (near Frankfurt), the Apple store manager was really nice. I was there, waiting overnight outside the store in order to get my iPhone 5S. Around 2am, the Apple Store manager came out and talked to us. He said that supplies of the Gold model are very restricted and he wanted to be fair to us, waiting so many hours. He offered us a nice deal: Get any other iPhone 5S now, and after two weeks go back to the store and get the Gold one, with no additional charge.
Only the 16Gb model was available, so a couple of people took his offer.
I prefer the space gray iPhone 5S, so for me that wasn't an issue.
I had the chance to have one gold iPhone in my hands, and it is really much nicer than what I thought it would be.
Only the 16Gb model was available, so a couple of people took his offer.
I prefer the space gray iPhone 5S, so for me that wasn't an issue.
I had the chance to have one gold iPhone in my hands, and it is really much nicer than what I thought it would be.
True - they are using sapphire glass for the home button, it may be proving difficult to match the shade of white so production numbers are lower.
Yeah, cuz the last thing Apple wants to do is sell you an iPhone. They'd rather you come bitch on a forum about some imagined artificial supply constraints.
I'll just say this. Apple isn't doing this for fun. They are a business and they love making money. I do not think this is a hype ploy to force high demand simply because of the exceptionally inane launch day numbers. Some Apple stores only got three gold phones. This is not purposely done; it makes no sense, even from a business standpoint. I'm sure they'd love to sell just as much as you want to buy, if not more. It sucks, yes, but it is what it is. I'm sure they're doing all they can to strengthen production.
Everything I read points to a lower margin on the 5c. Better come up w/ a better conspiracy theory.
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So stock that is ready to sell should sit in warehouses collecting dust and running up storage costs? NOPE.
Huh? 5c is much higher profit margin. It's a year into production besides the PLASTIC BACK. So parts are cheaper and only a hundred less than the 5s
Actually, he messed up. Originally, the black was coming out and they said the white would follow I think a couple of weeks behind.
At the press conference addressing antennagate, Jobs said "We have the white iphone 4 coming out next week..."
Then later that week, they postponed the white iphone for months.
What a massive bunch of whiners. Massive tears because you couldn't buy a damn colored phone at 8:00 a.m. on Friday.
I am praying to Jesus, Bhuddha, Allah, Baal, Shiva and Zeus there is a crippling manufacture defect, rendering silver/gold iPhones unavailable until 2014.
I am praying to Jesus, Bhuddha, Allah, Baal, Shiva and Zeus there is a crippling manufacture defect, rendering silver/gold iPhones unavailable until 2014.
I know. I find it quite unacceptable I can't buy a red Ferrari for $10!
Here's how it works:
- Apple has put some gold 'phones out there. Not as many as some would like (not as many as Apple would like, for sure) but Apple is doing its part.
- Your job is to go out and find one.
I love a free market. These whiners are saying I want a gold/silver but apple didnt make enough! Not fair!
I have news for them. They CAN have one TODAY for the right price (ebay, craigslist etc..). They are just whining because they cannot/will not pay the price the market has set for the version they want.
The flip side of it is that if you somehow find a gold one now, you will feel very special for at least another month or so.. Gold in China is already bidding up to 13000 rmb with the official price start at 5288 rmb (they have 17% VAT add to the price of the phone).
Stanford Shopping center
Yesterday, I was in line in the morning, and wanted a silver, but by the 40th person they had none..so I left, and put in an order. Later in the day I was at the Burlingame store so I checked the phones out and decided, nope the white housing is still a bit too distracting - so I'll get a space grey anyway (should have just bought it in line in the morning - silly rabbit) Anyway, the burlingame store only had 16GB phones left, so I headed back home which is about 1 mile from the Stanford Store. they had 32GB SG so I waited an hour to get the phone. At about 15:30 PST they announced that they now had MORE Silver phones to sell. When I got inside there were about 200 of them stacked on the back shelves. The gentleman who was helping me setup my device said most of them were t-mobile and nobody wanted those. ;-(
Yesterday, I was in line in the morning, and wanted a silver, but by the 40th person they had none..so I left, and put in an order. Later in the day I was at the Burlingame store so I checked the phones out and decided, nope the white housing is still a bit too distracting - so I'll get a space grey anyway (should have just bought it in line in the morning - silly rabbit) Anyway, the burlingame store only had 16GB phones left, so I headed back home which is about 1 mile from the Stanford Store. they had 32GB SG so I waited an hour to get the phone. At about 15:30 PST they announced that they now had MORE Silver phones to sell. When I got inside there were about 200 of them stacked on the back shelves. The gentleman who was helping me setup my device said most of them were t-mobile and nobody wanted those. ;-(
Apple certainly appears to have underestimated the demand for gold iPhones, but I think people need to keep this in perspective.
