Apple Sells Nine Million iPhones Over Weekend 432
Nerval's Lobster writes "Apple managed to sell nine million iPhones over the weekend, with the company claiming its initial supply of high-end iPhone 5S units completely sold out. Apple didn't sell out of the new iPhone 5C, its plastic-cased (and cheaper) alternative to the iPhone 5S; models are still available for shipment within 24 hours from Apple's online store. And the iPhone 5S selling out is no surprise: in the weeks ahead of the new iPhones' launch, rumors persisted that the initial production run of the device was relatively small in scope, which would make it far easier for Apple to sell out of its first batch. But how many iPhone 5C units did Apple actually manage to sell? In August, KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo suggested that Apple would produce just over 5 million iPhone 5S units ahead of the device's launch weekend; if that number's accurate, and Apple sold every single one, it would mean Apple sold roughly 4 million iPhone 5C units in order to reach that 9-million-sold figure for both models. That's an impressive figure for any smartphone, of course, and it could quiet some of the naysayers who have spent the past several months suggesting that Apple's best years are behind it."
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
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Judging by the gushing reports coming out, success looks like a 2 position kick stand.
Re:Success (Score:4, Informative)
It's encouraging but really doesn't say that much. Apple hype up every new release far more than other companies because they have only one or two products in each market. For example they release one or two new phones a year, where as Samsung and HTC release dozens.
What really matters is the long term trend, and we won't know that for at least six months and really need a year.
Hype versus trust (Score:3)
Detractors tend to attribute Apples success to "hype," yet there are numerous products that have been heavily promoted and yet failed to sell. Consider Microsoft's "Surface" tablet/netbooks. Remember the ads with music and the acrobatic demonstrations of its clever (and brightly colored) keyboard covers. Brilliant ad, on a par with Apple's best. Yet the Surface tanked (Round two now coming up).
So what is it about Apple? At this point, it's not so much about the hype as about the brand. Most people who use A
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Like Microsoft Surface RT? :)
EXACTLY!
Unlikely (Score:5, Insightful)
it could quiet some of the naysayers who have spent the past several months suggesting that Apple's best years are behind it.
If you know anything about Apple, it should be that nothing will really stop the fans and nothing will quiet the naysayers.
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Love the summary (Score:2, Insightful)
...rumors persisted that the initial production run of the device was relatively small in scope, which would make it far easier for Apple to sell out of its first batch.
I love the implication that Apple artificially limited supply in order to get the sold out headline when they sold 9 MILLION phones, almost double the record number of iPhone 5 units that were sold last year, well in excess of any other mobile sales figures. The initial production run was "relatively small" only in so much as it couldn't live up to demand - they sold 9 MILLION units in THREE DAYS. That isn't "relatively small" by any logical measure.
Blows my mind how crushing sales like that can still be s
Some perspective (Score:5, Interesting)
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Microsoft almost catches up (Score:5, Funny)
The problem with selling 5C units is (Score:2)
Re:The problem with selling 5C units is (Score:4, Informative)
More simulatenous worldwide release = higher sales (Score:5, Insightful)
Not bad (Score:2)
Nine million is still three times the fans of the most recent season of Keeping Up with the Kardashians.
iPhone fans need Android, and vice versa. (Score:4, Insightful)
Would the iPhone 5C exist if Android wasn't around? What would the prices and features be like? Same on Android. Fact is, consumers benefit from healthy competition in the smartphone market. It drives innovation and keeps prices in check. Why people want on side to fail is beyond me. I have an Android phone and am ecstatic to hear about the new iPhone success!
Microsoft releases Surface 2 (Score:2)
Yup (Score:4, Funny)
Yup. No one wants is 4" phone. No one.....except 9 million people.....but other than that no one.
Re: none of them are being held right!! (Score:3, Funny)
C has already been for cookie.
Re: none of them are being held right!! (Score:5, Funny)
That's good enough for me
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In the 1970s and early 1980s, Opel and Volkswagen were not known for the generous amount of equipment included as standard on their cars. Things like the passenger side wing mirror and IIRC even rear-window heating were optional extras on the base models.
Both companies sold models with the trim level indicated as 'C' (Golf C, Kadett C). Now, officially this was an abbreviation for 'Comfort', but as this was one of the lower-spec models, we always called them 'Crisis' instead.
Re:Sorry - Apple is still dying. (Score:5, Insightful)
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Feeble minds. (Score:5, Insightful)
People forget when Microsoft injected cash in Apple when it was going nowhere.
Mightier companies than Apple have fallen, and unfortunately for them it begins to look like they are living from a "perception marketing bubble".
Remember Nokia? It was washing the floor with the competition. Apple did very well to change some of the paradigms of the mobile phone platform, but they have contributed very little and the release of "cheaper" iPhones recognizes that the only differentiator now is in price not in features.
And that is the problem for Apple: to keep charging for a phone that does pretty much the same as any other you have to resort to gimmicks: selling golden phones for example, in technology that can take you only so far.
Proof: people wanted a phone just because it was golden. That is not innovation, is hype, sooner or later the bubble will burst and all the chickens will come home to roost.
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The C stands for Completely Out Of Ideas perhaps? ;)
It's all about the race to zero now I guess.
Sadly the race to the Infinite Inches Screen also continues.
Also Apple has the problem that it sells fashion (Score:2)
One of the reasons Apple has been so successful with their consumer electronics devices is they've made them fashionable to own. They didn't make the first MP3 player, and certainly not the first portable music player, but they made it cool. It was fashionable to be seen with an iPod, complete with white earbuds hanging out in front of your shirt (headphone companies had never had a demand for white earbuds before but suddenly they did). Their products were good at what they did too, but the thing that trul
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Apple is now around or over 3/4s of the USA postpay market. Are you really going to argue that those people are being driven by fashion or are particularly fashion conscious?
Hatbois have the problem of selling taotologies (Score:3)
Funny that no other technology company has been able to make their products fashionable or hire marketing firms.
You mean they made it better. First company to use 5 GB micro hard drives, when everyone else was using tiny flash storage or bulky notebook or even desktop hard drives. And used a 400 Mpbs interface when everyone else was using 11 Mpbs U
Re:Feeble minds. (Score:5, Interesting)
Actually, Apple didn't need Microsoft's money. It was instead a very cavalier move that was meant more as a signal to developers than anyone else - that if Microsoft was investing in Apple, they should too. Microsoft sold their shares a few years later, making a tidy profit from it.
And it worked because developers jumped on the Apple bandwagon again. It was the only way to avoid the death spiral of developers leaving, which force users to switch, which cause more developers to leave, etc. etc. etc. Not to mention that during this time, Office for Mac became a much preferred version of Office (over the Windows version) because Microsoft wasn't screwing around with stuff as much (it was way more Mac-like an application than Office Windows was a Windows application).
Actually, it is innovation. It's not technological innovation. In fact, Apple does not do technological innovation. They do practical innovation. And by that, I mean by making technology appropriate to the customer. There was nothing new in ANY Apple product that could not have been done by anyone else. Other than the fact that anyone else didn't do it.
The iMac proved form factor and colors were what people wanted - they wanted a PC that wasn't just a beige box that looked ugly - they wanted a PC that looked stylish and would fit just fine in the living room and not hidden away in a den or "computer room". They wanted a PC they could show off with.
And in a way, it really broke out from the PC modding craze where PC modders would add lights, windows and other bling to their computers to turn them from beige boxes to flashy things that Did Important Stuff. Just a bit more tasteful, though.
People wanted something different, Apple's experimenting with that - colorful phones, and a color few have ever seen in a phone. Which will pan out? Who knows, who cares. If the 5C sales a dismal, it means people didn't want color, so Apple won't bother trying to make colorful phones anymore. (If you don't try, you don't know).
Likewise, fingerprint sensors are old hat - they've been around for decades. But Touch ID is somewhat different - it puts the sensor on a surface people touch anyways so at the same time you're using the button, it's reading your fingerprint. It's somewhat "magical" in that most fingerprint sensors require you to use them explicitly - to unlock my PC, I need to slide my finger over the sensor. Here, I do a motion I'd do anyways, and it automatically reads and unlocks. It's like how in the movies the computer would recognize the user when they approach.
