Apple Online Store goes down ahead of iPhone 5c preorders (update: orders now live)
Apple's online storefront went down almost three and a half hours before the company is scheduled to open preorders for the new iPhone 5c that was unveiled on Tuesday.
As usual, the Online Apple Store is now showing a "We'll be back" sign as backend preparations are made for the expected rush of orders from customers wanting to be the first to order the new iPhone 5c.
Aside from Apple, customers will also have a number of other preorder options available come midnight Pacific, 3 a.m. Eastern. AppleInsider has compiled a list of carriers and retailers accepting orders, including those that intend to take in-store preorders like Walmart.
As seen in AppleInsider's hands-on look, Apple's iPhone 5c sports a colorful steel-reinforced polycarbonate shell with internals largely borrowed from the iPhone 5. Some components have been upgraded, including a backside illuminated FaceTime camera and support for a wider range of LTE networks.
It remains to be seen how the plastic-shelled iPhone 5c will resonate with consumers. The new device basically takes the place of the outgoing iPhone 5, which would have been positioned between a free-on-contract iPhone 4S and the iPhone 5s had Apple continued its sales strategy from last year.
Update: After a bumpy start, Apple began taking preorders of the iPhone 5c through its Online Apple Store Friday morning. As with last year's iPhone 5 reservations, customers swarmed the site when preorders went live at 12:01 a.m. Pacific, but this year Apple kept delays down to only ten minutes.
Apple's partner carriers in the U.S., Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint, also saw website issues, though all systems were online an hour after orders opened. Things went smoothly for cellular providers in Europe and other countries accepting preorders, including the important Asian market.
As of 2 a.m. PDT, two hours after preorders began, the Apple Online Store still showed Sept. 20 delivery dates, when the iPhone 5c is set to roll out to customers alongside the flagship iPhone 5s. Last year, demand for the iPhone 5 was so high that Apple ran out of launch day stock in one hour, with ship-by dates continually pushed back as more orders poured in.
The supply status is not indicative of waning demand for the handset, however, as the company is fielding two new iPhones instead of its usual scheme of introducing one and carrying over the previous year's model as an entry-level device. Unless Apple or its partner carriers reveal actual numbers, it is impossible to gauge demand as some customers may simply be waiting for the iPhone 5s to go on sale next week.
Apple is not taking reservations for the 5s, meaning those interested in getting their hands on the first units will have to visit a brick-and-mortar Apple store or carrier outlet on launch day. Some have speculated that the decision to not hold preorders indicates supply constraints, a sentiment in line with predictions shared by analyst Ming-Chi Kuo in August.
As usual, the Online Apple Store is now showing a "We'll be back" sign as backend preparations are made for the expected rush of orders from customers wanting to be the first to order the new iPhone 5c.
Aside from Apple, customers will also have a number of other preorder options available come midnight Pacific, 3 a.m. Eastern. AppleInsider has compiled a list of carriers and retailers accepting orders, including those that intend to take in-store preorders like Walmart.
As seen in AppleInsider's hands-on look, Apple's iPhone 5c sports a colorful steel-reinforced polycarbonate shell with internals largely borrowed from the iPhone 5. Some components have been upgraded, including a backside illuminated FaceTime camera and support for a wider range of LTE networks.
It remains to be seen how the plastic-shelled iPhone 5c will resonate with consumers. The new device basically takes the place of the outgoing iPhone 5, which would have been positioned between a free-on-contract iPhone 4S and the iPhone 5s had Apple continued its sales strategy from last year.
Update: After a bumpy start, Apple began taking preorders of the iPhone 5c through its Online Apple Store Friday morning. As with last year's iPhone 5 reservations, customers swarmed the site when preorders went live at 12:01 a.m. Pacific, but this year Apple kept delays down to only ten minutes.
Apple's partner carriers in the U.S., Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint, also saw website issues, though all systems were online an hour after orders opened. Things went smoothly for cellular providers in Europe and other countries accepting preorders, including the important Asian market.
As of 2 a.m. PDT, two hours after preorders began, the Apple Online Store still showed Sept. 20 delivery dates, when the iPhone 5c is set to roll out to customers alongside the flagship iPhone 5s. Last year, demand for the iPhone 5 was so high that Apple ran out of launch day stock in one hour, with ship-by dates continually pushed back as more orders poured in.
The supply status is not indicative of waning demand for the handset, however, as the company is fielding two new iPhones instead of its usual scheme of introducing one and carrying over the previous year's model as an entry-level device. Unless Apple or its partner carriers reveal actual numbers, it is impossible to gauge demand as some customers may simply be waiting for the iPhone 5s to go on sale next week.
Apple is not taking reservations for the 5s, meaning those interested in getting their hands on the first units will have to visit a brick-and-mortar Apple store or carrier outlet on launch day. Some have speculated that the decision to not hold preorders indicates supply constraints, a sentiment in line with predictions shared by analyst Ming-Chi Kuo in August.
Comments
It's not going to sell. People are going to realize the color thing is just a gimmick. Inside it is identically an iPhone 5 100% -- nothing new.
It's not going to sell. People are going to realize the color thing is just a gimmick. Inside it is identically an iPhone 5 100% -- nothing new.
Well, better call Apple then and tell them to shut it all down.
You really need to put an "/s" or something on these; some people actually believe this.
You really need to put an "/s" or something on these; some people actually believe this.
That would help. Some of us actually judge what a person writes by what he puts to paper (or online).
