Just FYI to add here I stopped at a AT&T store today to get my wife a new case for her 5 and asked the manager about returns . 14 days and he added it would do no good since he won't see a silver/ white phone at the very earliest in October.
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Mr. Tim Cook
- Thread starter Wanski
- Start date
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Well said. Thank You Guy. You got it from the start.
I don't think the Verizon store only wanted 20 Grey phones. I think it is a case of shut up and take what we give you and be happy. Those who think Verizon, AT&T or T-Mo had anything to do with what they got....keep drinking the cool-aid.
The fiasco on Friday was a result of poor business (no product) and corporate greed (Apple stores had them and secondary retailers didn't).
I don't think the Verizon store only wanted 20 Grey phones. I think it is a case of shut up and take what we give you and be happy. Those who think Verizon, AT&T or T-Mo had anything to do with what they got....keep drinking the cool-aid.
The fiasco on Friday was a result of poor business (no product) and corporate greed (Apple stores had them and secondary retailers didn't).
charlituna
macrumors G3
from customers sure. And then resell them as refurbs because they have nothing else they can do with them.
And so yes if they thought they could sell the grey for certain and weren't sure about the rest then yes they might order just that.
I can't believe you're actually serious. This is somewhat entertaining. Heaven forbid you wait another week for an iPhone. Why did you not just order it online?
midwestfisherma
macrumors 6502
1. It's only a phone.
2. Think of this as a lesson in patience too. 🙂
3. The big corps don't care about middle America.
2. Think of this as a lesson in patience too. 🙂
3. The big corps don't care about middle America.
Geckotek
macrumors G3
Besides your own foolish assumption, what proof do you have that this is why they silver iPhones are low in stock?
I'm surprised, since you sounded like such an educated fellow, that you would think a company like Apple would purposely not sell you a device knowing that they have cutthroat competition knocking at their doors trying to steal your business. It makes me sad to see so many people get sucked into this kind of conspiracy theory thinking. I'd expect better from Apple customers, but I see it here all too often. At least some on this forum are a bit more educated and realize that business practices like that would lose more business than it would create.
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Finally, someone on this forum that GETS IT! I'm so sick of the conspiracy crap that goes on around here. Everyone thinks Apple is out to manipulate stock to create demand....as if Apple needs to artificially create demand. 🙄
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But it's more than just that, you have to consider the manufacturing side of things. iPhones don't just magically roll off the production line in rotating colors, here's a Space Gray, next a Silver, now a Gold...etc... No, it doesn't work that way at all. Each change in color means downtime for the manufacturing lines while they adjust for the new color. And downtime is money lost for everyone. So it makes sense that you would first start with your most popular color and manufacture as many of those as you can. Then the downtime to switch to another color....and during this time the original color is waiting in warehouses collecting dust and warehousing costs....then switch to a third color while the first two collect dust and warehousing costs...etc. So this is a very complex process and if you waited until you had enough of each color for the demand you "estimate" for each store in each country in each part of the world, you'd rack up millions in storage fees adding to the cost of the device and essentially raising the retail price.
So, in order to keep costs in check, Apple does everything they can to make the process as efficient as possible and they make hard decisions. Decisions such as, launch with as many of the most popular color as possible and try to catch up on the less popular colors as quickly as you can. And they are doing soooo much better than past launches that had delays. So many other launches jumped to several weeks wait very quickly where most people here are waiting 7-10 days. But oh hell no, ain't nobody got time for that! LOL Bunch of little kids have to have their Gold iPhones TODAY! 🙄
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They could, at a cost. Which means lower profit. Which means pissed off investors.
Clearly those Foxconn laborers working for $17 / day are not working fast enough. We demand our new iPhones on launch! Anything else is just unacceptable.
Seriously, standing in line for an iPhone at the Apple store has been a crap shoot every launch. You may get one. You may not. You may have to settle for a size/color you don't want. This is not news. Waiting at a carrier store has historically been a poor decision as you and others have learned, yet people still do every year and every year they complain.
Your daughter is right. It isn't about her. It's about you managing her expectations. I, like you, had the same choice to make. I could wait in line at an Apple store and hope to get a phone now, but I may have to settle for one I did not prefer. Alternatively, I could order what I wanted online and be guaranteed to get what I wanted, but I couldn't have one right now. I'd have to wait.
That wait is a whole 6 days after launch.
Seriously, standing in line for an iPhone at the Apple store has been a crap shoot every launch. You may get one. You may not. You may have to settle for a size/color you don't want. This is not news. Waiting at a carrier store has historically been a poor decision as you and others have learned, yet people still do every year and every year they complain.
Your daughter is right. It isn't about her. It's about you managing her expectations. I, like you, had the same choice to make. I could wait in line at an Apple store and hope to get a phone now, but I may have to settle for one I did not prefer. Alternatively, I could order what I wanted online and be guaranteed to get what I wanted, but I couldn't have one right now. I'd have to wait.
That wait is a whole 6 days after launch.
Technarchy
macrumors 604
I want a gold 32gb 5S but I'm going to hang out with my GS4 and iPhone 5 with iOS 7 till after the holidays.
I like new toys as much as the next guy, but a little patience goes a long way. It's not that serious people.