Siri wasn't new either. Just Apple put it in a "fun" form factor that most people were not aware of.
Touchscreens, ditto - but add a proximity sensor and it suddenly gets a whole lot more useful that you're not accidentally pushing onscreen objects. And you can do a "magical" thing and put a big fat "End Call" button on the screen so when they remove the phone from their face, it shows up and the user wonders if the phone is psychic. (It happened to me the first couple of times I used an iPhone. Then logic set in and the wonder goes away).
Too much technology is tied up in shit UIs and poor UXes because they're often invented by engineers (who are not designers or user interaction researchers), so they just toss crap up and expect people to know. For someone in the field, yes, great, but for the common user, they want to know if they can use it, and how useful it would be to them. Apple excels at that - where an engineer would go "Why would you do that? A user might need that option!" Apple goes "Well, our research shows that 90% of users don't care about it and amon
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exemplary commentary. wish I had mod points today
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As an open source developer, it could be summed up as "polish". Most "stuff" created by engineers lack polish and is horrible to use for non "target audience." Too much stuff is built for engineers to use and makes non techie people frustrated.
The thing is, the last 10% takes atleast 3x longer than the first 90%. Many engineers are jealous Apple has great success with taking stuff and polishing it.
Anyone getting bent that apple is selling a "polished turd" isn't being honest with th
Re:Feeble minds. (Score:4, Interesting)
Actually, Apple didn't need Microsoft's money. It was instead a very cavalier move that was meant more as a signal to developers than anyone else - that if Microsoft was investing in Apple, they should too.
It wasn't even that. Jobs called Gates up and said the UI lawsuits were bloody distracting for both companies. Jobs said - you know we will win in the end. Why don't we just call it quits, you throw in some change, a 10 year commitment on Office for the Mac, and we both move on.
Gates thought it over, said OK, and the deal was done.
Apple is in a different market these days (Score:2)
People forget when Microsoft injected cash in Apple when it was going nowhere.
That was when Apple was a computer company. Apple is now a phone, tablet and music device company, its in a different market. In the old computer market Apple had a lot of 800-lb gorillas as competitors, in the new devices market Apple is one of the 800-lb gorillas.
Yes Apple still sells computer but that is not their focus. The revenue largely comes from the devices side. Apple has even changed its name to remove "Computer".
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Is it Turing complete? Yes? So it's 1940s technology.
Re:Feeble minds. (Score:4, Informative)
The iPhone 5S is the 2nd fast phone on the market.
Educate yourself with the fact that, for now, it's the fastest [1]. The entry beating the A7 in many of those tests is a latest-gen desktop processing chip from Intel.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/7335/the-iphone-5s-review [anandtech.com]
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You are correct. The LG G2 beat it on one benchmark and I thought it was beating it on the others, rather than the iPhone losing to very high end Android tablets.
Didn't read carefully enough. I stand corrected.
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No. That Intel Bay Trail chip is part of the Atom family, intended for tablets and super-portable computers that require low power consumption.
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The iPhone 6.
Re:Sorry - Apple is still dying. (Score:5, Interesting)
Declared dead 63 times since April 1995 [google.com]
It's funny because the early quotes don't sound that much different than the recent ones:
1995
Unless somebody pulls a rabbit out of a hat, companies tend to have long glide slopes because of the installed bases. But Apple is just gliding down this slope and they're loosing market share every year. Things start to spiral down once you get under a certain threshold. And when developers no longer write applications for your computer, that's when it really starts to fall apart.
1996
These facts were summed up by Stan Dolberg of Forrester Research who said, "whether they stand alone or are acquired, Apple as we know it, is cooked." [Article found through David Pogue's column "The Desktop Critic: Reality Check 2000" in Macworld Magazine, where the quote still resides.]
One day Apple was a major technology company with assets to make any self-respecting techno-conglomerate salivate. The next day Apple was a chaotic mess without a strategic vision and certainly no future.
1997
I'm a Mac lover, but last year I switched over completely to Windoze because Apple couldn't build a reasonable laptop. I really want it to succeed, but I think the company's finished. Software vendors aren't turning out enough code to keep the Mac as a really good platform, even for family and school stuff. This whole NeXT decision seems to be a waste of time. It should have been sold to HP for $35 per share a year and a half ago.
