IPHONE 5.0 INVENTORY LAUNCH GAME ASSUAGED BY VERIZON IPHONE 4 HOLDBACK
Posted April 17, 2011
April 16, 2011
If Apple’s recent major launches are any indication, the primary reason for any iPhone 5 release date delay would be Apple’s inability to assemble enough inventory for launch. The iPad 2 was so lacking in initial inventory that Apple is still attempting to catch up after many around the country stood in line for hours on launch day only to go home empty handed. But one of the areas in which Apple went wrong with the iPad 2 launch is that it immediately took the original iPad off the market at a time when there weren’t nearly enough iPad 2 units to go around. Consumers’ only choice, then, was to buy nothing (or buy an iPad competitor, but that’s something of a comical thought). The iPhone 5, however, will be a different beast. Because unless Apple is planning on deviating from its long standing iPhone strategy, the arrival of the iPhone 5 won’t mean the end of the original iPhone 4 or the Verizon iPhone 4. In fact, both will become more accessible than ever.
Apple’s current iPhone lineup as the iPhone 4 available for $200 to $300 on both carriers, while the iPhone 3GS is still around at $49 for ATT customers (Verizon wasn’t in the picture during the 3GS era, and so there’s no leftover CDMA Verizon iPhone 3GS today). Once the iPhone 5 arrives, both iPhone 4 models should take on the role of bargain bin alternative, at either $99 or $49. And this means that even as the iPhone 5 is launching at $200 and up, those who’ve wanted an iPhone 4 but didn’t want to plunk down that much for it may in fact be lining up to get the sub-$100 iPhone 4 and not the newly touted iPhone 5. It also means that those who just happen to be buying an iPhone in the early days of the iPhone 5 era, who don’t much care which iPhone model they end up with, could ultimately decide they want the iPhone 4 despite not having had any preconceived notions heading in the door. And if the iPhone 5 happens to be in short supply at the time, those users will almost certainly go home with the cheaper iPhone 4 instead.
So what does this have to do with the iPhone 5 release date? What mucked up the iPad 2 launch was the lack of any other iPad on hand for those who arrived after the iPad 2 had sold out. But with the iPhone 5 launch, that won’t happen. The iPhone 4 and Verizon iPhone 4 will be there to catch those sales which weren’t generation-specific to begin with. That means Apple can in fact launch the iPhone 5 even at a time in which it hasn’t yet built up a full load of initial inventory. It may still not be the smartest idea (how many consecutive launches can Apple’s inventory truck fail to show up for?), but it’s doable. And that alone may give hope to the notion that the iPhone 5 will still launch sooner than later. Here’s more on the iPhone 5.
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Article source: http://www.beatweek.com/news/8438-iphone-5.0-inventory-launch-game-assuaged-by-verizon-iphone-4-holdback/