We already knew that the 5S would be somewhat supply constrained because of low yields on the fingerprint sensors. Better to order the phone online and get the exact desired configuration a week or two late, rather than wait in line for hours only to be disappointed in the lack of stock.
We already knew that the 5S would be somewhat supply constrained because of low yields on the fingerprint sensors. Better to order the phone online and get the exact desired configuration a week or two late, rather than wait in line for hours only to be disappointed in the lack of stock.
I don't understand how MR member can complain of low stock of silver and gold and then making lines for nothing when there has many threads about it before the sale went live. There were threads were people said they called their AT&T store and they told them all we have is gray. Many people confirmed the same. If you made a line expecting to choose color then you weren't here enough to be smart about how you were going to buy it launch day. Lesson is read macrumors
Some 101 on logistics and product launches...
I think many here are differently smart. All this whining is funny.
Here's how it works:
1) For major products like the iPhone, especially in Apple's case, the demand is going do be something like 100x on day one down to 1x at end of lifecycle.
2) In order to satisfy the 100x demand of the first days, Apple would have to A) Produce millions and millions more iphones in advance, and B) Stock them somewhere.
3) In order to achieve point 2), they would have to A) Start mass producing much earlier, thus taking away precious weeks of R&D and thus delivering a worse product, B) Pay for huge amount of stock space, C) Exponentially increment the risk of leaks/etc.
4) If the CEO was still dumb enough to do something like point 3), some could argue that they could try to build more in the same time, but this, my logistics geniuses, doesn't come cheap: you have to set-up production lines to do this, and guess what, once demand after very few weeks decreases to, say its "normal" 30x, you are stuck with machinery paid tens of millions of $ and now worth zero.
5) As a side note, by not implementing point 3) and 4), the CEO perfectly knows that he is not going to lose a single one of those customers who are willing to shell 700$ on a device after making a 4 hour queue, plus he's getting the side benefit of PR.
Now, how exactly is that someone still does not get it? It's not X-Files, it's basic business management.
Vanni
I think many here are differently smart. All this whining is funny.
Here's how it works:
1) For major products like the iPhone, especially in Apple's case, the demand is going do be something like 100x on day one down to 1x at end of lifecycle.
2) In order to satisfy the 100x demand of the first days, Apple would have to A) Produce millions and millions more iphones in advance, and B) Stock them somewhere.
3) In order to achieve point 2), they would have to A) Start mass producing much earlier, thus taking away precious weeks of R&D and thus delivering a worse product, B) Pay for huge amount of stock space, C) Exponentially increment the risk of leaks/etc.
4) If the CEO was still dumb enough to do something like point 3), some could argue that they could try to build more in the same time, but this, my logistics geniuses, doesn't come cheap: you have to set-up production lines to do this, and guess what, once demand after very few weeks decreases to, say its "normal" 30x, you are stuck with machinery paid tens of millions of $ and now worth zero.
5) As a side note, by not implementing point 3) and 4), the CEO perfectly knows that he is not going to lose a single one of those customers who are willing to shell 700$ on a device after making a 4 hour queue, plus he's getting the side benefit of PR.
Now, how exactly is that someone still does not get it? It's not X-Files, it's basic business management.
Vanni
This. Not to mention early sales tell them which models are more popular and should have more production allocated. If they produce more than they sell, it can quickly kill their numbers for quarterly reporting. (The cost of production is an expense but no offsetting income.)
I can tell you what what ISN'T my purpose in life: to support people like you with severely misguided priorities, a huge entitlement attitude, and lack of willingness to stand behind one's own principles, however misguided they are.
This thread summarized: "Apple not having enough gold iPhones available on launch day is UNACCEPTABLE! Unacceptable I tell you! All of you reading this please punish Apple by boycotting their products because they screwed ME over! Now excuse me while I go buy a Space Gray model instead!"
You know what surprises me? People that are still shocked that third-party stores(including carrier stores) do not have the best stock of launch day iPhones.
It's very well known that Apple Stores always have the best stock of any new iPhone. Carriers stores are lucky to get 50 iPhones.
And yet for some reason people still go to Best Buy, carrier store, etc when there was an Apple Store close by as well. I understand there are certain circumstances that require going to a carrier store because Apple Stores can't handle it, but if doing nothing complicated and simply upgrading, go to an Apple Store to have the best chance to get what you want.
It's very well known that Apple Stores always have the best stock of any new iPhone. Carriers stores are lucky to get 50 iPhones.
And yet for some reason people still go to Best Buy, carrier store, etc when there was an Apple Store close by as well. I understand there are certain circumstances that require going to a carrier store because Apple Stores can't handle it, but if doing nothing complicated and simply upgrading, go to an Apple Store to have the best chance to get what you want.
