Yesterday, Apple began offering in-store pickup for online orders of the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c, giving users the ability to check availability at their local Apple retail stores and place orders for immediate pickup at the stores.
But just 24 hours later, Apple has already removed the in-store pickup option for iPhone 5s orders, leaving shoppers with the options of placing online orders for delivery in October or visiting their local retail stores on their own to check on availability. In-store pickup of online orders remains available for iPhone 5c models.
The reason for the quick backtracking on the iPhone 5s in-store pickup option is unknown, although the company continues to experience very tight supplies, particularly of silver and gold models. With some Apple retail stores still experiencing daily lines of customers hoping to purchase from new iPhone 5s shipments arriving at the stores and even having to turn away customers, the company may simply have found that availability of in-store pickup is not yet broad enough to warrant offering the service for the iPhone 5s.
(Thanks, José!)
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Now that Apple has the trade-in program for new iPhone purchases it gets tricky when you want to do this with an online order with in-store pickup. I ordered mine online, with the intention of trading in my iPhone 4, and apparently there is no way to do the trade it in if you have already ordered the phone and have the trade in value go towards the purchase of the new iPhone.
Yes, they could have returned the phone in-store and re-purchase the phone on the spot, but if you are upgrading because you are eligible to upgrade, when you return the phone you may not immediately be eligible for an upgrade at that time. There was some 24 to 48 wait period for the AT&T system to reset my eligibility after the return.
At the very least, Apple needs to add a checkbox or something when you are ordering online and picking up in-store and you want to trade your phone in.
Overall, the experience took over an hour to pickup the phone that I had already ordered online.
What difference does it make, either everybody has to wait, or some people have to wait.
Also the retail stores can only sell so many in a day, releasing a supply that would totally fill the demand would cause utter chaos...
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And be stuck making twice as many phones as they can sell come December.
Apple wanted to sell good number of phones in current quarter which is ending on 9/30
They can only build so many of them each day.
That argument only makes sense if this is new behavior for Apple. It isn't. This ties in with Apple's whole approach to product launches they've done for over a decade. Before the iPod even. Mitigate the downward effect an announcement has on a quarter's sales by launching in the same quarter if at all possible. Only pre-announce if sales are already crap (MacPro), or you are going to hurt competitors more than yourself (iPhone 2G announce).
And if you want to launch in time for holiday, you need to do it in Sept/Oct. More time for the iPhone gives Apple a chance to flush peak demand out and build up stock before November. The iPad will need to be out next month if they want it available for Holiday.
Now that's interesting. If so, it would make sense not to offer that service for items where supply is this constricted, because it further divides what little inventory exists.
Oddly enough, even though this is the opposite, it makes even more sense as a reason to stop.
If you want to go with the "deliberate shortage" theory, it *would* make a kind of sense to have only the number of phones you need to sell this quarter to look good available, and let the rest count for the next one. I'm certainly not saying that's their goal, especially given that next quarter includes Christmas anyway so it hardly needs the extra boost, but it's a rational possibility.
Same here. Had the 32 GB 5C been 500-550, I'd have got it. But if the phone's going to be 650 anyway
I always feel guilty doing that sort of thing. Not ordering online while staining in line, but ordering a replacement from the device it's replacing. Yes, I know that's irrational.
Many people do, in fact, have more than one phone on an account. What would you have them do? The limit of two should cut down significantly on reselling while only inconveniencing those legitimate customers who want to upgrade three or more.
Chances are they *can't* do that to their carriers, and it would be foolish to do it to their own physical stores. Besides, some people prefer to buy in person, even if it means waiting and, as for certain movie openings, some apparently enjoy the wait itself as a sort of event.
Which is a better, when you cannot have both: accuracy or precision?
Do I understand correctly that you are complaining BOTH that they offered this service AND that they no longer do?
Somehow I doubt you'd feel that way if your country was one of those cut.