2000
Steve Jobs can't run companies, but he has proven that he is a genius at motivating teams of people to produce extraordinary products. In fact, he may be the greatest project team leader in the history of high tech. That is no small achievement. But it does not translate to being the CEO of a giant corporation. Jobs failed the first time running Apple, failed at Next and only succeeded at Pixar because the company worked around him. He succeeded in the short term during this, his second, Apple tenure because he ran the whole company as a product team. That only works so long. Why is he a poor CEO? Because he's mercurial, insufficiently engaged by the more boring (but crucial) operations like distribution and, ultimately, because he's a pretty nasty piece of work. In the best of all scenarios, Jobs would hire a competent CEO and focus on product development, but his ego would soon lead him to undermine his replacement. Steve Jobs is Apple's Alcibiades: the company can't live without him, or with him.
Investors may be asking themselves what Apple can do to revive its fortunes. The likely answer, unfortunately, is that Steve Jobs has no white rabbits left in his hat. Apple appears to be facing a dead end in its business growth, the victim of mismanagement and unmitigated hubris. Apple lovers are a loyal bunch, and they'll probably stick with the company. But Jobs's dream of becoming the world's biggest computer-maker will likely remain just that -- a dream.
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9999/10000 is a fraction.
Actually there isn't that much difference between the two. It comes down to if you have Android Apps, then you stay on Android, or if you have iOS apps then you stay on iOS.
Re:Sorry - Apple is still dying. (Score:4, Insightful)
>then you stay on Android, or if you have iOS apps then you stay on iOS.
I think you make an interesting point, but I'm not sure how many people it's true for. Phone apps are so inexpensive that I could buy IOS equivalents of all my Android apps for well under $100 if Apple offered a better product for my use case than the large-screen Samsung Note-series phones I use. I'm not entrenched like I am with Windows on the PC.
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I think it's the perception of it, rather than the actual mathematical cost. Also it's a comfort zone thing, e.g. the time spent finding similar apps (some have the same name but are different in functionality, etc.)
Re:Sorry - Apple is still dying. (Score:4, Insightful)
Not me. I'd love to know who is still buying Apple devices when Android gizmos do pretty much the same thing for a fraction of the cost.
What you're experiencing is called cognitive dissonance. The idea that other people could prefer something that you yourself do not approve of can be difficult for those who cling to their beliefs as if they were some kind of religion. But companies aren't gods, and the choice of smart phone isn't a faith. They are products, and different people will make different choices based on what they value. Some will choose simply for the size or apparent superiority of the feature list, and others will choose based on finesse or ease any of a number of other factors. Those are their choices, and the fact that you made a different choice does not in any way mean that your choice should apply to everyone else.
Perhaps a bit of introspection on your part as to why you hold your beliefs so dear would be helpful.
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>>>> who is still buying Apple
>> you're experiencing...cognitive dissonance
Nah - I know individuals are buying, but I really I want to know which demographics are buying: existing Apple customers, new customers, age groups (seems like Harleys and iPhones are becoming Baby Boomer staples), income levels, etc.
Re:Sorry - Apple is still dying. (Score:5, Insightful)
What you're experiencing is called cognitive dissonance. The idea that other people could prefer something that you yourself do not approve of can be difficult for those who cling to their beliefs as if they were some kind of religion. But companies aren't gods, and the choice of smart phone isn't a faith. They are products, and different people will make different choices based on what they value. Some will choose simply for the size or apparent superiority of the feature list, and others will choose based on finesse or ease any of a number of other factors. Those are their choices, and the fact that you made a different choice does not in any way mean that your choice should apply to everyone else.
Perhaps a bit of introspection on your part as to why you hold your beliefs so dear would be helpful.
The same can be applied to Apple zealots like yourself. When there are superior products available for less money, why buy Apple/
Because it's not a superior product.
Woosh.... and, woosh.... I didn't see him make any statement that would peg him as an Apple fanboy to somebody who is not an Android fundamentalist, nor did he explicitly say that Apple is better than Android. All he did was make a (apparently correct) diagnosis of cognitive dissonance. His only major point is that different people define superior product in different ways and that you two should get over it. Everything you two have said in those posts, and most of what you are likely to say in any future posts on this subject, just confirms his diagnosis of cognitive dissonance.
