Iphone 4: Marketing scam at its best

[Anonymous]

iPhone 4. This changes everything. Again.........ahem

Is it just me or does anyone else think that the launch of any device should actually have stock?

I seem to remember that the 3g and 3gs had similar "sold out" issues and these weren't addressed either. I fail to believe that there are projected sales analysts who get paid a great deal of money to indicate the money to be made from the next release get it SO WRONG!

Its very easy to say "Iphone 4 will be released on this date blah, blah, blah" then give the country about 10% of the projected sales stock. This is just good marketing. Make the people believe they actually NEED this phone rather than desire one is the easy trick.

Sure the Iphone 4 has a great resolution. = You probably wont notice it BUT will try to show it to all your friends anyway.

Sure the Iphone 4 has a new 5meg camera and flash = That's been around for years and superseded by MANY other phones.

Sure the Iphone 4 has "facetime" = I seem to remember "3" trying to flog huge bricks of phones a few years ago flouting the age of video calling was the way forward. Anyone actually make or want to make video calls?

Sure the Iphone 4 has greater battery life = Probably the only thing Iphone users actually need....

Sure the Iphone 4 has reception issues = WTF is that about? How can ANY company allow a device to hit the market with obvious flaws? Alarm bells ringing...

Iphone 4 is a desirable object but in the end its a phone for calling people and listening to music. O2 need to make money and keep Apple happy, this is business and the customer is always second......

[Anonymous]

I both agree and disagree with this. Firstly I think that the time between when they finalise the design of the phone, testing, etc and when it enters full scale production is quite short so when it comes to the launch date they don't have enough units manufactured to fulfil the demand. I don't think Apple have for example 6 months to manufacture millions of devices before they launch them, they just cut it too close to the release date. And as the devices are usually released around the same time of year they can't move the release date.

There have been problems this time round with the shortage of screens which have hampered the manufacturing process of these devices, I read somewhere that instead of making 4 million of the devices (presumably that's per month), they could only make 2 million.

But on the other hand I do think that Apple are telling lies when they say we had no idea it was going to be this popular! They know that every year they release a new iPhone the number of people wanting it is going to be higher each year and run in to the hundreds of thousands. I think some of it is done on purpose to create demand for the product and to get the device in to the media. If it is done on purpose it's a clever strategy and obviously works for them.

[Anonymous]

It will undoubtedly work for them for Ipad2, Iphone 4GS, Ipad 3, Iphone 5 etc. etc, And I'm not bitter, just a realist.

[perksie]

Totally agree which is why I do not buy Apple products at all.

[Anonymous]

Totally agree which is why I do not buy Apple products at all.

thats called cutting your nose off to spite your face.

[perksie]

I don't know what makes you say that, very strange comment.

It's a free market and I happen to think there is better equipment available which suits my needs.

I cannot be bothered to chase the latest new toy, especially one which functions so poorly.

[Anonymous]

I agree with the initial post.

The iPhone is NOT a revolution. It does NOT change everything. The one advantage that it has (for now) over it's competitors is that screen. But it won't take long for the rest to catch up.

However, part of the reason why it is SOOOO popular is because of the percentage of owners who are out-and-out fanboys (I'm not saying that applies to everyone before you all start having a pop). These fanboys hang off every word that comes out of the Keynotes and would not be able to find the will to live, should they not be able to get their hands on Apple's latest and greatest.

The iPhone is a great all-round device, don't get me wrong. I WILL be getting one, because I want to use one for a few months, to see what they're like first hand. If I don't like it, I'll sell it. One good thing with iPhones is they always manage to hold their value pretty well. There are plenty of other options out there (HTC Desire, HTC EVO if it gets released in UK) that are equally capable.

This was posted on these forums earlier today - I think it sums up the whole fanboy culture pretty well (made in the US which is why it refers to the HTC EVO):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FL7yD-0pqZg

[Anonymous]

d) overhyped marketing makes it less appealing

Definitely agree with that one!