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Apple's New Strategy: Sell Pricier iPhones First (wsj.com)
The staggered release gives the company a month to sell higher-end models without cheaper competition from itself. WSJ: This year, according to people familiar with Apple's production plans, the company prioritized production of its two pricier OLED models, the iPhone XS and XS Max, whose prices start at about $1,000. Both will hit stores Friday, followed five weeks later by the least expensive new model, the XR, which has an LCD screen and a starting price of $749. The staggered release gives Apple a month to sell the higher-end models without cheaper competition from itself. It also simplifies logistics and retail demands and could strengthen Apple's ability to forecast sales and production of all three models through the Christmas holidays, analysts and supply chain experts said. "It's sort of a Dutch auction," said Josh Lowitz, co-founder of research firm Consumer Intelligence Research Partners, referring to the practice of starting with a high asking price, then lowering it until a buyer accepts. "The people who are most committed will pay to get early access. Then you get to the people who are making a choice and may settle for the $750 phone. This could become the new normal."
This is a standard marketing strategy and not unique to Apple. You charge more for people who are willing to pay more (early adopters), then phase in a lower ASP as the demand curve shifts toward more typical mid and late stream adopters.
I don't really see a downside here, to me it seems like an excellent approach - by selling the top end models first, you are treating them as something more special.
Those who want to wait for the slightly lower priced Xr won't mind a delay much, and they can judge if it's worth spending more to have a nicer model earlier.
Personally I am really curious to see both the Xr and Xs Max side by side, to compare screens... I don't plan to get a phone update this year but I think seeing those two would be a really good way to contrast a great OLED against a great LCD screen. Some have said OLED screens do not appear to be quite as sharp and I think I can see what they are talking about, but the two latest larger models should present the best side by side comparison to really tell.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Market forces, affect Apple? Blasphemy!!
Any person that pays $1000 for a phone, Apple or not, is bat shit crazy, or bat shit rich.
That phones does not make miracles people!!! Wake up...
A $200 phone does 97% of what an $1000 phone can do.
Every company seems to be in love with big phones. Can anyone recommend an Android phone with a 4” (or thereabouts) screen? My wife currently has an iPhone SE, and she’s adamant that she doesn’t want a phone larger than that.
I’m going to keep using my 6S for as long as I practically can... but then I’ll probably move on from Apple too. Smartphones are basically commodities at this point... paying the ludicrous premium for any of these companies’ flagship phones is not something I’m willing to do.
#DeleteChrome
I'm a maker not a taker.
If you were really a maker you would seek great tools.
I've got no use for a spying
Apple does not spy. They do not need to as they sell hardware, not you.
, expensive
Even $1k for a powerful computing device you keep at your side for three+ years is not expensive.
closed-source
Sigh.
sealed battery
All batteries are sealed, or else there would be quite a mess.
Or did you mean you could remove the battery? Funny, you claim to be a "Maker" and yet you are afraid to open a phone case to change a battery manually (which you'd only have to do every 2-3 years)??
Or did you mean you want a second battery, again if you were actually a maker you'd appreciate the flexibility of carrying around an external battery that could recharge any number of different USB devices instead of some lame proprietary internal battery that you have to throw away with your phone.
crippled computing device with no keyboard.
In what way crippled? And rather than "no keyboard" is has an infinite number of keyboards.
If you really have to have a physical keyboard for a phone then why not get one? That's the nice thing about buying popular hardware, is that you can expand it almost in whatever way you like.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I think it might be noteworthy that they did exactly the opposite last year, with the iPhone 8/8+ available on 9/22 and the iPhone X available on 11/3. The most obvious explanation in that particular case was production delays... but what if it was less about practical issues and more about exploring the market? I mean, I know that I for one pre-ordered an iPhone X straightaway, and ignored the iPhone 8 entirely... but I dunno; maybe that mode of thinking only matches the crazy ones. (Or maybe not.) Perhaps most people want either whatever is available immediately (instant gratification) or whatever is cheapest. Last year, you could get both of those things at once... this year, you have to choose... but you can get their best options straightaway.
And both last year's roll-out and this year's roll-out are perfectly valid marketing methodologies.
The problem with this argument is the predecessors are still for sale. The model 7 and 7 plus, as well as the 8 and 8 plus. And at reduced prices over their introduction, and for the 7s a further reduction.
- Tjp
I am in wallow with my inner money grubbing capitalistic pig. ... Oink!
Once Blackberry gave up their secure messaging service cracks to Governments they immediately became less popular.