78Bandit

I wonder how much is actual depletion of inventory versus thinking "we can't process orders at this late date for Friday delivery so just mark them for delivery later".  I remember a lot of iPhone X orders that were received two or three weeks earlier than the expected delivery date.  I think Apple will continue to ship them out as quickly as they can.

I also think there will be a decent stock on-hand in Apple and carrier stores on Friday.  I want to see the colors in person and am hopeful they will be widely available soon.

wood1208 said:

Could happen but how one can conclude surveying 530 iPhone users from over billion iPhone users what they will upgrade or not.

If the sample is properly randomized you only need a sample size of 384 to get 95% confidence no matter what the size of the population is.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/mp/sample-size/

You do have to be careful to ensure the sample comes from the population though.  It wouldn't be representative to ask people who live in Montana if they plan to eat at a restaurant in New York; you would want to sample people who are likely to be potential customers.  In this case the population would be smartphone users so a random sample of 530 people would likely include at least 384 smartphone users (I know the article says iPhone users but somehow they got Android users in there as well).

Survey of one (well, two) here.  I'll be purchasing new phones for my wife and myself this year.  We've both got the 6 Plus that we got on release day.  The only question is what model we get which will depend on the price.  At the lower end of Ming's estimates I can see getting an X Plus for myself and an Xs for her.  At the higher end of the range it is more likely I'll just get the LCD model.  If the Xs remains at $1K it will be the LCD model for both of us.

payeco said:

I hope they don’t remove this ability for existing subscribers. I bill everything I can through iTunes/the App Store since iTunes gift cards seem to be on sale for at least 15% off like every other week. It’s an easy way to get a discount on subscriptions/purchases. I’m still working off of $1k worth I bought Black Friday two years ago when Costco had them on sale that, when combined with a coupon code, came out to 30% off.

So Apple gives you 15% off to encourage you to make purchases where they get 30% from the content provider.  Ultimately that 30% is passed back on to you as the consumer, so you're paying 30% to save 15%.  Apple sure knows how to manipulate the money-unsavvy customers, don't they?

I used to work in a school district.  Technology purchases like this are a huge waste of money at the K-3 grade level it is going to serve.  At that age using the $6 million would be better served buying books for the kids to read rather than an iPad for the teacher.

Technology has its place in the school system, but too many educators want to jump on the tech bandwagon thinking they can pawn the teaching duties off on an inanimate object.  It doesn't work.  Ultimately you wind up with huge costs purchasing the devices and you need ongoing support that requires additional personnel.  The idea that ereaders will replace textbooks is a false narrative, particularly at the lower grade levels where the curriculum doesn't change from year-to-year.  They aren't learning about the latest in world events or the newest breakthrough discoveries in astrophysics; they are learning how to spell "bacon" and "penguin", how to multiply three digit numbers, and what a noun and verb are.  A competent teacher is much more important than an iPad.