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That fraction being 105/100 ?
The sony xperia costs more than the iphone 5s from O2 in the UK...
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Not me. I'd love to know who is still buying Apple devices when Android gizmos do pretty much the same thing for a fraction of the cost.
I'd love to know who is still buying steaks when burgers do pretty much the same thing for a fraction of the cost.
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People who don't care about gizmos, and who buy themselves into the Apple universe? It's funny how Apple has managed to create the "just phone". My uneducated guess is that for many the Apple devices are the tickets for easier living, although the paradise island is inclusive - but still the perceived cost is less than the manufactured (and also many ways real) satisfaction.
The strategy is unique: Apple keeps customers in a slow IV drip of improvements; provokes emotions from all sides and satisfies them in
Re:Sorry - Apple is still dying. (Score:5, Interesting)
Probably the same kind of people who buy Macs, even though Dell computers do the same thing for a fraction of the cost
Or the people who buy a Mercedes Benz, even though a Hyundai does the same thing for a fraction of the cost.
Of course, while all of these products do generally the same thing, the user experience can be quite different for people who notice this sort of thing.
For example, Apple is very concerned about conveying a touch experience that creates the illusion that the user is interacting directly with elements of the display, so Apple puts a lot of effort into minimizing the lag between touch input and response. For example, the previous generation, the iPhone 5, has half the latency of the fastest Android device [appglimpse.com]. And the iPhone 5s is benchmarking twice as fast as the iPhone 5 for some functions.
For some people, this sort of thing makes a big difference. They may not be able to put their finger on it, but they know that Apple's devices are more enjoyable to use than other devices that do the "same thing," just as a Mercedes is more enjoyable to drive than a Hyundai.
But while you'll spend a great deal more for a Mercedes, you can buy the iPhone 5s at nearly the same price as top-of-the-line competitors. This Apple's big achievement with the iPhone, and Apple continues to reap these huge sales numbers year after year--the ability to deliver a premium quality product at a price that is competitive with the knock-offs.
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That's terrific data. Just to add to that Microsoft has done research on latency using devices much to expensive, big... to be in a phone. Humans can detect and strongly prefer touch latency down to about 10ms. The numbers are staggering in terms of preference.
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Well the Japanese, rich Chinese, the people on expensive plans in Europe and something like 80% of American postpay customers. People for whom "pretty much the same thing" isn't good enough and had no intention of buying the Androids that were only "a fraction of the cost".
Re:Sorry - Apple is still dying. (Score:5, Insightful)
I'd love to know who is still buying Apple devices when Android gizmos do pretty much the same thing for a fraction of the cost.
I'm no Apple Fanboy (home PCs run Windows & phone is a 4s) but I can see why people stick with what they have. At our house we have 2 iPods, an iPad, and my (company-issued) iPhone. They all seamlessly integrate with our MP3 and MP4 libraries in iTunes, and my under-sixes know how to work them all. Changing ecosystems is a PITA.
Its the subsidized price that matters in the U.S. (Score:5, Insightful)
I'd love to know who is still buying Apple devices when Android gizmos do pretty much the same thing for a fraction of the cost.
Because the "fraction of the cost" argument doesn't apply to most people in the U.S. Its not the cost of the unsubsidized no-contract phone that most people see, its the cost of the subsidized phone with a contract. To most people an iPhone 5S is $200, a 5C is $100 and a 4S is free. Much like they see a Samsung Galaxy S4 for $200 rather than $600, and a Galaxy S III for free rather than $400.
...
Given the subsidy iOS and Android are basically equivalent in cost. What helps Apple is the app ecosystem. Apple gets more attention from developers, 4x the revenue per app download (over $0.08 on average vs under $0.02), less fragmentation to deal with (dev time and test time),
Re:Sorry - Apple is still dying. (Score:5, Insightful)
i carry a GS3 and an iphone 5 daily
my Galaxy does a few things that I care about like upload stuff to evernote from an app that the iphone doesn't, but the iphone is a much better product overall
better quality apps overall
better games with xbox quality graphics on some
galaxy s3 is laggy
iphone touch screen is better
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>> Besides the 9M people mentioned above?
