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With the recent iPad 3 launch, does this mean scalping Apple products is over?

J

jp700p

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jun 28, 2010
252
40
Its been barely a week and iPad 3 shipping dates have dropped from 2-3 weeks to 1-2 weeks on apple.com. I was just at my local Best Buy and they had all Wi-Fi models and some Verizon models left. Apple has tackled production problems in many ways this time, probably thanks to Tim Cook, Jedi Master of Production.

- Producing goods ahead of time. Some iPad 3's were produced in 2011! As seen in this post: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1345893/
This gives Apple much more time to ramp up production and to have enough for the world.

- Launching in multiple countries in shorter period of times. When the original iPad was launched, it took months before more worldwide countries were launched. Now with the iPad 3, the next round of countries is coming up a couple weeks after launch.

- Allowing pre-orders. Not everyone likes standing in line. Scalpers took advantage of this fact and bought up as much as they could withstanding hours of waiting sometimes in rain and snow. But it seems Apple is allowing pre-orders for new product launches. This allows fans to have a greater chance of owning their new apple product.

With those 3 points above, I think we will see this pattern going on forward. I believe the next biggest launch (iPhone 5) we will see the same supplies as the iPad 3.

Good riddance to scalpers. Don't let the door hit your ass.
 
Given the way Apple got the stock right this time around, I'd sat it's a chance, but sadly I think they will be back. They may have got nowhere this time, but what about the iphone5?


I hope the have gone, just got doubts.
 
Typical to lay blame on the people you *see* rather the the true source.

Blame the people willing to buy from scalpers. No buyers -> no scalpers.
 
Macman45 said:
but what about the iphone5?
Click to expand...

Contracts are required for the phones and they don't usually have the off contract full retail price option until supply catches up to demand. I don't see that being as easy for someone to run off with 20 of them... I hope.

Scalpers suck either way.
 
There is always the possibility of an unexpected smash success, but I do think that the iPhone and iPad are reaching the points in their respective sales cycles where Apple is better able to predict and manage demand. Also, for better or for worse, Steve Jobs is no longer around to make minor product tweaks in the weeks leading up to the launch.

Perhaps if Jobs were still around, he'd have noticed the slow charging rates (particularly when something is running) and held up release until bigger chargers were available. Or perhaps he'd have held it up until they could make it the same thickness (or even 1mm thinner) as the iPad 2. Or perhaps not. We'll never know.

However, what we do know is that Tim Cook publicly said in January that they could have sold even more than the 37 million iPhones they did sell in the holiday quarter if they had them. I'm guessing he didn't want Apple to be in the same position this time around, and so made sure there were plenty of iPads to go around before the launch.
 
deeddawg said:
Typical to lay blame on the people you *see* rather the the true source.

Blame the people willing to buy from scalpers. No buyers -> no scalpers.
Click to expand...

Even better, if you don't want scalpers, that means Apple is pricing its products too low initially. Want them higher?
 
Building sufficient inventory to handle launch-day demand has some definite costs.

1) The longer a new product is in production, the more inevitable it is that details about the new device are going to leak out. We saw that with the latest iPad- very few, if any, of the new features caught many people by surprise. And there were more than a few grainy snapshots smuggled out.

2) The imminent launch of a new product essentially kills sales of the existing model. We saw that happen to iPhone sales ahead of last fall's iPhone 4S launch. Enough of a problem to cause Apple to miss its earnings targets.

3) Should there be some unexpected engineering or production issue, something that is only revealed once the device gets into mass consumer circulation, having a huge pre-built inventory is going to be that much more difficult/costly to fix.

4) There is also the financial cost of building and warehousing large inventories. Apple obviously has the money to do this, but its a sharp contrast to its normal mode, which is extremely tight on inventories.

Managing this issue is a challenge Apple has generally done pretty well. It recognizes that long lines and scalpers ultimately cost the company sales, money, and customer goodwill. On the other hand, the perception of a "hot product", selling out, also gives its product a cache thats all but unique in the tech business.

I'd hesitate to say we'll never see scalpers again - but I do think Apple now has the manufacturing and distribution infrastructure in place to handle all but the most breakout successful product introductions.
 
jackc said:
Even better, if you don't want scalpers, that means Apple is pricing its products too low initially. Want them higher?
Click to expand...

You are quite correct - Apple is leaving money on the table if the demand is exceeding the supply enough to foster a secondary market.

The best solution (from the consumer's view) is what we saw this year; produce enough supply in advance of launch to handle the initial demand while (presumably) not overbuilding production capacity beyond what's needed for ongoing demand post-launch.
 
