Why Apple can’t keep the iPhone 4S on the shelves

I never quite understood the “selling like hotcakes” metaphor for a product that was in great demand. However you phrase it, demand for Apple’s new iPhone 4S is so high that the company can’t keep enough of them in stock, and customers at Apple stores, AT&T stores, Verizon Wireless stores, and Sprint stores are leaving empty-handed if they haven’t reserved an iPhone 4S in advance. Lack of inventory is never a good business strategy, but in this case, the red-hot demand comes despite a barrage of negative publicity about problems, and alleged problems, with the iPhone 4S’s software.

The news comes from a survey by Deutsche Bank analyst Chris Whitmore, who found that nearly all of the 30 Apple stores he checked were running out of phones every day. Demand that heavy is even more striking given that more than 4 million were sold in the first three days the new iPhone was available.

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There’s no doubt that a software glitch is trashing iPhone 4S’s battery life; after all, Apple has a patch on the way. And Siri, which Apple forthrightly calls a beta service, still has rough edges and odd quirks. But consumers apparently have a lot more faith in Apple than they do in the Chicken Little tech press that seemingly panics any time a user files a complaint on a vendor website — and despite my ink-stained DNA, I have to agree with them.

Indeed, as the consumerization of IT — the move of user-owned and -selected devices into the enterprise — takes hold, we must assume that users aren’t stupid and in fact often exhibit better judgment than the companies trying to foist off inferior products. Or that IT gives them credit for.

Note that Adobe said yesterday it is pulling back from mobile Flash development, and remember how much grief Apple got because it said the technology was too buggy and too resource-intensive to support within iOS. That decision to ban Flash didn’t slow iPhone or iPad sales, and even more to the point, the inclusion of Flash didn’t help sales of RIM’s BlackBerry PlayBook or Hewlett-Packard’s TouchPad, whose developers made a big deal of their ability to access Flash content.

Tech writer Harry McCracken’s description of watching those devices play (or try to play) a mobile Flash video is dead on: “The experience has always ranged from unimpressive to excruciating. Watching video was frequently like going to see a movie at a theater with a projector that keeps breaking down.”

Then there’s Windows Vista — a deeply flawed product that took years to supplement its ancient predecessor Windows XP because customers didn’t want it. Compare that to the much stronger sales of the much better Windows 7. Unlike hotcakes, junk simply doesn’t sell.

We in the media are all too quick to look for a negative story and inflate it as much as possible. That’s not to say we don’t have a responsibility to warn the buyers of technology when a vendor drops the ball — of course we do.

On the other hand, fawning, hype-filled coverage is repellent and unprofessional — and there’s much too much of it. But simply trolling forums for complaints is a cheap and lazy way to do your reporting. Much more admirable is the example set by our colleagues at PC World — and a few other publications — who actually tested the iPhone 4 carefully and confirmed the antenna problem that garnered rightful indignation 18 months ago.

It’s sadly not surprising that a finding by Consumer Reports that those problems are not an issue for the iPhone 4S didn’t get much attention. It feels like yesterday’s news, I guess, and probably doesn’t generate enough page views.

For the record, Consumer Reports also said, “These pluses were not enough, however, to allow the iPhone 4S to outscore the best new Android-based phones in our ratings. Those top scorers included the Samsung Galaxy S II phones, the Motorola Droid Bionic, and several other phones that boast larger displays than the iPhone 4S and run on faster 4G networks.”

One reason the iPhone 4S got a lukewarm reception in the press was the fact that it wasn’t the iPhone 5, which many pundits were convinced was coming despite a good deal of evidence to the contrary. When Apple delivered what should have been seen as an upgrade, not a brand-new product, the pundits took off their fanboy hats and became savage critics. No wonder readers are getting so cynical about the tech press.

Much more important, though, is the recognition that many users believe the snarky “stupid user” libel you hear so much about from certain IT quarters. Users, both the home variety and the professionals, have a pretty good track record of picking technological winners — and losers.

I welcome your comments, tips, and suggestions. Post them here (Add a comment) so that all our readers can share them, or reach me at bill.snyder@sbcglobal.net. Follow me on Twitter at BSnyderSF.

This article, “Why Apple can’t keep the iPhone 4S on the shelves,” was originally published by InfoWorld.com. Read more of Bill Snyder’s Tech’s Bottom Line blog and follow the latest technology business developments at InfoWorld.com. For the latest business technology news, follow InfoWorld.com on Twitter.