That's hard to believe nobody wanted the t-mobile silver as they come un-locked for use with AT&T or any GSM
Have posted this reply of mine in another thread and I shall post it up again:
I don't see the point for Apple to intentionally 'limit supply' of iPhone 5Ss. This is absurd. Days following the launch day is where demand is almost inelastic. It makes no sense for Apple to withhold stock in the midst of high demand, lest they want to sell it when demand falls which by then perhaps some consumers might have already found alternatives! (Example: Galaxy Note 3?
Days following the launch date is when a significant chunk of iPhone CAN be sold and WILL be sold. It certainly makes no sense for Apple to limit sales at this point. Whats the point? IT only benefits scalpers.
My view is There is indeed a shortage of supply but not created intentionally. You must not forget not only does the US wants iPhone 5Ses, but also a couple of countries around the world who is seeing similar if not higher demands for it, like China and Hongkong.
I had a friend working in a Verizon store though. 2 years ago when I went there to purchase the 4S 3 days after launch, I managed to procure one. But my friend who was servicing me told me that it is not that there ISN'T any supply, there is some at the back of the store, but they can't sell them all at once (very few, still) You can't sell all your supplies in one day and disappoint customers who will come the following days. Each day the stores has a quota of how much they could sell. So yes, there definitely is an intention of withholding back stocks but it is a fairly reasonable one. Until new shipments come in, then they could up the quota etc. Until then, a certain amount of iPhones could be sold each day depending on every store and their amount of supply.
Not only that, I was also told that iPhone shipments from China to the US is not necessary entirely for the US. My friend also said that a large proportion of supplies is also delivered overseas to other countries from the US. iPhones are first shipped to the US. Not only that, carriers would also estimate how much iPhones they need based on pre-orders. I think the reason why there is no pre-orders this time round is because Apple cannot make enough iPhones to handle a PREORDER. If they decide to open a pre-order for customers, there would be absolutely little iPhones less for those who did not pre-order, simple.
I don't see the point for Apple to intentionally 'limit supply' of iPhone 5Ss. This is absurd. Days following the launch day is where demand is almost inelastic. It makes no sense for Apple to withhold stock in the midst of high demand, lest they want to sell it when demand falls which by then perhaps some consumers might have already found alternatives! (Example: Galaxy Note 3?
Days following the launch date is when a significant chunk of iPhone CAN be sold and WILL be sold. It certainly makes no sense for Apple to limit sales at this point. Whats the point? IT only benefits scalpers.
My view is There is indeed a shortage of supply but not created intentionally. You must not forget not only does the US wants iPhone 5Ses, but also a couple of countries around the world who is seeing similar if not higher demands for it, like China and Hongkong.
I had a friend working in a Verizon store though. 2 years ago when I went there to purchase the 4S 3 days after launch, I managed to procure one. But my friend who was servicing me told me that it is not that there ISN'T any supply, there is some at the back of the store, but they can't sell them all at once (very few, still) You can't sell all your supplies in one day and disappoint customers who will come the following days. Each day the stores has a quota of how much they could sell. So yes, there definitely is an intention of withholding back stocks but it is a fairly reasonable one. Until new shipments come in, then they could up the quota etc. Until then, a certain amount of iPhones could be sold each day depending on every store and their amount of supply.
Not only that, I was also told that iPhone shipments from China to the US is not necessary entirely for the US. My friend also said that a large proportion of supplies is also delivered overseas to other countries from the US. iPhones are first shipped to the US. Not only that, carriers would also estimate how much iPhones they need based on pre-orders. I think the reason why there is no pre-orders this time round is because Apple cannot make enough iPhones to handle a PREORDER. If they decide to open a pre-order for customers, there would be absolutely little iPhones less for those who did not pre-order, simple.
Hmmm...not sure what I read that said otherwise, but seems recent reports say otherwise. I stand corrected.
The point is--if something isn't going to be available in enough quantities to satisfy demand, then don't flippin' offer it until you can meet that demand. Of course people are going to be disappointed. Is that so difficult to understand?
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Are you that hard headed? When certain products have such a high demand such as the iPhone, that's simply not feasible. If we were talking about a new model of hammer, no problem. But this is NOT the normal type of demand here. It makes no sense to let hundreds of thousands of Space Gray iPhones sit on shelves while they wait for Silver and Gold models to catch up (and keep in mind, they likely run in series like this....produce 400,000 of this color, then 200,000 of the next, so on and so forth).
Trust me when I say that the people making the decisions on this are much smarter and more informed than you are. So despite your assumption that you know better, the truth is there is a reason they are in charge and you're just bitching on an internet forum.