Over the past few days, there’s been plenty of debate as to whether Apple had adopted a decidedly BlackBerry-esque marketing plan for the iPhone 5S and 5C. Not only did the Cupertino clan refuse to accept pre-orders this year, but talk of supplies being wipes out just two hours after the new iPhones went on sale smacked of a stock shortage.
And some went so far as to accuse Apple of deliberately stockpiling too few units in order to sell out as early as possible and summarily drive demand even higher. It’s a trick that’s been known to work wonders in the past, but one we all cottoned onto some time ago.
Sadly for Apple’s doubters, humble pie is well and truly on the menu tonight as Cook and Co. have apparently done it again. Not only have the weekend’s official iPhone sales stats silenced the critics, they’ve broken records and astonished the lot of us.
In what CEO Tim Cook has called the firm’s “best iPhone launch yet” a staggering 9 million units have already flown out in just three days. We’ve yet to learn the exact figures in terms of iPhone 5S versus 5C sales, but as the 5S was the first to sell out in most parts it’s largely a given that it will have chalked up the lion’s share for Apple.
Third-party analytical groups have already predicted that the iPhone 5S it outselling the 5C by three to one, which comes as little surprise when factoring in the rather minor price difference between the two.
The number of combined sales represents an all-time record for iPhone sales during an opening weekend, which is to some extent the precise opposite to what had been expected by some of the firm’s less optimistic critics.
“The demand for the new iPhones has been incredible, and while we’ve sold out of our initial supply of iPhone 5S, stores continue to receive new iPhone shipments regularly,” read the statement from Tim Cook earlier today.
“We appreciate everyone’s patience and are working hard to build enough new iPhones for everyone.”
And it doesn’t end there either – we’re also told that iOS 7 is likewise making its way into the record books. Despite having received a somewhat mixed response so far, some 200 million users have already downloaded and installed the latest build of Apple’s iconic OS, making it the fastest upgrade of an OS in the history of mobile technology, so says Apple.
The news has driven Apple’s share values up a solid 4.4%.