Analyst: There are LOADS of iPhone 5s, Apple is keeping them back
Treat the fanbois mean, keep 'em keen
Apple is not short on iPhone 5s but is likely to be holding them back artificially for commercial reasons, an analyst said today.
Walter Piecyk of Research Group BTIG said that the three to four week delay on online iPhone orders was a commercial wheeze rather than an indicator of throttling in the supply chain.
Piecyk was speaking after comments from Hon Hai chief Terry Gou last week, who maintained that his assembling factories were struggling to produce the new devices quickly enough to fulfill all of Apple's orders.
Piecyk offered little insight into the manufacturing process, but did say that he believes supply and demand for the flagship phone is "in balance" and improving.
The three to four week delivery delays on iPhone 5 orders from the online Apple Store, leading to queues for the device that apparently persist in US shops, are part of a cunning ploy to get fanbois to spend more money instore, the BTIG analyst said.
He maintains that Apple's option to order kit online and pick it up the next day instore proves that Apple is not short of the phones. Also, anyone ordering a phone through a carrier can get hold of one in a week, he said.
Piecyk argues that Apple wants to encourage customers to step into their retail stores, because if they do, they are much more likely to pick up an accessory or two - or even another iOS device.
It's just another example of commercial thinking from Cupertino, he writes:
[...] Long store lines and long ship times generate excitement in the press around new product launches [...] In addition, the ability to purchase an iPhone 5 or iPad Mini the night before on the website for a next day pick-up in the store has been a new and popular strategy.
Sprint’s CFO has noted that the reservation policy has increased the purchase of accessory sales in their stores. Some might suggest this is a focus on profits over customer friendliness, not unlike the criticisms over Apple’s choice to dump Google Maps. Whatever the reason, the ship times and reservation do not appear to be the only way to determine supply constraints and it appears that supply should not be an issue this quarter.
Piecyk adds that Apple is on track to hit sales forecasts of 47.5 million iPhone 5s sold this quarter as estimated by BTIG. The only numbers Apple has released so far are 5 million unit sales in the first weekend. ®
Bootnote
We would like to point out that our sources predicted this some time ago.
COMMENTS
Could it be...
That the iPhone does everything that these 'fanbois' want out of a phone. PErhaps that is one of the reasons that they keep on buying them?
As with the majority of PC's, they are more than capable of doing the job(s) that the majority of owners want from them. I wish that more people would recognize that fact and stop this endless slagging off of kit that other people shell out hard cash for. If everyone used the same device then would that manufacturer ever bring out a new model. 'You can have any color you like as long as it is black' (Henry Ford)
Please note that I don't own an iPhone but a decrepit HTC Android one. However it does everything I want from a phone.
yeah, and Obama is not an American, and Lord Lucan is alive
oh ffs.
Apple doesn't get to make millions of phones in advance because they choose to keep new models under wrap until the announcement (and sell them soon afterwards). The secrecy bit didn't go that well this time (many component leaks), but on the whole it has worked well for them. Other companies demo prototypes months before they become available, hoping to steal other's thunder but potentially Osborneing themselves. This does mean they have a big ramp-up to do, even if launches are a bit staged across countries.
Once they are out, Apple has no interest in making less available then there is demand for. Apple has a very limited number of models and changes the lineup fewer times than the opposition. As each model is on the market, newer models from the competition arrive, possibly comparing more favourably with the latest iPhone feature/price-wise. So if I was Apple, I'd compete at the time when my advantage was maximised, i.e. early on.
Imagine the opposite scenario where Apple stores are full of iPhones, and the carriers have none. That would go down well ...
Reality is, logistics & supply chain is hard. Finding an analyst with two braincells ....
"SGIII owners, laugh, hardly and loudly at iPhone 5 buyers who are q'ing to shell out fortuen for a handset that still can't do what your handset does!
Hardly very clever, these fanbitches."
You are clearly a role model for native intelligence and effective education. What a strange, angry, incoherent little man you are. It must be weird for so much of your self-image to revolve around your choice of mobile phone.
The Anal-lyst strikes again
More pontificating from a professional speculator who - without breaking insider trading laws - has about the same insight as the rest of us.
You preaching about your choice of device like some...now what are they called again? Oh yes, FANBOIs!
If the phone does what they like and they're happy to pay, live and let live is what I say. I like pizza and pasta but I hate raw tomatoes. When you grow up, you obviously sound about 11 years old, you'll learn that everyone is different and everyone has different likes and dislikes.
Oh and I am a Samsung Android owner. I just buy a device because I spent time weighing up it's pros and cons against my current needs and wants. Next year when my contract ends I might well buy an iPhone or an Android, who knows, we'll have to wait and see what is appropriate at the time I need to buy one.
Brand loyalty is the biggest pile of utter shit to come about during 21st Century living! Like the CEO of Samsung, Apple, Nokia, HTC, VW, BMW, Honda, et al, give two flying money's fucks about whether you like their product or not, they simply need you to buy it, after that they couldn't care less if your brains melted out of your ears while using their product.
