Amid reports of iPhone 5 pre-orders selling out just hours into its announcement and of network carriers almost running out of pre-order stocks, some market pundits have raised questions over the company's projected business of its sixth-generation smartphone.
Apple has reportedly said that the pre-order response for iPhone 5 from customers has been "incredible". The stocks were virtually sold out just hours after the company opened the pre-order windows last Friday, forcing the Cupertino-based phone maker to push the shipping timeframe from two to three weeks.
Hence, approaching an iStore on Sept 21, when iPhone 5 will go for sales, seems to be the only immediate option for Apple fans to get hold of the device if they are unable to wait for a few weeks more. Market and technology experts suspect whether the move is one of Apple's deliberate marketing strategies.
Meanwhile, US service provider AT&T claimed that iPhone 5 has set a record, saying that it's the fastest-selling smartphone ever offered by Apple. But both Apple and AT&T are yet to provide any statistical evidence to support their claims on iPhone 5's whopping business.
On the other hand, tech gurus and trade analysts forecasted that Apple's new iPhone would sell over ten million units just a week into the markets.Taking the hype further, JP Morgan said that the iPhone 5 sales would boost the troubled US economy up by 0.05 percent.
The pre and post iPhone 5 market launch speculations have thus created a larger market and an unrelenting hysteria in the tech world, adding more to Apple's image.
Long standing queues across iPhone stores on the launch day is a usual sight in the US and Europe and a trend which experts say that Apple cannot afford to lose, given that it would eventually have an impact on its brand value.
In other words, long queues at iPhone stores are part of Apple's marketing strategies.
"Absolutely. It's all part of the spectacle that Apple loves to create around its products and it's in a good position to amplify this because Apple has its own stores making it a very visible spectacle," Iain McDonald, founder of digital marketing agency Amnesia, was quoted by the Sydney Morning Herald.
"The irony is that Apple are probably in a position where they can't afford not to have the queues outside at launch. It has become part of their brand and if there were no lines, that could be considered a failure to launch and may have a huge impact on subsequent sales," he added.
Australian journalist Matthew Powell opined that reports of a large scale pre-order business would help Apple make more headlines.
"By doing the allocations this way, Apple gets two stories - 'pre-orders sellout' and 'queues around the block on launch day'. If it isn't deliberate it's awfully fortuitous," he told Sydney Morning Herald.
Is Apple simply creating untrue hype in order to draw customers to its iStores? Only the company's statistical chart of pre-orders and records of sales can clear the rumours.
Presently, Galaxy S3 holds the record of the highest pre-ordered gadget in history. The pre-orders for Samsung's latest Android phone reportedly breached ten million a few days into its announcement.
