Apple denies creating artificial product shortages for hype
Speaking to analysts and members of the press following the release of the company's quarterly earnings report, Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook said Apple does not intentionally build a small number of units to generate hype. Gene Munster with Piper Jaffray prompted the discussion when he asked Cook why Apple is always running out of products after a launch.
"We do not purposely create a shortage for buzz," Cook said, adding that all of the company's suppliers are working hard to fulfill orders.
Apple has been faced with a shortage of iPhone 4 units after its launch in late June, and Cook said that the company has struggled to keep up with demand. "We are selling every unit we can make," he said.
The case was different with the iPad, though, which was a new product category where Apple was unsure how many they would sell. Apple initially planned to make a million iPads per month, a number that Cook said was far more aggressive than most believed Apple could sell in the first year.
The company announced Tuesday that it has already sold 3.27 million iPads since the device went on sale. But Apple was simply caught off-guard by the demand for the iPad, Cook said.
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Apple does not purposely create artificial product shortages to garner free press and generate hype among consumers, executives with the company said during Tuesday's quarterly earnings conference call.
What happened to the response "are you nuts?". That seemed like a better answer to the suggestion that Apple creates a shortage for hype. They are having to crank out 1 million phones a week. That's hard for any single company to maintain.
Apple does not purposely create artificial product shortages to garner free press and generate hype among consumers, executives with the company said during Tuesday's quarterly earnings conference call.
Speaking to analysts and members of the press following the release of the company's quarterly earnings report, Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook said Apple does not intentionally build a small number of units to generate hype. Gene Munster with Piper Jaffray prompted the discussion when he asked Cook why Apple is always running out of products after a launch.
"We do not purposely create a shortage for buzz," Cook said, adding that all of the company's suppliers are working hard to fulfill orders.
Apple has been faced with a shortage of iPhone 4 units after its launch in late June, and Cook said that the company has struggled to keep up with demand. "We are selling every unit we can make," he said.
The case was different with the iPad, though, which was a new product category where Apple was unsure how many they would sell. Apple initially planned to make a million iPads per month, a number that Cook said was far more aggressive than most believed Apple could sell in the first year.
The company announced Tuesday that it has already sold 3.27 million iPads since the device went on sale. But Apple was simply caught off-guard by the demand for the iPad, Cook said.
[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]
Its not a shortage...its just the demand is so large...I think its hard to judge this
I believe him but what would we expect him to say if they DID intentionally create the shortages to build hype. Yeah we do it?
They sell frackin' millions of devices in a typical month. It's hard to build much more.
Consider the source of how this discussion started.
That explains it.