Is The iPhone's Mass Appeal Wanning?

Swagger · 06-19-2009, 02:49 PM

I was in an AT&T store earlier today well beyond the time it opens. I noticed that although some iPhones were being sold there was most certainly no line or frenzy. I thought to myself wow the AT&T salesperson was very aggressive in trying to sale the iPhone. I remember a time when the iPhone sold itself.

I took a quick tour of the new iPhone and then decided not to purchase. I love my aluminum iPhone (which is naked and in mint condition). I just couldn't see switching to plastic. The v1 iPhone is so elegant when carried naked. Everytime I look at my v1 iPhone I see strength. I do not see that in the current models .

I also notice that for this to be an iPhone launch day not much chat in the forum about the new iPhone.

*Is the reason the loss of appeal?

*Is the reason an ever worsening economy?

*Is the reason the The Palm Pre with it's pricing plan and features are a better buy?

*Is the reason the cost structure of owning an iPhone?

*Is the reason the lack of consumer choice of carrier?

*Is the reason much more conservative family budgets?

As a matter of fact any or all of those reasons could be the reason the AT&T store I visited at 1:45pm still had a large inventory of iPhone's to sale. What are your thoughts? Mark

psylichon · 06-19-2009, 02:50 PM

No. Most people preordered.

Swagger · 06-19-2009, 04:07 PM

Originally Posted by psylichon

No. Most people preordered.

Actually that is my whole point. Is the trend shifting to people can wait for their new toy. What happened to the flair of I need it on day one? Mark

Mike12000 · 06-19-2009, 05:01 PM

Originally Posted by Swagger

Actually that is my whole point. Is the trend shifting to people can wait for their new toy. What happened to the flair of I need it on day one? Mark

It still seems to be alive and well here!

I just called my AT&T store and they don't have any 32 GB's available. It's a small town region though and they didn't get a large shipment for launch day. The rep said if I wanted one my best bet would be to preorder. They won't have any for over-the-counter sales until all the preorders are filled. I think when all's said and done, Apple will be pleased with initial sales. The buzz in the media is overwhelmingly positive. I'd bet sales are crisp.

I'm keeping my v1 for now, but the only reason is because there's no 3G service in the area.

beachtrader · 06-19-2009, 05:17 PM

Originally Posted by Swagger

Actually that is my whole point. Is the trend shifting to people can wait for their new toy. What happened to the flair of I need it on day one? Mark

If you pre-ordered it was shipped to your home and you got it on the day of the release. There isn't a lot of lines in store because people are getting them at their home. They are not waiting in lines and getting "their new toy" on day one.

Plus, you now have multiple outlets to get iPhones. Apple store, ATT store, Best Buy, Wal Mart. Every town has a lot of these different stores so you don't have the huge lines in a few concentrated areas anymore. Multiple outlets to buy a product means no mass rush at a location.

Napoleon_PhoneApart · 06-19-2009, 05:28 PM

Wow. I thought the answer was self-evident: Home shipping and in-store reservations. I read that Apple is poised to sell at least one million 3GSs this weekend.

chris · 06-19-2009, 05:53 PM

Originally Posted by Swagger

Actually that is my whole point. Is the trend shifting to people can wait for their new toy. What happened to the flair of I need it on day one? Mark

If Apple wanted lines and PR, they'd have it. I think this is just another sign that we're seeing a company that feels pretty comfortable with their "lead" if you will.

This is an incremental update. When they want to stir the pot again, they'll stir it with a change to the design.

Think about this, would any company even think of putting out a new phone that looked identical to the previous phone? Can you imagine if Palm released the Palm Pre S. Think of how the tech media would handle that?

shutter13 · 06-19-2009, 06:04 PM

According to iPhone Alley, the 3 S sold more units for launch than the 3G last year. We didn't see the lines because of the preorders.

nfl46 · 06-19-2009, 07:39 PM

The 3G S launch is expected to sell over one million in the THREE days.

Its on track to outsell the 3G launch.

So, the answer to your question would be HELL NO.

And a lot of people preordered.

AT&T: iPhone 3G S pre-orders in the "hundreds of thousands"

Although some of its retail stores on the east coast have already run dry of their initial allotment of iPhone 3G Ss, Apple's exclusive U.S. wireless provider AT&T tells AppleInsider that it sold "hundreds of thousands" of the new touch-screen handset during its online pre-order process.

"[AT&T] sold hundreds of thousands through our preorder process prior to the launch, which exceeded our own expectations for iPhone 3G S," Michael Coe, a representative in the carrier's corporate communications department, wrote in an email Friday. "Just wanted to make sure you have this information as well."

Although Coe declined to comment on whether that figure exceed 300,000 units, the "hundreds of thousands" statistic alone is likely to put first-weekend iPhone 3G S unit sales estimates from many Wall Street analysts underwater.

In a research note issued to clients earlier this week, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster estimated that Apple would sell roughly half a million iPhone 3G Ss during its first weekend on the market.

With Apple's own pre-order process likely to have trumped AT&T's, it now appears that the Cupertino-based company will handily sell more than a million devices during the first three days, which would make the iPhone 3G S launch more successful than the iPhone 3G launch last year.

Adding further support to this theory are comments coming out of Apple's UK wireless provider O2. In a blog post Friday, the carrier reported that by lunchtime local time, it had sold more iPhone 3G S handsets than it sold iPhone 3G devices on launch day last year.

"Sales are still going strong and we expect to have sold 50% more iPhone 3G S handsets than last year’s launch by the close of business today," a representative for O2 said. "Footfall to our shops this morning was 10 times higher than an average day and our online site saw a 150% increase in traffic."

The wireless provider also noted that, thus far, the black iPhone 3G S is outselling the white one by 3:1.

Despite the seemingly shorter lines at the iPhone 3G S, it seems that the early sales number estimates for the iPhone 3G S launch could even exceed the iPhone 3G launch. Apple managed to sell 1 million of the iPhone 3Gs during its launch weekend last year. Unlike last year, however, Apple and AT&T have allowed pre-orders for the latest iPhone device.

Europa · 06-19-2009, 07:53 PM

LOL!!!

Seriously???

No loss of appeal.

Last year I had to get up at 0200, drive to Vegas, find an AT&T Store, get in line, and stand around for 3.5 hours. This year, I spent 10 minutes preordering online, got FREE shipping, stayed up late last night, slept in until 11:00 this morning, when I was awoken by the UPS guy rap rap rapping at my door.

Do the math...no loss of appeal

I do LOVE the palm pre 3D facebook commercial though (seriously). I just downloaded that song.