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iPhone FUD from the BBC?

Jim Campbell

Jim Campbell

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Dec 6, 2006
902
27
A World of my Own; UK
They should know better ... see the final paragraph of this story:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6264614.stm

I've already contacted them via this form:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/newswatch/ukfs/hi/newsid_3950000/newsid_3955200/3955259.stm

... And enquired by what definition they were calling the weekend's sales a "disappointment", and what sales figures they were using to make that judgement.

I have politely suggested that they may want to revise the paragraph in the absence of any definitive supporting evidence and a raft of anecdotal evidence and informed speculation to the contrary, particularly since unfounded speculation of this type is likely to prove something of a self-fulfilling prophecy where share price is concerned.

Nothing has happened. Perhaps if they get a few more comments? Over to you ...

Cheers!

Jim
 
There's been a noticeable downward trend in the quality of the reporting at the BBC for the last few years, in my humble opinion. I've asked them on many occasions to at least qualify (if they can't quantify) certain statements they make.

Having said that, I now realize I am able to qualify my first statement, because I have no examples to hand.

Vicious circle!
 
joelcsf said:
There's been a noticeable downward trend in the quality of the reporting at the BBC for the last few years, in my humble opinion. I've asked them on many occasions to at least qualify (if they can't quantify) certain statements they make.

Having said that, I now realize I am able to qualify my first statement, because I have no examples to hand.

Vicious circle!
Click to expand...

Yeah they are getting to be as bad as the NYT.
 
Well given the estimated figures thrown out, and the fact that apple rampantly predicted that these would sell out everywhere (no dice on that one) then the sales weren't stellar relative to the sales goals stated.
 
Funny, there a link on that page to the success of Apples first weekend iPhoone sales which in turn ends saying that the Universal deal has however cased a drop in share price.
 
feelthefire said:
Well given the estimated figures thrown out, and the fact that apple rampantly predicted that these would sell out everywhere (no dice on that one) then the sales weren't stellar relative to the sales goals stated.
Click to expand...

When did Apple predict a sellout in every store? And I'm curious, how many units do you believe they sold this weekend?
 
eddietr said:
When did Apple predict a sellout in every store? And I'm curious, how many units do you believe they sold this weekend?
Click to expand...

Steve himself said something along the lines of "they'll be tough to get" and advised to go to an AT&T store because apple stores were "going to be a madhouse." Oops. There weren't even LINES at many apple stores.

THe predictions are between 200,000 and 525,000 and I'm inclined to believe about 300,000 number. The most well stocked AT&T stores got 200 or less, so even if they all got that many (and most got far less, like 40) that's 360,000 iPhones. I don't think the 90 or so apple stores that sold out managed to sell another 150,000 iphones.
 
feelthefire said:
Well given the estimated figures thrown out, and the fact that apple rampantly predicted that these would sell out everywhere (no dice on that one) then the sales weren't stellar relative to the sales goals stated.
Click to expand...

I've been following this fairly closely, and I didn't read any such claim. The only perspective I can put on it is that Apple have stated a desire to sell 10 million units by the end of 2008.

If Apple have achieved anything like the 500,000 being bandied around, then that's 5% of an 18 month goal in the opening weekend ... I'm curious to understand how this is "disappointing". This the question I've asked the BBC and requested that they modify the statement unless they have some basis for it. I'm suggesting that others might want to ask them the same ...

Cheers!

Jim
 
feelthefire said:
Steve himself said something along the lines of "they'll be tough to get" and advised to go to an AT&T store because apple stores were "going to be a madhouse." Oops. There weren't even LINES at many apple stores.

THe predictions are between 200,000 and 525,000 and I'm inclined to believe about 300,000 number. The most well stocked AT&T stores got 200 or less, so even if they all got that many (and most got far less, like 40) that's 360,000 iPhones. I don't think the 90 or so apple stores that sold out managed to sell another 150,000 iphones.
Click to expand...

How many Apple stores did not have lines on Friday? The ones in metropolitan areas all had hundreds of people on Friday at 6pm.

And by what standard in the world is 300,000 phones in one weekend at that price not a success? Perhaps the RAZR was not a success either in your mind?

And how does Jobs saying that Apple stores would be a madhouse and "something along the lines of they'll be tough to get" equate to:

the fact that apple rampantly predicted that these would sell out everywhere
Click to expand...

The fact is when Jobs was asked by two different interviewers the week of the launch he said they had built a lot of phones and that he hoped it would be enough.

It turns out they got pretty close to enough, but in some areas it is still difficult to get one even today (5 days after the launch). Our local stores were down to a few 4GB units on Sunday. And most of our AT&T stores were sold out.

And what 90 apple store are you talking about? What about the other 80?
 
feelthefire said:
. There weren't even LINES at many apple stores.
Click to expand...

Really? Which ones? From what I've read ( granted, no concrete proof, just what I've read or have been told) 6PM Friday was pretty much a mad house at all of the Apple retail stores.. I am in the vicinity of 3 Apple stores and several AT&T stores and every one of them had significant lines of people all day Friday.. I'd love to know where these "many Apple stores" that didn't have lines were located..
 
princealfie said:
Yeah they are getting to be as bad as the NYT.
Click to expand...

Well, gosh ... a personal reply from th BBC:

"Thanks for your comments. Sales were high - but that is not the same as saying they met analysts' expectations. We have separately reported on the sales figures in http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6260618.stm"
Click to expand...

That's nice, but, unfortunately, I don't think that's good enough. I have e-mailed them again, asking them exactly which analysts predicted opening weekend sales in excess of 500,000 and thus justified their "disappointing" comment.

Again, a few follow-ups wouldn't hurt if anyone has a couple of minutes to spare.

Cheers!

Jim
 
Jim Campbell said:
Well, gosh ... a personal reply from th Again, a few follow-ups wouldn't hurt if anyone has a couple of minutes to spare.
Click to expand...

This must be a pro forma - I too received this by email.

I don't understand their justification either. Yes, they reported on sales in a separate article. No, they made no mention of "disappointing" (or "poor" etc) sales.
 
The only story for that Monday is 'In spite of spectacular sale of iPhone over the weekend, the stock did not do much because that expectation is already built into the stock price'. 78 cents change on a $121 stock is what should be characterized as noise.
 
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