That's the weird thing to me. Within my social circle of a couple of hundred folks, no one is tweeting, facebooking, or otherwise announcing that they've run out and bought the new phone. In fact, I've seen a few folks writing about this being the first upgrade cycle they might sit out, e.g., "hoping the '6' gives us something to look forward to"
I have to wonder if Apple is "channel stuffing" a bit here. For example:
http://gigaom.com/2013/05/09/what-apple-re [gigaom.com]
Re:Sorry - Apple is still dying. (Score:5, Insightful)
I know plenty of people that upgraded, just none of them bragged about in Facebook or Twitter, because they know no one really gives a shit what phone they are carrying.
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>> because they know no one really gives a shit what phone they are carrying. ...and that's a big reason why I think Apple's in trouble long term. If no one cares that you have an Apple phone anymore, even more people are going to drop back to commodity - usually Android - phones.
Re:Sorry - Apple is still dying. (Score:4, Interesting)
I wouldn't underestimate the huge inertia of sheepish customers who were actually "trained" to run out and buy the next phone iteration even if they don't need it.
This has nothing to do with intelligence, by the way. It's impulse-shopping, or, rather, compulsive shopping. The driving forces are varied:
- social status competition: Jack has bought the new thing, Jill must too.
- planned obsolescence perception: "the new phone appeared, therefore my current phone is OLD".
- bragging rights: "I bought this FIRST in my 'hood!"
- endorphin-inducing activities: "you DESERVE this phone, you will be HAPPY with this phone".
- hype (pretty much an ingredient for of all the above)
This is generally valid; it's not only for Apple products. However, Apple managed to perfect this method and instruct their customer base better than many others did. Besides, they were first to mass produce touchscreen phones and market them successfully.
Statistics *might* show (I am too lazy to research) that Android-based customers don't exhibit this behavior just as much, but there are reasons for it:
1. Some successfully resisted the iPhone fever when the first iPhone was released;
2. Some managed to uproot themselves from the Apple veggie garden and switch to another device (which is another form of resistance);
3. Some got pissed by some Apple decisions post-sell or simply didn't like some of the limitations (castrated BT stack, non-removable battery, lack of SD Card, etc) so moved to the next thing.
Therefore, the Android crowd is less "sheepish", so-to-speak. Again, this has little-to-nothing to do with intelligence, but mostly emotion and zeal.
To me, it's amazing that Apple's iPhone failed to establish a near-monopoly in the long term; they had all the prerequisites met, the touchscreen market was practically virgin at the time, all the world was theirs to invade and keep. My personal, maybe subjective opinion is that they failed in locking in the near-monopoly because:
- they kept the prices absurdly high;
- they inflexibly kept their walled garden shut;
- they ignored independent crowds which hate (by principle) to be locked in (aka "You HAVE to use iTunes" or "you HAVE to have a jailed phone");
- furthermore, they endlessly fought crowds' attempts to liberate the iPhone, alienating people more and more until many of them just said "fuck this, i'll switch".
Their very recent attempts to enter the cheaper market will probably be mildly successful, but I think it's a "too little, too late" attempt. They will likely grab a few % off the top (aka people who nearly could afford an iPhone 5S but were not quite there yet, financially), but the much larger "cheap smartphone" market will not care.
Re:Sorry - Apple is still dying. (Score:4, Informative)
To me, it's amazing that Apple's iPhone failed to establish a near-monopoly in the long term;
That is based on the assumption that monopoly was their goal; Apple isn't Microsoft. I think Apple's long term goals are more about making money than getting market domination. Would they like to sell more products? Yes, but they are not willing to sell things at a loss just for market share.
- they ignored independent crowds which hate (by principle) to be locked in (aka "You HAVE to use iTunes" or "you HAVE to have a jailed phone");
This the probably the same amount of people who want their phones to play Ogg. Also the walled garden was a selling point to many consumers who were tired of the Trojans and malware they got on other platforms. Yes you have to trust Apple, but the alternative isn't great.
Their very recent attempts to enter the cheaper market will probably be mildly successful, but I think it's a "too little, too late" attempt.
