not enough staff, not enough widely distributed information about how to buy it, creating conditions of people waiting in 300 person lines for 6 hours, rolling out in multiple countries in parallel when supply demand is low, creating hype on how to get it, etc.
Their staff was simply not trained well enough to deal with the loads, their answers were one script that they were forced to read, without thinking, no exceptions, no dealing with real issues. Just fit into the cookie cutter and if you don't then get lost.
WAYWAYWAY underestimated the demand. 10M phones was ok, but if they were ahead on their supply issues, it probably could have been 15M. Look, after a month people are STILL waiting in lines at the stores. Really did not have their supply chains ramped up enough to handle demand or trust their marketing numbers enough to have enough channel build to support the demand. Did not handle their 6+ supply issues way ahead of the roll out date. Marketing underestimated the demand for the 6+ by a factor of 2 or 3...and in China it is thought that they will miss it by a larger factor.
Unequal distribution of supply. HIGHLY favoring apple stores first, anyone else second. Even if they were selling the same deal, such as the Verizon phones. Apple stores get supply daily, Verizon stores don't get supply all that often. Nor does Best buy, Target, walmart, radio shack, Sprint, etc. I know I called around a lot.
Even Apple can't work with itself. Their web site showed availability at the local store, so I called to check. The guy (who was in the Midwest) said they were out of stock. I did this over a couple of days. Finally I called the store itself....by demanding and demanding over and over (at least 10 times) to go to the store itself. there I asked "instock?, answer Yes. "Line?", answer No. Went and bought the phone in 15 minutes.
A lot of rough edges that they should have long ago worked out from a channel distribution model and supply chain perspective. Having demo models in stores the day they announced it so that people that were not sure could touch and feel them so they could get into the pre order line. I went on the 19th to see them, decided they were of enough quality and feel that I could use them and then ordered it right there. But my delivery date was mid to late October. Yet they still put phones out every day at the apple store.
Very uneven distribution overall and their sales teams get a huge fail. Worked on rollouts like this on 3-4 models to stores and this all can be better.
So, yea they failed....
I just hope that they gauge demand for Christmas and year end right and are able to meet the demand. |
