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Reselling Apple Products on Launch Day: "This whole game is over"
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This whole thing made me realise...
Just imagine if Steve were still alive, and tagged team with Tim.
With Steve churning out one market-monopolising product after another, and with Tim's logistical prowess ensuring that everyone who wants an apple product gets one ASAP...
Just imagine if Steve were still alive, and tagged team with Tim.
With Steve churning out one market-monopolising product after another, and with Tim's logistical prowess ensuring that everyone who wants an apple product gets one ASAP...
Um... 3,000,000 sold in one week. Three million. At a selling price of ~$500 each (since I don't know the actual breakdown, that's seriously low-balling the average), that's 1.5 billion dollars in sales. Billion with a "B".
Hardly indicates oversaturation. Has Motorola even sold 3,000,000 Zoom/Xyboards in total?? Have they even sold 500,000 of them?
Apple remarkably had enough stock on hand for everyone who wanted one. The logistics required for that are quite impressive.
/or perhaps you were just being sarcastic?
You're OK with getting ripped off by Apple (or retailers like best buy), but if anyone else tries to get in on the profit action its over the line.
Living in Hong Kong, I'm glad for this. The massive lines we saw for the iPhone 4S were entirely mainland scalpers, maids and domestic helpers who weren't lining up for themselves. Most of them would have crossed the border back into Shenzen and beyond for resell.
The garbage and squatting were terrible!
The garbage and squatting were terrible!
Wow, my tip/picture made homepage of MacRumors
I wonder what % of total sales went to these resellers, and are now being returned.
I wonder what % of total sales went to these resellers, and are now being returned.
I think its perfectly legal and the only ones bothered by it are generally the ones who did not think of it first.
I do question however Apple's successful launch of th product. Yes they sold a ton of them but also in multiple countries. The supply side issues may have been fixed but I think it might have been a lack of demand.
No pre-order and we walked into a BB at 1pm and bought one. Guy said sales were very slow and they had a ton of them in a rack. I hear similar stories elsewhere.
So is it a supply side fix or a lack of demand?
3M units sold sounds great but the launch size was much bigger.
I do question however Apple's successful launch of th product. Yes they sold a ton of them but also in multiple countries. The supply side issues may have been fixed but I think it might have been a lack of demand.
No pre-order and we walked into a BB at 1pm and bought one. Guy said sales were very slow and they had a ton of them in a rack. I hear similar stories elsewhere.
So is it a supply side fix or a lack of demand?
3M units sold sounds great but the launch size was much bigger.
Your question will be answered when they release their numbers. Hint: It won't be a lack of demand
Wow.... sometimes a fan boy's ability to ignore simple logic/reasoning is astounding.
Fact 1: Apple sold more ipad3's on launch day than ever before
Fact 2: Resellers are returning extras en masse due to high production amounts by Apple
Logic suggests: The iPad 3's launch day sales were padded by resellers who are now returning the devices.
Has no one on this thread realized this?
Fact 1: Apple sold more ipad3's on launch day than ever before
Fact 2: Resellers are returning extras en masse due to high production amounts by Apple
Logic suggests: The iPad 3's launch day sales were padded by resellers who are now returning the devices.
Has no one on this thread realized this?
With the iPhone 4 and iPad 2 launches, Apple
1) Lost sales of its devices because it didn't have enough
2) Gave organized scalpers the opportunity to make a lot of money because of poor supply an bad management of global distribution
3) Upset customers in the process
While I don't necessarily like it when these scalping teams come in and take "rightful" supply from local market buyers, the fact of the matter is Apple allowed these conditions to develop through its policies. Apple, either intentially or not, used to simply launch products without regard to the supply/demand balance and always went developed markets frist, even as its products went global. In that environment, Apple probably deserves more blame than the scalpers themselves.
I believe the last two product launches show Apple's new direction, which Tim Cook has probably spearheaded. Now, the company
1) Makes sure it has adequete supply
2) Launches in international markets quicker
3) Encourages reserving of products
At the end of the day, only Apple itself could have solved the scalping issue, and it looks like it has.
1) Lost sales of its devices because it didn't have enough
2) Gave organized scalpers the opportunity to make a lot of money because of poor supply an bad management of global distribution
3) Upset customers in the process
While I don't necessarily like it when these scalping teams come in and take "rightful" supply from local market buyers, the fact of the matter is Apple allowed these conditions to develop through its policies. Apple, either intentially or not, used to simply launch products without regard to the supply/demand balance and always went developed markets frist, even as its products went global. In that environment, Apple probably deserves more blame than the scalpers themselves.
I believe the last two product launches show Apple's new direction, which Tim Cook has probably spearheaded. Now, the company
1) Makes sure it has adequete supply
2) Launches in international markets quicker
3) Encourages reserving of products
At the end of the day, only Apple itself could have solved the scalping issue, and it looks like it has.
The scalpers lost this time (and forever again likely with iPads) for the following reasons:
1)This is Apple's 3rd release...anyone who wanted one likely pre-ordered or went to the Apple store where there were likely quite a few on hand. I walked into an Apple Store on Sat the 17th at 5pm and the place was a nightmare...and got one with no problem...and they told me they had tons of all models (I asked because I was afraid to stand in line and miss my dinner buzzer thingie).
2)This isn't the first release of any super killer product...hence not as strong a demand for people to own the super killer coolest thing on the block (that is version 1.0) and willing to pay EXTRA for a scalper.
