How Apple’s New iPad Launch Was An E-commerce Failure & Win
So, Apple made a little announcement yesterday. The new iPad is coming out.
As it turns out, people are kind of excited about it. The masses were visiting store.apple.com to pre-order the new iPad, only to come across this:
press even covers when the product is available to buy.
There have been other big days at Apple for Ecommerce including June 15, 2010 when Apple and it’s partners took
600,000 pre-orders for the iPhone4. With an average selling price of over $400 – there is a lot of revenue at stake. Yesterday was another big day for Apple and Ecommerce with pre-orders for the latest iPad aka “The new iPad”
Once Apple finally reopened their Ecommerce store, visitors experienced unexpected performance problems. Users were coming across screens like this:
You can see their worldwide timeouts in Yottaa’s web performance monitoring service:
It’s amazing to me that Apple can create these amazing products, but they can’t handle a website that doesn’t crash with each announcement.
? Herm (@HermH)
March 7, 2012
Apple’s next innovation should be servers that don’t crash under heavy traffic.
? Alex Vela (@AL3X07)
March 7, 2012
I want the new iPad!! Too bad apple’s servers are so bogged down I can’t even order 🙁
? Sterling Rose (@sterfrydude)
March 7, 2012
Jobsy would be turning in his grave. Apple Store been down for 4 hours?
? Chris Dahl (@chrisdahl)
March 7, 2012
Clearly there’s a disconnect at Apple… don’t announce a new product and crash the store site at the same time!
? Nandini DasGupta (@dasgupta_nandu)
March 7, 2012
The Apple Store is STILL down!
? Josh Hardman (@Josh_UK)
March 7, 2012
The apple website is down. WTF
? Jamie Ellwood (@_JamieEllwood_)
March 7, 2012
Oh, come on Apple. The store’s still down.
? Connor Turnbull (@ConnorTurnbull)
March 7, 2012
Grrr. Trying to order the new
#iPad but UK site is down. Come on @
apple.? Neil Young (@neilkeithyoung)
March 7, 2012
Grr, Apple. Why did your site have to crash NOW!?!
? J. L. Phillips (@JLPhillips)
March 7, 2012
and right as I click purchase, the apple store goes down.
? Brad K (@BradK)
March 7, 2012
Dear Apple: you are worth 500 billion and have 100 billion in cash. No reason your website/servers should crash when you unveil new product.
? Nick Setchell (@supercash79)
March 7, 2012
The results are still coming in, but there are already 2000+ negative tweets about Apple’s website being down.
The event marks an interesting contrast for Apple. On one hand, many became frustrated and angry with Apple’s performance issues. At the same time, they were able to extend the conversation of their launch and reach more people. It begs the question:
is this bad press for such a beloved brand like Apple?
Regardless of which side one argues, the underlying issue remains web performance matters and impacts your reputation. As showcased yesterday, users will never praise you for having a reliable website – they expect it. But, users are always quick to point out when your website is hurting their experience. Even huge brands like Apple, with countless resources dedicated to web performance, struggle with keeping their website reliable 24/7.
Here at Yottaa, we are passionate about helping small businesses succeed with their marketing campaigns and e-commerce websites. Sign up for our 14-day free trial to keep your website fast and reliable around the world – your website visitors and bottom line may depend on it.