<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;">Sure they do! They probably can't sustain that on an ongoing basis in just any store, but some stores can definitely do "burst" selling when they have stock and are set up for it on a launch day. In one example I observed in Los Angeles: On the launch day for the 3GS, they had large stacks of new product forming a wall at the back of the store. Customers in line were moved inside in three queues that were being processed (sales completed via the handheld cashiers) in real time WHILE shuffling along their way to the counter in back that sits in front of that 'wall' of phones... their purchase is waiting for them and bagged as they arrive, and they just pickup and head straight out again… There were 7 or 8 staff PER QUEUE just swiping cards and placing the orders in. There was an "iPhone only" queue, so they could just state which model/color, swipe and go… And then the the other queues allowed for some accessories and other goods on top of the iPhone… once the line started moving, it went pretty quickly. Easily 15 to 20 sales a minute. And then there was the rest of the store still doing their normal robust sales… </p>
<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;">They sold out of quite a few thousand in-stock iPhones over a few hours of pretty much continuous sales (and that 2-per person limit was in effect as I recall), so I know they had to be doing a thousand an hour at the peak… </p>
I doubt those numbers very much. First of all, most buyers are sat down with a sales person to get their phone working, and that can take several minutes. It can take ten minutes to finish a transaction, as they get the phone registered, and functioning with the carrier. There are 60 minutes in a hour. Even if ten people are served at once and they get them out in ten minutes on average, a pretty good timing, that would be, at most 600 people an hour, and that's a lot. Even at the fifth Avenue store I haven't seen that rapid service. And you can count how fast the people outside are moving in. I've never seen it move that fast
At the smaller stores around NYC, if they do half that it would be good.
There might be a very small number of stores that could, just barely manage a thousand an hour, but it wouldn't affect the overall numbers much.
I doubt those numbers very much. First of all, most buyers are sat down with a sales person to get their phone working, and that can take several minutes. It can take ten minutes to finish a transaction, as they get the phone registered, and functioning with the carrier. There are 60 minutes in a hour. Even if ten people are served at once and they get them out in ten minutes on average, a pretty good timing, that would be, at most 600 people an hour, and that's a lot. Even at the fifth Avenue store I haven't seen that rapid service. And you can count how fast the people outside are moving in. I've never seen it move that fast
At the smaller stores around NYC, if they do half that it would be good.
There might be a very small number of stores that could, just barely manage a thousand an hour, but it wouldn't affect the overall numbers much.
I haven't been to these events for the past couple of phone versions, nor for the iPads… perhaps something has changed? At the time the 3GS was released, most people were doing the activations themselves, not "sitting down" (genius bar?) in-store at time of purchase to do that process. It is intended to be user manageable and straightforward, designed for doing oneself...
As I understood it, that activation process has become even smoother and easier. I'd be surprised if most people NOW need to sit down and get help activating at the time and place of purchase. And, watching the videos from these launch events, most people are coming out (cheering and being cheered), waving around unopened product boxes...
No matter. Apparently, by whatever method worked, Apple managed to sell through 5 million of them in a single weekend...
Comments
I doubt those numbers very much. First of all, most buyers are sat down with a sales person to get their phone working, and that can take several minutes. It can take ten minutes to finish a transaction, as they get the phone registered, and functioning with the carrier. There are 60 minutes in a hour. Even if ten people are served at once and they get them out in ten minutes on average, a pretty good timing, that would be, at most 600 people an hour, and that's a lot. Even at the fifth Avenue store I haven't seen that rapid service. And you can count how fast the people outside are moving in. I've never seen it move that fast
At the smaller stores around NYC, if they do half that it would be good.
There might be a very small number of stores that could, just barely manage a thousand an hour, but it wouldn't affect the overall numbers much.
Quote:
Originally Posted by melgross
I doubt those numbers very much. First of all, most buyers are sat down with a sales person to get their phone working, and that can take several minutes. It can take ten minutes to finish a transaction, as they get the phone registered, and functioning with the carrier. There are 60 minutes in a hour. Even if ten people are served at once and they get them out in ten minutes on average, a pretty good timing, that would be, at most 600 people an hour, and that's a lot. Even at the fifth Avenue store I haven't seen that rapid service. And you can count how fast the people outside are moving in. I've never seen it move that fast
At the smaller stores around NYC, if they do half that it would be good.
There might be a very small number of stores that could, just barely manage a thousand an hour, but it wouldn't affect the overall numbers much.
I haven't been to these events for the past couple of phone versions, nor for the iPads… perhaps something has changed? At the time the 3GS was released, most people were doing the activations themselves, not "sitting down" (genius bar?) in-store at time of purchase to do that process. It is intended to be user manageable and straightforward, designed for doing oneself...
As I understood it, that activation process has become even smoother and easier. I'd be surprised if most people NOW need to sit down and get help activating at the time and place of purchase. And, watching the videos from these launch events, most people are coming out (cheering and being cheered), waving around unopened product boxes...
No matter. Apparently, by whatever method worked, Apple managed to sell through 5 million of them in a single weekend...