Why does Apple advertise products before they're available?

Posted:
in Future Apple Hardware edited January 2014
I'll bet I've seen the ad on TV a half dozen times already and I don't watch that much TV. You know, the one where the G5 user gets blown through the walls of his house.



You can't even buy a G5 yet! What if a potential PC switcher is impressed with the commercial and has a look at apple.com and finds out s/he can't buy one now? Sheesh!



The hype is great, but I think it's a waste of money for the ads at this point; just like the ads for the flat panel iMacs you couldn't buy last year.



Why wouldn't Apple wait to run a blitz of TV ads when they actually have product to sell? Any thoughts?

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 17
    kraig911kraig911 Posts: 912member
    look at auto manufacturers, movies... what do you expect them to do?
  • Reply 2 of 17
    mrmistermrmister Posts: 1,095member
    You can preorder it now--and it's the way of the world.
  • Reply 3 of 17
    macusersmacusers Posts: 840member
    You can buy it right now, it isnt even preorder really, it is just going to ship next month, even Dell does this all the time.
  • Reply 4 of 17
    idaveidave Posts: 1,283member
    Ok, so Apple creates more demand than they can satisfy, resulting in cancelled orders. They stop running ads and interest wanes by the time the computers are actually shipping in quantity.



    Isn't that what happened with the new iMacs last year?
  • Reply 5 of 17
    weevweev Posts: 3member
    this is business



    hype about the unseen is usually always greater than hype about the actual



    as someone mentioned - cars, movies - apple are just creating demand



    the real crime is promoting products which won't even be released, the good ol' vaporware that microsoft is all about -



    imho, Longhorn is just such an example, aimed at stopping windose users switching to mac because of M$ fabled new OS, when is it coming, 04, 05?



    Longhorn will really begin after Panther come's out and they can begin copying it.



    suggest order your G5 now, they are sure to be killer machines. IBM and Apple is a technology alliance made in heaven.
  • Reply 6 of 17
    commoduscommodus Posts: 270member
    In the case of the G5, I think that Apple was simply trying to head people off at the pass - rather than let the PowerMac languish and see people defect to the Windows side because of performance, they remind people that they'll have something really quick soon.



    It's also just as well given what Apple wanted to do - give developers a head-start on optimizing for the G5 before the systems are in people's hands.
  • Reply 7 of 17
    foadfoad Posts: 717member
    Like others have said, it is the way of the world. I mean...even software manufacturers do it. Everyone does it. It is the law of the land when it comes to marketing. No single industry doesn't do this...no matter what they are trying to sell.
  • Reply 8 of 17
    hmurchisonhmurchison Posts: 12,419member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by iDave

    Ok, so Apple creates more demand than they can satisfy, resulting in cancelled orders. They stop running ads and interest wanes by the time the computers are actually shipping in quantity.



    Isn't that what happened with the new iMacs last year?




    It's better to be in a situation in which your supply must meet demand rather than the need for demand to match the supply. Even if that means cancelled orders.
  • Reply 9 of 17
    matsumatsu Posts: 6,558member
    Apple has spent the last two years in a pinch. They've had to announce a ton of stuff before they were ever ready to ship it, that means to really ship it in quantities where I can walk into a store and walk out with the item. G5 or not, they were still in that situation because the old machines were so far behind the times, just like the G3 iMacs were before the G4 iMac came out.



    That part of the formula will not right itself overnight, but with a better supply of G5's it should get better over the next 12 months.



    Even if they can't drop a G5 into anything other than an Xserve and PM during that time (and they won't, mark me, they won't untill the .09u parts ship) that still takes a lot of pressure of Moto, and the laptops and consumer machines should get a lot better too.



    As IBM supply gets rolling, look for more duals in the next rev. (SP, DP, DP) and G5 Xserve, and 7457 based everything else. A funny situation may happen with Moto and IBM supplies improving at around the same time, which should finally shrink the distance between "launch" and "ship" dates. Although, demand may be high, and people outside the US will still wait a few weeks longer.
  • Reply 10 of 17
    kukukuku Posts: 254member
    There's also such a thing called forcasting.