The 5C isn't an attempt to enter the cheap market. Pundits and analysts were all predicting it would; it's not. It's the same price as Apple prices on the older generation of phones.
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See, that's the funny thing about observer bias. If you are yourself unlikely to be in the market for the new iPhone, your social circle is probably skewed towards the same demographic as yourself, and therefore not a good indicator for the actual demand. I, on the other hand, have heard plenty of chatter on social media, as well as in actual in-person conversations about people planning on getting the new phone, whether to get the 5C or 5S, etc.
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They aren't channel stuffing. They have been steadily increasing wait times on their website. Why stuff when you can sell to customers in money in hand?
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Besides the 9M people mentioned above? ...
"9M units sold" != 9M people buying one.
There were already a shit-ton of these things on Ebay by Saturday afternoon.
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Or, someone bought 30 iPhones and hoped to sell them for a premium once Apple ran out.
I'm not denying that Apple made money, merely pointing out that "9 million units sold" does not mean 9 million people got one.
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Well, no, but 9M customers did.
And yes, one person can be represented as 100 customers... counter-intuitive but that's how it works.
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Well, no, but 9M customers did.
And yes, one person can be represented as 100 customers... counter-intuitive but that's how it works.
I suppose the lack of a reptilian brain is preventing me from understanding the marketing-speak here...
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Funny :)
In layman terms, for a company it doesn't matter whether their stock is bought by one person or 9 million.
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:iPhone 5s/5c more likely to break... (Score:5, Interesting)
Good point except the article finds Apples greatest competitor to be worse. Also part of the test that hurt the new iPhones score is the 'slide' test which is totally irrelevant as almost everyone has these phones in cases which reduce sliding to almost nothing. I have owned every iPhone, put every one in a case and never broke them even after 5 foot falls onto concrete. I do not even use those super heavy duty cases like the Otterbox, just a simple rubber sleeve.
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I only paid $125 for my Kyocera (full price, no contract or subsidy). The manual says it will withstand 30 minutes in 3 feet (that's a meter, folks) of water. iPhone won't do that! In fact, I doubt there's anything an $800 phone will do that mine won't... except give you a heart attack when it breaks.
I ruined my old Razr by dropping it in the water. I ruined my old LG by getting caught in a rain storm. Meanwhile, the screen on my daughter's $600 iPhone is cracked, she's thinking of moving to my carrier and
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> Android gizmos do pretty much the same thing
Can Android do real-time audio processing yet?
Hell, I'd pay for a ROM that let me turn my old 'Droid devices into useful musical instruments. SPC is about the only Android music-creation app I've found (thus far) that doesn't completely suck.
Re:Maybe it's just me, but... (Score:5, Informative)
iPhone 5s "T-Moble Contract Free" prices, are $649, $749, and $849, depending on the amount of storage. See iPhone 5s [apple.com]. The iPhone 5C prices are $549, $649. See iPhone 5c [apple.com].
Using an average price of $649, and 9 million units sold, that's $5.84 billion in revenue. That doesn't could any accessories (cases, car chargers, etc) or Apple Care sales.
GTA V made a relatively puny $1 billion. You know, chump change.
Re:Maybe it's just me, but... (Score:5, Informative)
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I have to post anon because I work for AT&T. As normal this time of year all employees are on red alert, no new vacations can be scheduled because of the iphone release, and many of use have to go on mandatory overtime.
And yet you are here posting on Slashdot in the middle of the Monday morning after the launch. Go to work, hippie! ;-)
Apple, realizing it was an incremental update, laid down some new rules for us. Many of our call centers could not sell it, and we had to force the majority of users that normally called into to order it, to use our website.
Or Apple, realizing they wouldn't be able to have enough phones ready, tried to funnel people towards the websites so that they wouldn't be so frustrated by having to wait until October for their new phones.
Oddly enough our response to the new Iphone was less than stellar as it had been in previous years, and we saw very few customers seeing it as a must have device. And we were shipped absurdly small amounts of units so we could sell out quickly.
And yet Apple in total sold several million more units in the first weekend than in any other weekend after an iPhone introduction.
You can still get them in places like Best Buy, Radio Shack and Walmart.
