Originally Posted by
ScottC
Sure you can. Apple already has a very impressive distribution channel in place. They sell more ipods in their own stores than all other retailers put together.
Apple is the king of distribution. It would have been very simple to put them on shelves and include a link or form for people to signup with the provider since the phone is unsubsidized anyway.
Now they have limited their audience to those willing to go to ATT, which rules out everyone that hates ATT or those in contract with another provider.
Being aware of what it's taking to pull off what is already being pulled off for operations, distribution and support of these, I gotta say...
yes, Apple's logistics and distribution is really, really good. It's smaller, so it doesn't get the credit for efficient logistics and distribution that the biger boys get, but having been a part of putting together and analyzing the metrics, investigating the exceptions, as well as the execution in several capacities, it's impressive.
but, there's a lot of change that takes place to bring online a new product. any product. a product that is as unique as the iPhone introduces even more change by default. Add in a seemingly simple form that people can fill out on the Web and you reach a huge tipping point. Making this happen for millions of buyers, getting the information to the service provider 100% of the time, working out the format in which that information is sent and verifying that the format is successfully transmitted and translated. There's got to be a way to log in, and the whole thing is going to involve the Web systems, the order processing systems, the systems that register products, the systems that send the information to partner systems, etc. Development, testing, implementation -- on top of what was/is already taking place -- would be insanity.
Your post made me laugh inside, and I shared it with a former colleague who often laments to me about how crazy it is right now, as it is, stretching all systems and people to the limit. The best part: 06/30 is Apple's fiscal quarter end. This is when everyone in Operations already works about 1.5x-2x their normal schedule to be sure all goals are met and numbers are hit precisely. Now on top of that one of the biggest product launches in Apple's history is taking place the day before.
It's fun being a part of the madness, but in this case, it's even more fun knowing the degree of madness in the sausage factory and not being a part of it.
Back to the point: A web form may seem like a piece of cake, but there's more to it than that.