3)The iPad 3 is nice, but it's a minor upgrade over the 2. Sure, it has a nicer screen, but there are very few apps that even take advantage of it and many hi-res DSLR pictures still look almost the same as the iPad 2. Computer technology ALWAYS has a "next release" within 1 calendar year and the next release ALWAYS has at least 1 or 2 big updates to try to convince folks to upgrade as well as hold off competition. It was Retina.
4)There are already millions of people who own an iPad 1 or 2...hence the demand for the latest and greatest 3 is nowhere near as strong as the 1 or 2...yes, we all know the 3 sold very well on opening weekend.
The scalpers will have to wait for some upcoming version 1.0 Apple product that promises to be the best thing since sliced bread. I have not heard of said product and my guess would be if Apple ever comes up with a tv-thing that Jobs proclaimed a year or more ago that he "cracked it"...my feeling is that his quote was full of BS. If I were near my deathbed and wanted the my company to run well for years, I would likely come up with a "I finally cracked how to revolutionize the ____ market" and then never tell a soul.
1)This is Apple's 3rd release...anyone who wanted one likely pre-ordered or went to the Apple store where there were likely quite a few on hand. I walked into an Apple Store on Sat the 17th at 5pm and the place was a nightmare...and got one with no problem...and they told me they had tons of all models (I asked because I was afraid to stand in line and miss my dinner buzzer thingie).
2)This isn't the first release of any super killer product...hence not as strong a demand for people to own the super killer coolest thing on the block (that is version 1.0) and willing to pay EXTRA for a scalper.
3)The iPad 3 is nice, but it's a minor upgrade over the 2. Sure, it has a nicer screen, but there are very few apps that even take advantage of it and many hi-res DSLR pictures still look almost the same as the iPad 2. Computer technology ALWAYS has a "next release" within 1 calendar year and the next release ALWAYS has at least 1 or 2 big updates to try to convince folks to upgrade as well as hold off competition. It was Retina.
4)There are already millions of people who own an iPad 1 or 2...hence the demand for the latest and greatest 3 is nowhere near as strong as the 1 or 2...yes, we all know the 3 sold very well on opening weekend.
The scalpers will have to wait for some upcoming version 1.0 Apple product that promises to be the best thing since sliced bread. I have not heard of said product and my guess would be if Apple ever comes up with a tv-thing that Jobs proclaimed a year or more ago that he "cracked it"...my feeling is that his quote was full of BS. If I were near my deathbed and wanted the my company to run well for years, I would likely come up with a "I finally cracked how to revolutionize the ____ market" and then never tell a soul.
How many units total do you think all the resellers combined purchased? just curious hehe
you sound like you're saying after all the returns are processed, the 3M will drop to like 45 iPads sold or something. the reseller numbers are drop in the bucket compared to the 3million. Nice job hehe
The numbers were helped by resellers; no knows how much though.
From what I can tell about the NY apple stores, they are basically selling most or all of their daily allotments and getting fresh stock overnight/each morning. Also, online lead times suggest steady demand. People are snapping this thing up. Long lines = lost sales.
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I'm curious, isn't the iPad 3 (with retina and LTE) a significantly bigger upgrade over iPad 2 than iPad 2 was over iPad 1 (which was just more CPU and a cosmetic change)? I was an iPad 1 owner and wasn't that impressed with the iPad 2 upgrade, but jumped immediately on iPad 3
A better question is have 3m Android tablets been sold total? Hehe
I believe a whopping 12 million Android tablets have been sold to date. That 12 million includes "1 million Xooms, leaving Acer, Asus, LG, Samsung, Sony, Toshiba, and a handful of other Google-recognized tablets to split 11 million sales between each other." Compare that to 15 million iPads sold last quarter. The bottom line:
'Honestly, were not doing very well in the tablet market, Hankil Yoon, a Samsung executive, told a group of reporters"
Samsung Admits What Everyone's Been Thinking: Android Tablets Not 'Doing Very Well'
http://androinica.com/2012/02/how-many-android-tablets-have-been-sold/
this is good
Hopefully everyone will be able to buy an iPad at proper cost now.
This was a good strategy to have enough at launch, and to launch in scalper prone countries the same day.
Hopefully everyone will be able to buy an iPad at proper cost now.
This was a good strategy to have enough at launch, and to launch in scalper prone countries the same day.
I was suggesting that most of the guys flipping 10 ipads or so are not really legitimate resellers, and Apple notes "not for resale" in their terms anyway. It's not really the same as someone flipping their ipad when the new one comes out. They bought it for use, not as a short term investment. This is one of those things where it's not so much of a legitimate practice as it is a merely tolerated one. All I was doing was refuting the idea that they're no different from the retailers who stock these items.
I was thinking the exact same thing. Nobody seemed to realize that Apple was benefiting from this gray market as much as anyone. I would assume that over time this phenomenon will become less and less of a factor as the incentive is reduced by higher production numbers and/or more ramp-up time being scheduled. However, that might also imply that over time we'll be seeing fewer and fewer cutting-edge changes as Apple waits for various parts to reach critical mass before releasing their next upgrade in order to meet demand.
They are not resellers they are scalpers. Scalping is illegal for concerts and should be the same for popular deices in short supply.
I think Android Tablets are doing just fine! 45% market share?
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2401531,00.asp
Yeah, all these evil Chinese scalpers should take a page from TicketMaster's American Morals and Ethics course. That'll teach 'em.