Wirelessly posted

Another contributing factor for the widespread availability is the slight change in design from the iPad 2 (at least this is what I think). The more Apple had to recycle old parts, the faster they can develop and assemble.
 
If think about it, because the basic design didn't change that much, they were able to go into production sooner and therefore build more inventory. The first iPad was built from scratch and the second had physical changes from the first. The 3rd generation while offering upgrades, pretty much stayed true to the previous model which I would think would cut down on production lead time.

Edit: Didn't realize the previous poster had said basically what I said.
 
Scalpers can only take advantage if Apple does not provide enough supply to satisfy demand. In the case of the iPad 3, they did better than the other iPad releases. This kinda caught the scalpers off guard.

They will return when ever there is "opportunity":cool:
 
jackc said:
Even better, if you don't want scalpers, that means Apple is pricing its products too low initially. Want them higher?
Click to expand...

a stupid remark and irrelevant to the topic. raising or lowering the retail price on apple products isn't going to prevent scalping.

scalpers exist because supply outweighs demand. plenty of scalpers sell things such as ballgame tickets that cost considerably less than the entry-level ipad ($500).
 
bufffilm said:
a stupid remark and irrelevant to the topic. raising or lowering the retail price on apple products isn't going to prevent scalping.

scalpers exist because supply outweighs demand. plenty of scalpers sell things such as ballgame tickets that cost considerably less than the entry-level ipad ($500).
Click to expand...

And what do you think changing the price does to the balance between supply and demand?
 
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jackc said:
And what do you think changing the price does to the balance between supply and demand?
Click to expand...

sure lowering the ipad price would increase demand, but with this launch apple has done well enough to keep supply chain open. that's the only reason why the scalpers have fared poorly. besides if let's say apple increased the price to $800 and lowered production, do you seriously people would suddenly stop buying and that you wouldn't see the scalpers return? dream on.

moreover, what exactly is the point of your argument here? so one has suggested that the apple needs to change their pricing so your earlier post is irrelevant to the conversation anyway.
 
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deeddawg said:
Typical to lay blame on the people you *see* rather the the true source.

Blame the people willing to buy from scalpers. No buyers -> no scalpers.
Click to expand...

Wrong. The scalpers only existed because of limited supply.

Apple fails to supply enough iPads for launch: Lots of resellers.
Apple supplies plenty of iPads for launch: No reason to look elsewhere to buy one.
 
bufffilm said:
if let's say apple increased the price to $800 and lowered production, do you seriously people would suddenly stop buying and that you wouldn't see the scalpers return? dream on.

moreover, what exactly is the point of your argument here? so one has suggested that the apple needs to change their pricing so your earlier post is irrelevant to the conversation anyway.

ST*U
Click to expand...

If Apple raised their price, yes, fewer people would buy and there would be fewer scalpers. That is economics and common sense.

You may think it's irrelevant because you are unable to make the connection between scalping and the price. That's OK. Not everyone can.
 
jackc said:
If Apple raised their price, yes, fewer people would buy and there would be fewer scalpers. That is economics and common sense.

You may think it's irrelevant because you are unable to make the connection between scalping and the price. That's OK. Not everyone can.
Click to expand...

sure less demand would mean fewer scalpers, but with apple launches, apple would have to at least double the price of the ipad to seriously decrease demand.

3 million sold in the first three days of launch and the second wave of launches this friday to more of europe and asia. how far do you think apple would need to raise their pricing to seriously undercut that kind of demand?

it's silly to debate raising prices to curtail demand when the better answer is to increase supply which means a win-win for the manufacturer and the consumers.
 
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jackc said:
You may think it's irrelevant because you are unable to make the connection between scalping and the price. That's OK. Not everyone can.
Click to expand...

i can make the connection just fine. but there's a much bigger connection between [less] supply driving more scalping than your suggestion that apple raise their pricing to stiffle demand. it's been proven time & time again, that meeting demand with enough supply is the most effective means to combat scalping.

raising apple prices would be 'cutting your nose off to spite your face' type of thinking.
 
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There is one thread about one scalper that returned 12 iPads and another that returned 25. So I'm going to venture a guess, YES.
 
Steve Jobs-Holding Back

Is it me or does it seem like the numbers (volume) produced at launch for the iPad 3 came to easily!? Like, these sorta numbers were attainable all along!?

That leads me to the direct question:

Was Steve Jobs Holding Out, with respects to creating artifical demand!?

I just think it's too much of a coincedence that this is the first launch in recent memory of an iOS device (especially, iPad) that one could casually go about receiving such said device without worry or panic in person after the release of the device.

Thoughts!?
 
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