Not in the ones I checked, but I guess the situation may
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Considering Apple's profit margins are in the 20-25% range that's not likely. 20% of $5.84 billion is $1.168 billion - that's already more than the 1$ billion revenue for GTA V.
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Re:Maybe it's just me, but... (Score:4, Insightful)
video game sales are like movie tickets. people will buy it the first month its out and then forget about it
the iphone will be printing money for apple for the next 12 months. not like everyone is eligible for an upgrade now
Re:Maybe it's just me, but... (Score:4, Insightful)
You don't think that anyone will get GTA5 for Christmas?
Re:Maybe it's just me, but... (Score:4, Informative)
9 Million x 100 = 900 million not 9 billion
math fail!
if it was $20 profit per phone that would be $180 million profit
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They make way more than $100 per phone. Gross is is closer to $330 / phone. After all the expenses like marketing, R&D and Apple warranties ($99 is less than Apple's cost, so the phone has to offset the warranties) it is still well over $100 / phone.
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assuming everyone cares about the new GTA
i wouldn't have known about it except for the NYC subway ads. i don't have an xbox or PS3
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I'll let you laugh at mine! Fuck all you haters. My glorious gold iphone is the shit :)
Actually, it's pretty hard to tell it's the gold one because it spends its time in this sweet leather wallet case that looks like a pocket reference. http://twelvesouth.com/products/bookbook_iphone5/
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That's a cool case, but... how do you hold the phone up to your ear?
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You may be in the market for one of these [vertu.com]. Sadly no iOS but they do have "Exclusive ring tones and alerts played by the London Symphony Orchestra" and at $10K for an ugly case and very little functionality they make iPhones look cheap.
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Re:It is not Android...so.. (Score:4, Insightful)
The comment below yours says *shipped". Sold != shipped.
We don't care how many are in stores, we care how many were actually bought by end customers.
Re:It is not Android...so.. (Score:4, Informative)
Samsung claimed 20MM Galaxy 4's shipped in the first two months. Sales estimates for the time period were much lower though.
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Are you kidding or what?! Android fragmentation (was) an issue with newly released devices and units that are less than a year old. Anybody that is able to keep a smartphone for four years today is a rare case.
With the iPhone you get iOS 7 support for a 3-year old phone model (which granted could be purchased a month ago); the youngest phone sold new that is not supported by iOS 7 is the 3GS, which hasn't been available for a year, and when it was available it was free with contract.
I got a kick out of th
Re:fragmentation (Score:5, Insightful)
Apple will have most of the iPhones in the first world on IOS 7 within a month. Something like that just does not happen EVER with Android. There may be older devices out there but they are no longer with primary users and driving the IOS market and apps. Apple devs will just keep moving forward to the latest version as most customers do leaving no effective fragmentation in the market.
The adoption rate of IOS 7 is already past 35% in ONE WEEK. Android will be lucky to have over 35% on the latest version ever.
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What is new and revolutionary that came out of the tech industry in the past 50 years?
A bunch of incremental changes. Leading to the next step better. And every once and awhile a step back because they can do something useful and cheaper, and get a broad consumer market out of it.
Motion coprocessor is interesting, A7 too (Score:3)
There's nothing interesting or revolutionary about the iPhone 5.
The 5 is discontinued, its the 5S that is of interest now. Personally I find the mobility coprocessor interesting. Instead of frequently getting a GPS fix the 5S can get a fix less frequently and determine intermediary positions by the motion it senses via the motion processor while the CPU and GPS circuits are powered down. It could greatly reduce battery usage during some activities.
Also as a developer I think the A7 CPU is interesting, opening up some new possibilities for apps. I used to do some work
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Sure... One to share for the whole factory, maybe.
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apple just signed a deal with china mobile, the biggest operator there
giving a free iphone to every worker will be awesome advertising, not charity or gratitude
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who pays $900 for a smartphone?
its $649 in the USA plus 5% to 8.75% sales tax depending on where you live
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Since there's more Android phones sold, I'm sure you'll go troll the Android forums too, right?
Re:Huh? (Score:4, Insightful)
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I see. My mistake. So OP will go troll new Android sales news here on slashdot too then?