iPhone 3G shortage a good thing for Apple?
The iPhone 3G is obviously in short supply, but Macworld reports that that’s not necessarily bad for Apple. Over one million iPhones were sold in the first three days. It took the original iPhone 74 days to reach one million sold.
I’m sure many of you have seen the lines that are still adorning the front of Apple Stores across America. This is very different from the original launch of the iPhone, which was available days after launch. Almost all Apple Stores remain void of any iPhone 3G’s in stock, and AT&T isn’t a whole lot better. They are recommending their customers use the direct fulfillment plan, and estimate a wait of about two weeks for an iPhone 3G.
According to the article, Kevin OMarah, chief strategist at AMR Research, speculates that Apple planned to have iPhone 3Gs in short supply. He goes on to express that Apple needs to “ramp up their supply” in order to make it to the self-imposed goal of 10 million iPhones sold.
Apple must be confident of their supply chain, because they are releasing the iPhone 3G on schedule in 20 more countries on August 22.
I personally see the shortage as Apple’s strategy to sell more iPhone 3Gs. Every day, it seems that Apple is in the news with their continued shortages and lines filled with hopeful customers waiting to get their hands on the new iPhone 3G.
O’Marah goes on to say that excess is not a bad thing, just as long as iPhone 3Gs don’t exceed demand by too much. That’s the trick, isn’t it?
Via Macworld.
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Nothing that the media reports about Apple is necessarily a good thing. They’ll always find a way to spin it into something negative. If there was plenty of iPhone stock, they’d say sales were not up to expectations. If Apple runs out of iPhone stock, they say that Apple is losing sales due to manufacturing shortages. They’re just speculating bastards who really know very little, but try to make a big thing out of reporting with very few facts. Foxconn could have plenty of assembled iPhones ready, but maybe they just can’t box them fast enough. The media isn’t privy to the supply chain or production schedules.
Apple is probably running into peak demand shortages that will have nothing to do with not producing enough iPhones by the end of the year to break the 10 million mark. Earlier this year it was reported that Apple ordered 3 million and then 7 million iPhones for this year. If Apple only got 5 million iPhone 3gs by the end of the year that would still put them over the 10 million mark. Production should easily be distributed over the remaining months. I guessing that Foxconn couldn’t ramp up 3 million iPhones in a few weeks, that’s all.
I’m sorry, but I have to disagree with you on this being a planned shortage orchestrated by Apple for publicity. I doubt if it would be necessary to boost iPhone sales in that manner, but that’s just my viewpoint.
on July 25, 2008 at 11:40 PM - LINKYou make some good points. I don’t work for Apple, so I’ll never know whether or not they truly planned a shortage or not, but I’m sure Apple isn’t minding the free publicity that it’s getting them. Alternatively, if Apple had enough iPhone 3Gs to meet the current demand, the sales numbers would probably be newsworthy as well, and again with the free publicity. Maybe it’s a strategy, but as you point out, it definitely could be a real supply issue. Either way, I think Apple wins in the end. I also agree with you that they most likely will hit their goal of 10 million iPhones sold before the end of the year.
on July 26, 2008 at 01:31 AM - LINK