    Unless you have a super fortuneteller,

    it's a lot easier to crunch numbers on the supply side using demand, then on the demand side using supply.



    More or less, supply is usually not very elastic because companies have bulk contracts, while demand is very elastic in this case.
  • Reply 11 of 17
    eupfhoriaeupfhoria Posts: 257member
    If you are good enough you can even hype to the point that they sell for 5 or 6 times the retail value on ebay like the PS2
  • Reply 12 of 17
    idaveidave Posts: 1,283member
    These are all good points. I guess the reason for asking the question is that it seems Apple nearly always has a hard time meeting demand when they introduce a new product. It seems a shame to disappoint even more people by over-advertising before release.



    The analogy regarding movies doesn't really do it for me. If you want to see a first-run movie, you can; easily within the first week of release. If you want a new Mac you've seen on TV before release, you'll probably have to get in line and wait for a month or more after its release date.



    As for gauging demand before production, I would bet that for the first couple of months, Apple will be cranking out G5 PowerMacs just as fast as possible. It would seem to me there's no reason to gauge demand in advance of release, but what do I know? Just speculating.
  • Reply 13 of 17
    programmerprogrammer Posts: 3,457member
    Cool advertising builds up the "lust factor" in potential buyers. Many buyers need to have a product dangled in front of them for a while before they even really decide it must be worth buying ("if you've seen it advertised a lot, it must be great").



    In this case Apple was well advised to intro early so that the developers could start preparing for the G5 at WWDC. Unfortunately there was a month or two delay before they could really start shipping. Once the machines start to arrive its going to take a fair while to catch up to demand, but that's the happy place that Apple wants to get to. A company loves being a position where they sell everything they can make, even when they are at full production.
  • Reply 14 of 17
    kukukuku Posts: 254member
    Quote:

    As for gauging demand before production, I would bet that for the first couple of months, Apple will be cranking out G5 PowerMacs just as fast as possible. It would seem to me there's no reason to gauge demand in advance of release, but what do I know? Just speculating.



    Actually it very useful given the announcement of a new, no past history, product.



    Though there are strength and weaknesses to everything, I think strengths far outweight the other in this senerio.



    On a pure basic level to reach an equalibium on the demand side, you change the price(standard demand graph), and in theory, is instanteous.



    Of course the problem with that is, we know that consumers don't like fluctuating prices. And it's also againist the law in some respects. There are tricks to this like having "specials" and such but let's not get into that.



    Now if we manipulate the supply side, we can simply contract for more components(assuming that's possible) and pay preimiums for increasing supply if needed(I believe they did the same for iMac fasico). The PROBLEM with playing with supply side is that short run changes to it is costly if not impossible, so it's a trade off.



    BUT, apple has 2 months head start, which isn't that bad to meet supply with demand.



    Of course all this is theorical and real world impications have a lot of twists and turns.



    ~Kuku



    [addition]

    There is no such thing as "As fast as possible" in the economic/business world. Rather it is, "As best as one is willing to pay for it"
  • Reply 15 of 17
    shaktaishaktai Posts: 157member
    And lets not forget the benefits of a head start on products that will take advantage of the G5. By the time the G5 is actually available in volume, we will already begin to see products optimized for it. (software, components, etc.) This is a good thing.



    Nothing worse then having a great computer, but not being able to have software or peripherals that can really take advantage of it.
  • Reply 16 of 17
    majormattmajormatt Posts: 1,077member
    It takes alot of work to work into peoples minds. It takes persistence and time.
  • Reply 17 of 17
    vinney57vinney57 Posts: 1,162member
    Demand fluctuates wildly while supply is quantised, ie there are only a certain number of factories with a certain number of lines that Apple can use. Yes, Apple will have trouble meeting the demand in September but the G5 is such a compelling proposition I don't think many will jump ship.
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