
What Apple really means when it says it has “sold” a product - shawndumas
http://gigaom.com/2013/05/09/what-apple-really-means-when-it-says-it-has-sold-a-product/
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ctdonath
Seems this is typical. Large businesses count how many items are shipped to
retail with intent to sell. For Apple, it's pretty much assured every item of
inventory will sell soon. For some other companies and products, desperation
to produce impressive numbers trumps and they'll announce millions of "sales"
which are in fact sitting on pallets in retail warehouses, having no viable
prospect for near-term purchase by end users.

