John Paczkowski

Recent Posts by John Paczkowski

White iPhone "Mystique" Will Drive Sales

Nearly a year after it was promised, the white iPhone 4, that rarest of handsets, is finally headed to market, perhaps as soon as this week. Will its arrival have any material impact on sales?

Analysts seem to think it will, though it’s nearly a year old and identical in everything but color to the black iPhone 4 that has been widely available for quite some time. The theory is that the white iPhone 4 carries a certain scarcity value that will catalyze sales and drive incremental demand.

“In our view, the purchase of consumer electronic devices is not always a completely rational decision, and people buy Apple products for many different reasons, including status, aesthetics, functionality, quality and the ‘cool factor,'” says Ticonderoga analyst Brian White. “The delayed launch of a white iPhone has created a certain mystique around the product, and we believe certain demographics will find the product appealing. As such, we expect incremental iPhone 4 purchases due to this launch, driven by replacements, upgrades and/or new iPhone 4 purchases.”

An interesting argument, particularly in light of rumors of a fall iPhone 5 launch. Question is, if you’ve held out this long for a white iPhone 4, why not wait a few months more and buy a white iPhone 5?

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[Image credit: Floptech via MacRumors]

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I think the NSA has a job to do and we need the NSA. But as (physicist) Robert Oppenheimer said, “When you see something that is technically sweet, you go ahead and do it and argue about what to do about it only after you’ve had your technical success. That is the way it was with the atomic bomb.”

— Phil Zimmerman, PGP inventor and Silent Circle co-founder, in an interview with Om Malik