RSSFirst Day iPhone Supply Exceeds Demand
By Nate Mook | Published June 30, 2007, 1:53 AM
In retrospect, Apple should have made a disclaimer before the iPhone went on sale Friday at 6pm: If you want an iPhone, don't go to an AT&T store. Hoping to avoid massive crowds, many iPhone buyers ventured to smaller AT&T stores, like the one in Asburn, Virginia. But it turns out the real stock was located at Apple's own stores, and standing in line was not a requirement.
With extra employees, free water and donuts, and even teaser demos to those waiting, Apple was well prepared to handle an onslaught of iPhone customers. Some stores had thousands of units on hand to sell, and after initial lines were satisfied, anyone could walk in and buy one without waiting. No Apple store was reported to have sold out Friday night. Where did they hide all those iPhones? Scroll down.
Ashburn. Not Asburn.
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|Actually, I'm willing to bet Apple's marketing department did want demand to exceed supply. Although that's contrary to traditional supply chain management, with a product wanted by consumers as badly as the iPhone, it means ownership becomes even more desired with that certain appearance of exclusivity.
Remember, Jobs even said to make certain you got in line b/c you would miss out if you did not. He clearly expected more sell-outs around the country, not just primarily on the west coast.
So although I will not call the launch a failure by any means, I do believe it did not meet Apple's expectations.
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|Over 500,000 sold in one weekend that's a heck of a supply to meet that demand.
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|iPhone is crap. I would rather buy a Windows Mobile-enabled PDA Phone so I get more software support.
AT&T, is horrid, for their crappy service, and is losing money to T-Mobile.
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|Maybe where you're at. Go get a sidekick.
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|So go buy one, rather than making unsupported claims about a product you simply don't like.
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|They should be spammed gloriously will all kind of photographs of people dying from hunger FCS !
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|So, has anyone seen a smashmyiphone.com or something to that effect?
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|all i have to say is....
will it blend??
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|Yes.
http://www.youtube.com/w...mode=related&search=
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|$500 for a cell phone/media player? Hmmmm. One must be either rich or bored.
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|The iPhone is doing really badly, I went to a Apple store, and hey had some on the shelf..
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|Why does that mean they are doing bad?
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|Well all the idiots here assume that if there is product on the shelf, that it's not selling..
This was the lame excuse they used to suggest the PS3 ain't selling..
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|Yeah too bad the numbers back up that so-called "lame excuse" because the PS3 isn't selling.
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|ROFL! You have got it bad for Sony Ben. Now we are bashing phones lmao!!!!
No the excuse for the PS3 not selling is their pathetic sales numbers lol. It's ok to have a good cry Ben. Don't keep those emotions bottled up inside.
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|It was said the iphone in the tysons corner, va apple store sold 1300 phones in 6 hours and still had more in stock and that was 1 single store. For those who can't do math that is like 3.5 phones per minute. So the iphone sold like hot cakes at 500-600 dollars per pop. 600*1300 = 780k for one store in 6 hours.
Never has a "phone" ever had so much hype. Did you see nokia, samsung, motorola or any of those other brands having lines outside a door on the day of release? NO way. So its no wonder other companies are afraid of Apple, I swear Apple could sell snow and ice to people at the south pole and people would line up in droves.
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|I bought one from the Tyson's Corner Apple Store yesterday. The line went from the Apple Store inside the mall, down a length of the mall, and continued outside and around the corner of the building. It was crazy, but a fun experience. I think the first person arrived at around 2am yesterday morning. I only waited for a couple hours before the store re-opened. I went back in there today and they were flying off the shelves.
It's kind of silly for people to say that the iPhone supply exceeded demand, because they are still selling like hotcakes. If anything, they are meeting demand. I applaud Apple for that.
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|By Supply exceeding demand, I believe it meant they didn't sell out like the PS3, where people were going home empty handed (unless you went to the store that stocked 20 of them)...not that there is little or no demand for it.
If it's Apple, Appleites will buy it....and 3-5% of computer users worldwide, is a chunk of people - a huge chunk.
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|It's stupid to see everyday people just wasting there hard earned money on a iphone when the fad will only last a while and i saw a line of probably about 8 people in Washington, Missouri on Friday some were there since 8'o clock that same morning. Two of my friends were there they were getting paid 2o bucks an hour to wait there to get a iphone for their dad and a doctor
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|People can do what they want with their money. I had a friend who purchased a really nice car, knowing he couldn't make the payments. I remember a roommate 2 years ago who bought an ipod and couldn't pay the rent - go figure.
