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'Late' iPhone 5 Pre-Orders Being Delivered Early

The next biggest thing.... You will see a whole bunch of them lining up trying to return the iPhone 5 because they couldn't make any profit of it! :D Apple did a good job on the supply this time just like they did on the ipad 3! I walk in at almost closing time and apple store still have plenty in stock!
 
Ordered mine on 9/14 at the at&t store around 9:30AM. I got the 14-21 email notice. And today I got an email saying it's shipped with a tracking number for FedEX:) Don't know why at&t got their phone shipped from Memphis, TN and apple got shipped from China.
 
clibinarius said:
Preordered. Got on launch day in store. Cancelled preorder. Nuff said.

I'm not convinced this launch was as good as expected for Apple. They seemed to have a huge batch in the Times Square store when I passed by today.
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Times Square store? You sure about that?
 
Ordered from apple.com on launch day at 7:00 am PDT, ATT 16GB Black, got the 14 day delay in shipping notice.

Shipped on 21 Sep from China, tracking shows it just past through Anchorage and is inbound.

Bet they beat the quoted 27 Sep date. In the past, it only took 2 days from Alaska.
 
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My tracking info on ups.com was appearing with tracking info now it shows as unavailable. Is anybody else having the same issue?
 
The sales numbers are going to be incredible.
Look for the stock to surge.
The new iPad will knock it out of the park next.
The Macbooks will all go retina display and will break sales records.
Next year, Apple TV and maybe an Apple iWatch.
 
Bbrradd said:
As for people who think apple limits supply on purpose, why? To increase sales? iPhones are the best selling phones. To increase demand? The demand is clearly there as preorder and sales numbers increase each year. To increase stock prices? Apple stocks are at a record high already.
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Actually it is the perfect way to motivate people. Do you really think those people would stand in a line if they actually knew they can pick up a phone without waiting 3 hours later?

It IS all about marketing. With this product launch even most mainstream media formats in every country had a team on site of an Apple store. So the launch was featured in every major print outlet and in every major TV news.

So Einstein - as you currently are making up stupid assumptions about product launch logistics - could you please elaborate how many spots you have to run on TV (btw during what airing times) and how many money do you have to spend on that to let everyone know that your new phone is there!

Even my not so tech-savy parents and parents in law know that a new iPhone has been launched and they think it must be something very special as people around the world are lining up for it.

Sure it's a fabricated marketing plot.
 
Well, that's great...

But for most of us who pre-ordered through AT&T we're not even getting status updates. Totally opaque. The order update site has a big red error message. I guess the news is that you should order from Apple and not even bother with AT&T.

It really isn't that big a deal; my iPhone 4S still works fine, but it's galling to be treated so cavalierly when other customers are getting better-than-advertised service.
 
Same Here

Ordered about 9:30 AM EST on September 14. Original ship date was two weeks out, September 28 but it shipped yesterday (September 22).
 
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rmwebs said:
Its giving all the signs of hype building - "limited stock" and "first come first serve" were used a lot.
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That is NOT hype building, that is caution. If they say they have plenty and it turns out that they don't for some particular model, they run the risk of dealing with some loud yelling asshat who took the 'we have plenty' as a guarantee and threatening to sue or such. So just like with the delivery dates online they under promise and over deliver.

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101pctech said:
Ordered mine on 9/14 at the at&t store around 9:30AM. I got the 14-21 email notice. And today I got an email saying it's shipped with a tracking number for FedEX:) Don't know why at&t got their phone shipped from Memphis, TN and apple got shipped from China.
Click to expand...

AT&T does a channel buy of several hundred of each phone which would be pallet delivered in the original stock packaging to somewhere. It seems that being in Memphis. From there it is split out, boxed etc

Apple online does the boxing up on China at the production warehouse. Then likely does pallets for each of the delivery services hub centers. But each phone is already customer packaged.
 
Man, some of you guys got the short end of the stick it seems.

I ordered 16 GB Black, 16 GB White and 32 GB Black at 10AM INSIDE an AT&T storefront. Just got shipment verification and they will all arrive via FedEx tomorrow.
 
Just got my ship notification UPS delivery, changed from Oct 5 to Sept 28 I ordered at 7:45am EDT on the 14th. 16GB white.
 
I was also one of the ones who just missed the first shipment batch on the 14th(by like 10 mins I believe). First it said 10/3 then 10/5, but yesterday I was charged and its on its way. So I'm assuming that if you we're charged, expect a email within 24 hours.

And as for the person who said they are able to ship due to cancelled orders, that makes no sense at all. The order process clearly states that once the phone hits the 'preparing to ship' phase, you are pretty much locked in and can't return the phone until it reaches your hands. I'm just guessing they saw the high demand and told the factories to turn it up. Having customers wait isn't a good thing if you can help it.
 
Bbrradd said:
Also about demand. You do understand that iPhones have to be assembled and that it takes months to make the phones for release right? It is not something that can be printed out, it requires significant man hours to produce. When demand for your products keeps increasing, it makes it harder to provide supply, that's just a fact.
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But when the phone "sells out" almost immediately, and yet magically reappears in adequate supply shortly thereafter, time after time, one wonders what the heck is going on.

The simple explanation is that the supposed shortages are bullsheets.
 
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charlituna said:
That is NOT hype building, that is caution. If they say they have plenty and it turns out that they don't for some particular model, they run the risk of dealing with some loud yelling asshat who took the 'we have plenty' as a guarantee and threatening to sue or such. So just like with the delivery dates online they under promise and over deliver.
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Why would they ever say "we have plenty"?

The default position is to refrain from using the media to tout nonexistent shortages. Every damn time, they do the same thing. Every damn time, the media jumps on it and supplies Apple with the expected publicity frenzy. And every damn time, adequate supplies magically appear.
 
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