Apple CEO Tim Cook, Senior vice president of design Jony Ive, and senior vice president of software engineering Craig Federighi all appeared in a BusinessWeek expose over the weekend, as the new iPhone 5c and iPhone 5s officially went on sale. With Apple selling over 9 million devices in its opening weekend, it looks like worries about innovation can be put to rest, for now.
Analysts on Wall Street were expecting around 6 million units to be sold this weekend, as both units are now available in the United States, Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Puerto Rico, Singapore and the United Kingdom. A 9 million-plus figure blows that 6 million estimate out of the water, and shows that people still want their iPhones in record numbers. (Apple also updated financial guidance, saying it expects to be at the high end of guidance for its fiscal fourth-quarter, which ends Sept. 30).
Proving to be most popular was the gold iPhone 5s, which is sold out everywhere and could be considered as rare in the wild as a UFO. Good luck trying to get one. It’s not happening anytime soon.
The concerns over Apple and its inability to innovate anymore are clearly being put to rest, as this initial launch figure indicates. Especially when you take into account that the iPhone 5c is, for all intents and purposes, the iPhone 5 in a durable plastic casing with the same A6 chip. The iPhone 5c also comes in five colors, adding some spice to the iPhone lineup.
Perhaps even more impressive than the iPhone sales number is that more than 200 million people have upgraded to iOS 7, Apple’s newest operating system. That’s an astronomical number, and represents that people want all things Apple. Those who were concerned about the newest operating system being too colorful, harder to use, etc., have had those concerns relieved. 200 million times, in fact.
Couple those numbers with the fact that more than 11 million unique listeners have tried iTunes Radio, seen as a Pandora killer by some, and Apple is poised to regain its mojo from its loudest critics.
With Apple’s stock jumping on back of this number, Cook, and to a lesser extent, Federighi and Ive, have to be relieved. Apple’s ability to innovate is still there and the company can still make consumers want the latest and greatest from Apple.
“Can’t innovate anymore, my ass,” said marketing senior vice president Phil Schiller at Apple’s WWDC conference in June, trying to assuage worries that Apple was losing its touch. Perhaps the new line from Apple will be: “What, me worry?”
