On Monday, Apple managed to make headlines by not announcing anything. For the first time, the iPhone maker did not reveal how many pre-orders it had taken for its new smartphones. Its silence on iPhone 5C pre-orders — a week after it was officially announced — has investors on edge.
Since 2010, the media has been hanging over Apple to make a story about its new iPhone. The sequence goes something like this: On a Friday right after the new device is unveiled, customers can start pre-ordering the new phone. A few days later, Apple announces with great fanfare how many new iPhones the public wants. In 2010, it had over 600,000 pre-orders for the iPhone 4S in 24 hours. By the time the iPhone 5 two years later, the number of pre-orders had reached 2 million.
By creating a perception of scarcity, Apple has long been advocating for consumers to jump the fences to buy a new iPhone. This year, Apple didn’t report order numbers for several days after it began taking pre-orders for the iPhone 5C. That didn’t go unnoticed by Wall Street . Investors interpreted Apple’s silence to mean few initial sales of the 5C, sending Apple shares down to $450 on Monday after closing at $465 on Friday, the Huffington Post reports .
Circumstances are certainly a little different this year. There are no pre-orders for Apple's high-end phone, the iPhone 5S. If you want to be the first to get it, you'll have to wait in line with hundreds of other crazy people. This fact is yet another organic marketing tool for Apple. The company's top phone, with its new features, is probably what Apple customers have been waiting for. The iPhone 5C is essentially a rebranded iPhone 5 with almost the same features. John Gruber, a very knowledgeable Apple watcher, thinks this is also a smart marketing move by Apple:
It's simple, that instead of introducing the old iPhone 5 in the number 2 spot, they created the 5C to debut at the same time as the new High End. The 5C is essentially an iPhone 5. Same A6 processor, same camera, same almost everything – except for the most obvious difference, the colorful plastic casings…
With Android smartphones from Samsung and Google and Apple's market share eroding, many see the global appetite for Apple smartphones waning. The iPhone 5C order numbers, even if low, may not be the best indication.
For now, Apple is promoting the 5C. Here's a new video released on Monday:
