Apple’s iPhone 5 has sold over 5 million iPhone 5s since the 21st of September, making for a very busy – and decidedly crunchy – three days post launch.
With 22 more countries set to see the iPhone 5 launching on the 28th of September, it’s a pretty fair bet that Apple will quickly sell yet another 5 million in record time, and then another 5 million after that.
On top of Apple’s astounding sales success, the captains of crunch report that over 100 million iOS devices have now been updated with iOS 6, giving users of the iPhone 3GS, 4, 4S, 4th-gen iPod Touch, iPad 2 and new iPad a swathe of new features, despite legitimate and genuine angst and anger over the switch from Google Maps to Apple Maps.
Savvy iOS users have been quick to discover that the mobile web version of Google Maps is easily “installed” as a web app, complete with icon, direct to your iDevice home screen, while typing “Street View” into the App Store brings up some free and paid apps that deliver the missing Google Street View experience.
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There’s even a website called “Viewstreetnoflash.com” that lets your iOS browser to access Street View imagery, albeit by forcing you to zoom in on a global map to the desired location first before letting you see the street view of the street in question.
Meanwhile, Google’s own official Google Maps app is set to come sometime soon, and just as Google’s official YouTube app has done, will become a very popular iOS download, giving people the choice to use the maps solution they prefer.
So, while there certainly are people who are delaying their iOS 6 upgrades for now, there remains, as always, a way around any “restriction”.
As for iPhone 5 sales and the 22 extra countries coming online on the 28th of September, Apple says this will expand to “more than 100 countries by the end of the year”, in what I’m paraphrasing Apple’s CEO Tim Cook describing during the iPhone 5 keynote as the “fastest iPhone rollout yet”.
Apple’s press release also says that “demand for iPhone 5 exceeded the initial supply and while the majority of pre-orders have been shipped to customers, many are scheduled to be shipped in October”.
Adding to this is the comment from Tim Cook stating that “Demand for iPhone 5 has been incredible and we are working hard to get an iPhone 5 into the hands of every customer who wants one as quickly as possible. While we have sold out of our initial supply, stores continue to receive iPhone 5 shipments regularly and customers can continue to order online and receive an estimated delivery date. We appreciate everyone’s patience and are working hard to build enough iPhone 5s for everyone.”
So, while it’s certainly true that not everyone wants an iPhone 5, be they happy with their existing earlier model iPhone, or competing Android, Windows Phone, BlackBerry, Symbian or other dumbphone/featurephone/smartphone, iFans most certainly have spoken with their minds, hearts and wallets.
Indeed, as the insults fly thick and fast, as the cries of “iSheep” bleat, as the Androids engage in their attack of the clones, as BlackBerry threatens its phantom menace, as Windows Phone 8 prepares its new hope, the Apple empire calmly strikes backs and points to the scoreboard.
Far from Apple reaching some kind of never-to-be-attained-again “peak” following the passing of Steve Jobs, the sales instead point to a jediPhone 5 master at work.
After all, with so many iPhone 5 sales already, and so many more clearly yet to come, Apple knows that the competing droids aren’t the ones its customers are looking for.
Make of that what you will, and react how you must, but always remember: the facts speak for themselves, and the force is with you, always.