It's not going to sell. People are going to realize the color thing is just a gimmick. Inside it is identically an iPhone 5 100% -- nothing new.
Technically astute shoppers probably account for a very very small percentage of iPhone buyers. For the vast majority of people if the thing works, does what they want it to do, then all that is left is aesthetics.
I'm on the fence about that angle of the 5C (aesthetics). My heart says plastic, gimmicky... but with a hell of an OS that will work really well and do what people want it to do and then some.
... but so does an Android phone (to a degree where a lot of people are satisfied)... and quite a few of them are even cheaper.
I'm thinking that it won't sell even close to Apple's projected numbers (at the MSP)... and I haven't felt that way about an iPhone so far (at introduction).
If it sells by the double boat load, well, then I will have learned something.
We'll see.
That would help. Some of us actually judge what a person writes by what he puts to paper (or online).
That applies to all of us.
It's not going to sell. People are going to realize the color thing is just a gimmick. Inside it is identically an iPhone 5 100% -- nothing new.
People want the new iPhone. They don't care what's inside.
It's not going to sell. People are going to realize the color thing is just a gimmick. Inside it is identically an iPhone 5 100% -- nothing new.
Not true. Although it sports the A6 some of the internal components have been updated. This thing is still an excellent device for first time iPhone buyers, anyone on an iPhone 4 or earlier.
It's appeal for iPhone 4S owners and later - not so much - but this is more to do with how well the iPhone 4S has stood the test of time than anything else. It's a long stretch but I personally wouldn't want to be locked into a 2 year contract if the iPhone 6 (iPhone +) is completely amazing. Screen size is one obvious area for enhancement.
It's not going to sell. People are going to realize the color thing is just a gimmick. Inside it is identically an iPhone 5 100% -- nothing new.
No. You're dead wrong. I agree with your assessment of the device but you are forgetting that people are generally idiots.
You are assuming that because logically the iPhone 5c is a sort of a con, that people will "think" about it and "decide" not to buy it.
This "thinking" and "deciding" really has very little to do with retail sales however. Ask anyone in the business.
Even if sales are low, all they have to do is put them at eye level in the front of the store or wherever a group of people are standing and they will sell anyway. This is almost the entire basis of chewing gum and mint sales for instance.
Not true. Although it sports the A6 some of the internal components have been updated. ...
Sorry this is really not true, or at least quite a bit of an exaggeration. The front facing camera is ever so slightly updated. The battery is ever so slightly bigger. Everything else is exactly the same.
These are the kind of differences that are often made to a product mid-cycle without even being mentioned.
It's really disingenuous to say that this isn't basically the same phone. It's so slightly different that it really makes no difference at all.
It will be the biggest launch ever for Apple.
It's really disingenuous to say that this isn't basically the same phone.
Come on man. It is either the same phone or it isn't. It cannot be 'basically the same phone, but with a bigger battery, a different case and a different camera'.
That is like saying someone is slightly pregnant.
I myself am on the fence on this but knowing my Apple addiction, I'll probably pick up a 5c and the champagne 5s as well.
I have a few complaints myself - specifically the naming convention. The 7th and 8th iPhone are still called '5'. They could have been a little more creative with the names.
Actually, the 5c is a smaller version of the 5s. So it should have been iPhone and jPhone, for junior iPhone!
As for your comment of people being idiots, well, that is a little harsh. I think it is more to do with the fact that not all people are passionate about phones as some of us are, as we comb through the offerings. The 5c is a good enough offering for them. This is for the guys who would have bought the iPhone 5 instead of the 5s this year. For them, this is an amazing phone which does not carry the stigma of 'last year's model'.
Before, when the new phone came out the old phone dropped a hundred dollars, and you could buy the old tech for a bargain price. Now, the old phone is getting stuffed in a plastic case, and you can buy it for the same bargain price as before.
So in terms of delta, Apple has certainly gone backwards. You are getting less value at the "bargain price" than you did before.
In terms of ACTUAL value, you are still getting a solid product for less than the top of the line model. If you don't compare the 5c to the 5, it isn't a bad product.
I think people that are not concerned with the delta, that is, anyone that isn't thinking of it as the guts of a 5 in a plastic case, will view the 5c as having a reasonable actual value. And who isn't comparing it to the 5? Probably most people. Only the fanbois (us included) are thinking in relative terms of what the "bargain model" used to be, and very few of us ever bought the "bargain model" at the time it was demoted (we bought it when it was new) anyway. So the "bargain model" was NEVER being sold to us, and it still isn't being sold to us.
I think you'd have to be pretty silly to think these won't sell very effectively. People are not generally educated consumers (as is mentioned elsewhere,) and some will just like a bright plastic phone more than a metal and glass phone, everything else being irrelevant to them (and that may be true whether they are educated or not.)
I personally don't care for the 5c at all, though. Gaudy as hell.
So basically it's an iPhone 5, only less more affordable. And that won't sell?
It's not going to sell. People are going to realize the color thing is just a gimmick. Inside it is identically an iPhone 5 100% -- nothing new.
You with the big mouth, are you a newbie ANALyst or just another troll? 1) Who are you to say color won't sell, the public will make their choices known soon 2) The insides are not 100% identical to the iPhone 5 and 3) You are now free to crawl back under the rock you came from.
They'll go back to their Android holes once sales get under way, and Apple continues to grow their phone business. Let them have their Apple is Doomed cake.
15 minutes in, you can still preorder the 5C with an est. delivery of 9/20. Doesn't seem to sell well.