[Tichy]

Wouldn't they have sold out no matter what? I mean all they have to do is produce less devices than they have orders. It's not as if you can buy one today, or can you?

So wait one day, get 10 million orders or whatever, call Foxconn and order 9.9 million devices. Bingo, another headline for Apple.

[arrrg]

Apple being sold out is not great, it's a failure of their supply chain. If Apple could, they would never be sold out (but they also would want to never have any stock). They want to make money after all. They certainly do not need to appease investors by lying about the demand they are getting.

(Though I maybe should add that the iPhone being initially sold out might be an inevitable failure of the supply chain. It’s not like you can switch production on just like that and churn out new phones at full speed. There is some ramp-up. Add to that some pent-up demand, and iPhones being sold out quickly might be inevitable – though that does at least indicate that the new phone likely is no dud, beyond that there isn’t much information in that.)

[dfxm12]

More headlines = more marketing = more iPhones sold.

Being (temporarily) sold out just adds to the mystique of any device. Remember, people want what they can't have. Also think of the herd mentality - if millions of people are buying this, it must be good!

I don't think it is ever Apple's strategy to sell out, but there are reasons that this is good (as well as bad, like you say).

[arrrg]

That's baloney. No marketing gain is wort it not being able to actually sell something, at lest if tons of people are crazy about what you are selling.

Yours is just a batshit insane conspiracy theory.

[SpikeDad]

You're correct of course. Just folks projecting their irrational Apple hate. Naturally, no company wants to sell out of their product. Of course, no one considers that it's impossible to make an infinite number of iPhones - parts and production capacity are the limiting factor.

But why stop to think for a second when you can fire off some nonsense.