I like new toys as much as the next guy, but a little patience goes a long way. It's not that serious people.
coorspate
macrumors regular
I'm a huge apple fan but anyone with a little thought in their head can see apple botched this launch just a bit.
They may not have had enough gold because it's a new color but the silver has been around since last year and they are almost non existent.
I know some of you got one but not everyone was that lucky.
I was first in line at my AT&T store and found out that no carriers got anything but space gray.
I also had a silver reserved at my local target but they only got 16GB gray as well.
So to the trolls making excuses or saying nothing is wrong, this is normal. Apple inc does not feed your children, nor does it keep a roof over your head, you do not owe it a life debt and you can criticize it now and then. They are grown ups over in Cupertino, they can handle it.
BTW the 5s is a fantastic phone, they just should have had more colors available or sent out a press release that silver & gold were only at Apple stores as that seems to be the case.
They may not have had enough gold because it's a new color but the silver has been around since last year and they are almost non existent.
I know some of you got one but not everyone was that lucky.
I was first in line at my AT&T store and found out that no carriers got anything but space gray.
I also had a silver reserved at my local target but they only got 16GB gray as well.
So to the trolls making excuses or saying nothing is wrong, this is normal. Apple inc does not feed your children, nor does it keep a roof over your head, you do not owe it a life debt and you can criticize it now and then. They are grown ups over in Cupertino, they can handle it.
BTW the 5s is a fantastic phone, they just should have had more colors available or sent out a press release that silver & gold were only at Apple stores as that seems to be the case.
OP, I have three "tween" daughters of my own so I understand the dynamics. Having said that, this obviously isn't your first iPhone launch, so you should know by now that a reasonable approach is to place an order online and sit tight until it arrives. Have fun tracking your order fly around the world with your daughter when it finally ships. This is not only realistic but it encourages patience and understanding, which I find somewhat lacking in my own kids and their generation these days. Sounds like your daughter could teach other kids a thing or two about that.
Apple just announced this morning that they sold the most iPhones on launch weekend ever this time around, so clearly it isn't a matter of "hype".
Apple just announced this morning that they sold the most iPhones on launch weekend ever this time around, so clearly it isn't a matter of "hype".
Thanks for the info, that actually was very informative and puts things in perspective. The only thing I question is I wonder if Tim Cook had more to do with changing their supply tactics than Jobs. I'm just saying so because I think I read it somewhere - that it was the reason Cook was hired by Jobs. But I could be wrong.
Tammster
macrumors 6502a
C'mon, in all honestly... how is selling 9m + phones in THREE DAYS a fiasco??? Because not everyone was able to get a phone on launch day?? In what twisted world is this poor business?
It always blows my mind when I see the number of people that think that purchasing a product from a company is their "right" before actually entering in to a transaction with the said company. If you wanted to buy a product from me, I can simply not sell it to you just because I don't like you. You don't have the "right" to do business with me. You seriously need to bring down your level of entitlement. A company doesn't owe you anything until you've actually entered a transaction and they are not holding up to their end of the bargain. In this case they were sold out. Too bad. You would think it's just common sense and someone doesn't have to spell it out for you?
AttilaTheHun
macrumors 65816
bunnicula
macrumors 68040
I understand why the OP is complaining. It was a bit odd to have such constrained supplies of the gold and silver on launch day.
If I wasn't a regular here, I would not have expected supplies to be THAT limited.
His daughter sounds like a real trooper. Good for her! More kids need to display that kind of attitude.
I hope she enjoys her new phone when it arrives!
If I wasn't a regular here, I would not have expected supplies to be THAT limited.
His daughter sounds like a real trooper. Good for her! More kids need to display that kind of attitude.
I hope she enjoys her new phone when it arrives!
Vidd
macrumors 65816
Good thing he's not in your company and you're not trying to buy an iPhone from him. 😛
I agree that companies don't really owe you anything before a transaction takes place. However, if you've owned a lot of Apple products over the years, you may feel a little bitter, especially when you're trying to hand them over £700. 😛
Not sure what the point of your post is. Clearly I said that from the perspective of someone in charge, not an employee. Who exactly is going to send me home? Also, if I refused to sell a product simply because I didn't like someone instead of a valid business reason, obviously I stand to only hurt myself. So thanks for pointing out the obvious and missing the point of my post completely?
Really? A letter complaining the one of the most popular products ever created was in high demand? Sounds like the 15 year old has the right attitude in the whole story compared to the other players.
AttilaTheHun
macrumors 65816
BeeGood
macrumors 68000
I don't think this is what's going on at all.
While I agree that the OP could (should) have planned a little better, Apple decided that they would withhold information about availability which made it difficult for people to make good decisions. Honestly, if I knew how few gold phones they had I probably would have ordered online.
I see it both ways. In this head we have entitled customers and apple apologists who will probably never see eye to eye.
No, what happened is that Apple severely underestimated demand for both the gold and the silver iphone. In hindsight, I'm sure they would of boosted production dramatically for these models if they didn't stuff up their own forecasts so badly (some mid-level product analyst is probably going to get the axe at HQ this week) . As a result Apple has probably lost a lot of sales despite a record 3 days. Hence they have hurt themselves in this too. I'm not an "Apple apologist" I couldn't care less about Apple.