500,000 Units Sold In Three Days: Was The iPhone Launch A Success?

The iPhone is officially released into the wild. Steve Jobs’ pride and joy is now in the hands of consumers. We’ve heard from the big 4 reviewers – what I like to call “Your Friendly Neighborhood iPhone League of Extraordinary Geeks” – and now word trickles in throughout the net about the good and bad from Apple’s latest craze. This is all well and good, but what we really want to know is how did the launch go? There are statistics and numbers involved, which ironically means that the iPhone launch was successful or mediocre depending on whom you ask.

500,000. That’s the number of iPhones sold this past weekend according to a Piper Jaffray report. To question the success of the launch with such robust numbers seems a bit silly. Piper Jaffray’s Gene Munster had predicted 200,000 iPhones to be sold Friday and Saturday. So, the device certainly exceeded expectations. There were less iPhones at AT&T stores, and consumers had trouble activating their iPhone due to various issues. But overall the launch was a success.

The sticking issue here may be public perception. After watching lines form at neighborhood Apple Stores the general populace likely expected the iPhone to be unavailable after the weekend. We’ve spent a year listening to news of Wii scarcity, and there is a general outlook that a new gadget just isn’t hot unless you’re unable to find one in a store. Apple took a different tact than other gadget manufacturers and produced far more than consumers demanded during launch. What that means is most people who want an iPhone – but couldn’t pick it up on launch day for whatever reason – will still be able to get their Apple freak on.

Conspiracy theorists like to point to companies who can’t meet consumer demand and claim they’re holding back product to cause a feeding frenzy. It happens on occasion, but not as much as we’d like to think. The idea of an evil mastermind sitting at a long wooden table surveying the frantic nature of his peasants is exiting. No, I think if you’re going to look at the iPhone launch there’s another aspect of big bad companies that is the problem – arrogance. Could a little of that Steve Jobs and Apple arrogance made its way into the iPhone launch?

Apple has done a brilliant job marketing their new device. Six months since an official announcement and some iPhone news story has always been at the top of the list for tech news connoisseurs. Most recently Apple has announced “new” upgrades or features for the iPhone. The touchscreen is glass and the battery life has “increased.” The press releases were worded carefully, and the media ran with the stories. Of course, all of the iPhones at launch were the same the day before the “upgrades” as they were on launch day. It was simply marketing to generate additional buzz for the iPhone.

It would be unfair to demand any company, including Apple, to be able to predict the exact number of devices to be manufactured for a new product launch. Analysts are hired and best guesses are made. Then again, to assume Apple doesn’t know what they’re doing when it comes to a product launch is ridiculous. The Mac and iPod both had successful launches. The Mac had more impact, but the iPod slowly worked its way into the veins of America, and the world. The excessive iHype and over production of the iPhone will only serve to help Apple in the long run. The device will spread virally across the world, and as long as it’s a good product could likely become the ultimate choice in cell phone. This is indeed a real world crash course in marketing genius.