Apple CEO Goes From Groundbreaking Sales to Stumbles

Tim Cook, chief executive officer of Apple Inc., may have spoken too soon when he declared that the launch of the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 Plus over the weekend was the ‘best launch’ seen by the device up till now. Only three days after Mr. Cook announced that the company had managed to sell about 10 million iPhones only in its opening weekend, the CEO had to encounter several snafus that were concerned with the bigger screen devices. A new mobile software update, which was billed as the iOS 8.0.1 was pulled by the company after some people lost their cellular services because of the program.

The iPhone maker promised its customers that it would soon offer a fix for this problem. Apart from that, thousands of customers took to the internet to direct criticism towards the iPhone 6 Plus. The gist of the complaints was that the device starts bending if people sit on it or apply enough pressure. These snafus simply blemished the carefully choreographed product launch that was meant to stamp Apple with Cook’s name. For months, the executives of the Cupertino, California-based company had teased people about the introduction of the new devices before they were finally unveiled on 9th September.

A frenzy of demand had been spurred by the devices as pre-orders managed to top the 4 million mark, record sales on the weekend and a thriving gray market in areas like China. However, the ‘Bend-gate’ and iOS update incident seems to have marred the rollout of the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 Plus made by Cook and is reminiscent of the incidents that have occurred with the debuts of other products by the CEO. Last year, Mr. Cook had had to offer an apology for the repair policies and warranty of the iPhone in China after the state-run media had criticized the customer service offered.

He had also apologized for the faulty mapping software of the company that had provided misguided directions to individuals and had shown inaccurate landmark locations, leading them elsewhere. In an emailed statement, the company announced that iPhone 6 users who had lost various features like voice service could use a workaround devised by the company. This would allow them to install the previous version of the iOS for restoring functionality. Meanwhile, in the next few days, the company will introduce a new version of the operating system.

The new iPhones are of the utmost importance to the company. Nearly half of the annual revenue of the company, which is about $171 billion, is generated by iPhones. The other contributors to the company’s revenue include the Apple Watch, the iPads and Apple Pay, the new mobile payment system introduced by the company. Nevertheless, while the CEO has to deal with the criticism of customers at handling the release, the problems may not have any major impact on the sales. According to statistics, the company will sell about 61 million iPhones in the December quarter, 10 million more than last year.