Not Till 5 pm?

[edtorious]

Forgive my ignorance but why Apple wanna wait till 5 pm to sell the iPad 2, why not start in the morning when they open? Weird for me for I have never got in line for 5 pm launch, I have done either midnight or morning launch but never on 5 pm launch. Is this just a marketing ploy so people would think a lot of people lined up for the iPad 2? Of course there will be long lines because of this. I would rather get in line for the morning launch but now I don't know if whether to get in line first thing in the morning and wait for 8 hours? It's ridiculous! I hope Best Buy or other stores will start selling early.

 

[iAAPL]

It's for the media coverage. If they do it at 8 AM, they would probably catch a slot on the 4 PM local news. If they release it at 5 PM, it becomes a huge story. They will immediately get the top story on the 4/5/6/10/11 PM newscasts, as well as the Network Newscasts, probably with reporters live on the scene. Also, this is when most people get off work, so they can catch many more people at one time.

People think it's cruel that Apple would do such a thing, but you have to remember something; Apple is an extremely successful company. They didn't become the world's largest consumer electronics company through sheer luck. They know what they're doing. No question about it, Apple has the most brilliant marketing team on Earth. That doesn't only involve making great ads, it's stuff like this, too. They know how to succeed and how to sell products. No other company would attempt to do something like this, and as result, no other company gets the free publicity that Apple gets. It's all a well orchestrated piece.

 

[connoisseur]

I emailed Steve Jobs of my work hours
He listens

 

[ryanvalle]

I thought jobs mentioned in a past keynote that they do 5pm launches so people don't have to skip work to get their devices.

On the other hand, I don't get why didn't do a Saturday launch for iPad 2 like they did last year.

 

[baummer]

I suspect this has more to do with supply chain logistics than marketing. A later release time ensures that all sales channels have received their products as intended.

 

[Clix Pix]

Well, see, I complained to Steve that I don't like those early-morning launches so now he's obligingly changing things and this launch to accommodate me and my personal schedule. This way I can sleep 'til noon and still cruise on over to the Apple store and get in line after I've had my coffee and OJ and my shower.....

 

[MacDawg]

There are so many conspiracy theories out there about this
No matter what time they launched, people would speculate and complain

This is not the first time they have had a 5:00 pm launch

 

[Davichi]

BEACUSE EVERY one of those god damn employes are asking day off on the day apple releases iPhone and iPad. I am a business owner. We complained to Steve jobs to release the product after 5 o clock, so these damn employes can work first before they go buy idevices.

Thank you.

 

[camelsnot]

It's for the media coverage. If they do it at 8 AM, they would probably catch a slot on the 4 PM local news. If they release it at 5 PM, it becomes a huge story. They will immediately get the top story on the 4/5/6/10/11 PM newscasts,

probably not. While it's for media coverage, it'll get the same air time at 5pm as it would if it were at 8am. Apple is miscalculating this one, but it's alright. Everyone will get an ipad2 that wants one, within a week.

 

[MacDawg]

probably not. While it's for media coverage, it'll get the same air time at 5pm as it would if it were at 8am. Apple is miscalculating this one, but it's alright. Everyone will get an ipad2 that wants one, within a week.

How is Apple miscalculating this one?
They have had 5:00 pm launches in the past as well

 

[makefunnyfaces]

I thought jobs mentioned in a past keynote that they do 5pm launches so people don't have to skip work to get their devices.

On the other hand, I don't get why didn't do a Saturday launch for iPad 2 like they did last year.

That's the way I feel. I'm glad they're setting the release to 5:00 PM because I don't get out of school 'til 3:30 PM, but I would much rather them do an 8:00 AM launch on a Saturday.

 

[Chupa Chupa]

Apple is miscalculating this one, but it's alright. Everyone will get an ipad2 that wants one, within a week.

Yes, just like they miscalculated the Friday 5pm launches of the original iPhone and the original iPad WiFi+3G. What a flop those launches were. You are right, Apple has no clue. /sarc

 

[ghostlyorb]

Forgive my ignorance but why Apple wanna wait till 5 pm to sell the iPad 2, why not start in the morning when they open? Weird for me for I have never got in line for 5 pm launch, I have done either midnight or morning launch but never on 5 pm launch. Is this just a marketing ploy so people would think a lot of people lined up for the iPad 2? Of course there will be long lines because of this. I would rather get in line for the morning launch but now I don't know if whether to get in line first thing in the morning and wait for 8 hours? It's ridiculous! I hope Best Buy or other stores will start selling early.

haha... well media coverage.. for sure! but then people are off of work!

 

[dadoftwogirls]

I suspect this has more to do with supply chain logistics than marketing. A later release time ensures that all sales channels have received their products as intended.

This is correct. They want all stores to have taken delivery.

 

[iMule]

When I get mine at 5:00 AM, every single one of you will feel like Lloyd from Dumb & Dumber when he went to the bar at 6:00 AM instead of 6:00 PM.

 

[Middiebear]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_0 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/532.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0.5 Mobile/8A293 Safari/6531.22.7)

Apple is miscalculating this one, but it's alright. Everyone will get an ipad2 that wants one, within a week.

Yes, just like they miscalculated the Friday 5pm launches of the original iPhone and the original iPad WiFi+3G. What a flop those launches were. You are right, Apple has no clue. /sarc

Forgive me if I'm wrong...

But I remember being the launch of the iPad+3G being a lot softer than expected.

I don't think Apple even sold out of any models?

I hate the 5 o'clock launch time because I have to work from 3:30 PM until midnight on Friday...

I can't go before work and I can't go after... My only chance is going on my lunch break and that'll be cutting it close...

 

[dadoftwogirls]

When I get mine at 5:00 AM, every single one of you will feel like Lloyd from Dumb & Dumber when he went to the bar at 6:00 AM instead of 6:00 PM.

Be sure to post a picture of you with it along with your receipt showing time, date, store.