There has been lot spoken about Apple’s innovative products reaching marketplace and making its competition redundant. I too agree and respect the product line it offers its customers and one of them being the recent launch of iPhone4.
It’s been reported that the company and its wireless carrier, AT&T, booked more than 600,000 pre-orders on June 15 alone, causing a suspension of sales because of the sheer volume of activity. The number is the largest Apple has taken in a single day, ten times higher than the previous iPhone3 launch last year, causing a sellout of all designated product allocation.
This kind of overwhelming response is something every company would love to achieve. Here I start to ponder over a dilemma; whether innovation and technology can only be sufficient to serve the target customers.
In my opinion, it’s, NO. The company should also focus on itself as well as it's suppliers supply chain. In Apple’s case, suppliers/ contract manufacturers are based in Asia, especially in China where there is now severe labor issues that are surfacing, and since Apple has limited supplier base, has it introduced too much risk in too few value-chain partners?
I believe Apple has, and I predict more snafus to come. The signs are unmistakable, and the pressures are building. Good process and the best technology can only take you so far. The rest comes down to the combined supply chain capability of partners. In the coming weeks Apple will have to demonstrate what being number one really means
Mervyn
W-I-P (inventory)
Propagator
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