Although Apple seem to be seriously struggling to keep up with demand for the iPhone 3G, and are failing I may add, Apple still plans to introduce the iPhone 3G into 20 additional new countries in August, according to macworld.com.
Apparently the word came out during a quarterly conference call with financial analysts where chief operating officer Tim Cook and Peter Oppenheimer, chief financial officer, dismissed Apple’s results for the 3rd quarter.
21 countries were blessed with the iPhone 3G on July 11th, the dreaded iPhone Day, with France becoming the 22nd on July 17th.
Apparently, questions rising about the iPhone 3G supply and demand prompted Cook to mention Apple’s expansion plans. He pointed out that iPhone 3G shortages are a result of “overwhelming demand” and that Apple is confident they can boost production so they can supply a further 22 countries in August.
I’d say this is making a rod for their own back as Apple are struggling now to supply the first 20 countries. So we’ll see what happens in August.
There are worse things than selling all your inventory. Hope Apple can produce more iPhones than Nintendo can produce Wiis.
Funny how Apple is “failing” because inventories are sold out and demand is high. I think it would be worse to “succeed” like the Xbox did in its first year, with millions sitting in warehouses, dumped on distributors, unsold to end users due to low demand. Yet this is how MS claimed they met the 10 million mark “sold” by the end of the year.
However, Apple will actually sell as many as they can make, and there will be little excess in the distribution channel. this is called “demand side” business economics. I’m sure other phone makers are seething with envy right now.
I would characterize this as a “successful” product launch.
They seem to be keeping up in Canada, just got off the phone with Rogers, ordered a black 16GB model. It was out of stock yesterday, in stock today. Only took 10 minutes, 1 minute wait at the beginning and then choosing data plan ($30/mo/6GB), model, visual voice mail and kept existing voice plan. Will be delivered in 3 -5 days. Painless (until the bill comes . . . every month, month after month).
It would be considered a good thing to sell out one’s inventory, especially since demand is so great. What really matters is how quickly stock can be replenished. Two weeks might not be too bad, but a month would make potential buyers unhappy. Fortunately I don’t think it would be to the point of causing people to buy another maker’s handset.
I don’t know how Apple is going to meet all that iPhone demand for all those countries. If Foxconn is building other products for Apple, production and assembly lines must be surely taxed to their limits.