Apple iPhone 6 ran its sales on 19th September and saw a huge crowd storming the stores. With fans and customers queuing up overnight and camping outside the store days earlier, the result shows that Apple has a huge fan following.
However, this does not seem to the actual case. An article by David Swan on ITWire highlights the shocking truth that the number of people who stormed the Apple sales are not entirely Apple fans.
The iPhone 6 launch was considered as the biggest launch in the history of Apple. This statement was maintained considering the amount of preorder and queue figures. However, a former Apple employee (who prefers to remain anonymous) revealed the shocking truth of the Apple sales that happen year-after-year.
He states that most of the ‘those Apple fans’ are not ‘genuine apple fans’, but ‘profit hunters who come from different countries and sell them overseas to make a huge profit.
David goes ahead to state that, ‘The scope of what they're doing is pretty unbelievable.’ He carries on while some are genuine fans, who are excited about any Apple product; the majority are tourists, who come from overseas to resell the iPhone for huge profits.
Most of these tourists are business people from other countries, who fly in a day or two earlier to the sales. They would then spend the day before the sale, queuing outside the shop to be as far ahead in the line as they can. Each person is bound to buy two handsets (since Apple allows only two handsets to be purchased per person). These tourists then schedule themselves to fly out the same day after the sales.
The source also states that these buyers would opt for the highest-end model (which would be a 128GB in Gold colour). The reason—Gold models have the highest resale value.
The people who are in the business of buying from Apple and selling them overseas for a higher price, usually make sure that they have a higher number of persons in the line. Since one person can buy only two handsets, many people in line maximize the possibility of numerous handsets being brought. They also tend to place more people across different stores to maximize profits.
These handsets cross the border, and each one can claim 10% GST (Goods and Services Tax in India). So not only they are making profits, they are also claiming 10% back in the goods.
David’s source also added that there is a person from India (name not disclosed) who brings his entire extended family to the United States (around 40-50 people), simply to purchase a maximum number of iPhones. They buy handsets, and return later in the day, just to buy more. They carry on this process through the entire day, week and month of the early sales. This is their core business – a full-time job. He gives the entire family enough money to buy two phones each. This person deals with a particular logistics company, which offers him points, and he would later exchange the points for flight tickets and then sell them to make further profits.
There is nothing that can be done at this point to stop this process. On the contrary, genuine Apple fans are losing out on their product to these people who come from overseas to make huge profits.
Watch the video below, which additionally reveals the shocking truth.
Image used above is for representational use only. David Swan’s article was published in the ITWire Magazine, Volume 2, Issue 36 (20-21 September 2014)