$600 for a phone that has candy features AND has utility (web, talk) is a walk in the park to paying $600 for a video game system that 1. plays games and 2. plays movies. It's a huge waste of money to some people, but to each his own.
I'd buy it if it was $100. That's what it's worth to me. Some people would satisfy with a $300 PC/Laptop, mine range from $1.5k to $2k because that's what it's worth to me.
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|People queue just for the sake to sell it again :P
See this:
http://sfbay.craigslist....search/sss?query=iphone
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|The best device ever
http://youtube.com/watch?v=CqDmQkF26PA
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|People are idiots.. There are even people selling iPhones on ebay in Europe, and you can't even use them over here, in US guise...
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|YOu should see cnet. Unbelieveable hype for that product.
There is incredibly 10x more technology in a cisco router than an iphone, yet the hype machine and RDF apparently influence news.com writers so much that I wasn't surprised semen wasn't plastered all over their site.
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|Hmm - router, not a consumer product. iPhone, consumer product made by a company who does better at marketing than probably any other tech company.
Don't hate the player, hate the game dog.
I wouldn't spend that much for a phone, but it is awefully sexy. Sounds to me like we have the run of the mill anti-Apple crowd the same as the anti-MS crowd. My brother is that way about Harry Potter, and all things popular and/or hyped.
I do agree though that the cell network in the US is sad compared to Asia.
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|iPhones sitting on shelves gathering dust from day one? Oh Dear...
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|Someone actually releases something with enough product to satisfy demand? Oh Dear... they're making everyone else look bad! :P
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|I Agree with people. BetaNews should know better. Shame on you!
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|Damn, if I knew about the free water and donuts I would have been there, no doubt. LOL
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|Although I'm not an avid Apple supporter, I thank them for over-supplying. The disgusting morals displayed in the ps3 buy-out were tantamount terrorism. Apple constructed a utopia for its buyers whereas other companies (in my argument: Sony), made its buyers compete for the product. Companies should be competing for the buyer, the buyers shouldn't be competing amongst themselves for the product of one company.
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|Either that or they THOUGHT it had more demand.
As for the PS3, I don't exactly understand what benefit Sony would have from under supplying it. It's not like they can sell it for more because less people are able to buy one. The fact is that if sony had sold each unit for 1000 dollars, they'd probably have the same number of people buying it. If they had doubled the supply and everyone who wanted one got one, they'd actually have made MORE money.
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|Not DOA, but def overhype. Not because of the phone... everyone realizes it's on Cingular. Thaaaaaat's the dealbreaker.
Consistently lowest on JD Power.
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|Can't forget... It's "the new AT&T" now. Unfortunately, I'm the one stuck with them for another year or two.
I really don't like them personally.
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|T-Mobile has won the JD Power award for at least four years straight in all categories across the board. While they definitely have better customer service than any other mobile phone company in the USA, their reception is the worst.
At least Cingular/AT&T has the best reception in the USA even if their customer service is not the best. Heck, Cingular/AT&T even has excellent reception throughout Hawaii's Big Island and Maui even when you're out in the middle of nowhere. Then again, Cingular/AT&T has the same excellent level of reception on nearly all of the mainland as well.
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|Yeah, that's why Cingular/ATT can't hold a call in the middle of Alexandria, VA on many cell phones. Must be really remote out here....
Granted, every cell phone service has hiccups. But if you're boasting about the least dropped calls then, gosh....it should at least be true.
I've tried most of them, and TMobile has the best reception for where I've been to...most of FL, most of VA, all the coastline up from FL to VA...NY. I can't say about the other states since I haven't been around. While I'm not saying it's THE best service (regarding overall reception and within very remote areas), I also couldn't view it as the worst because I have indeed seen worse.
The worst would be sprint, then I've had horrible experiences with Bellsouth...which turned into Cingular, which is now ATT. Did Verizon for a bit - very good, hate the plans.
My wife, her sister, many of my cousins have switched to Tmo because ATT and Sprint are so bad. While I'm not happy about Tmobile's data rates, I am certainly happy with their plan, cs and reception. I've had waaaaay less dropped or disrupted calls Tmo or Home to Tmo vs. any other servicee I've ever tried.
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