iPhone 5 increases global frieght charges

With more than 5 million iPhone 5 units shipping in the first few days after launch, someone, somewhere in the world, needs to load boxes into a van, drive them to an airport or ship loading bay and help them on their DHL/UPS way across the world. KitGuru wonders if there is a consequence?

Base line economics says that if you increase demand then, like as not, outside of the strictest communist regime ever – prices will rise. For the courier companies, that increase in demand seems to have come from the slimline Apple iPhone 5 boxes whizzing their way across the world in the aftermath of its hugely successful launch.

Hard as it may be to believe, there are companies that spend their entire lives engaged in researching couriers. They spend all day long looking at freight, the number of items shipping, from where, to where and for how much. One of the biggest is Drewry and its head of ‘which box goes where' research, Martin Dixon.

“Only a few years ago smartphones weren't around, now they make up a huge part of air freight goods,” said Dixon. “Apple is very clever at how it manages its supply chain, and its ability to secure air freight capacity to launch new models is a key part of that strategy”. So, basically, seats on planes are pre-booked for iPhone 5s, no doubt with the ‘vegetarian option' enabled.

Backing up Dixon's opinion, Mr Manners-Bell who runs Transport Intelligence, also said that Steve Jobs' legacy was big and powerful enough to “skew rates across a large proportion of the global air cargo market”.

Right now, the freight industry is enjoying not only increased volumes, but at a premium that could be as high as 20%.

KitGuru says: With the iPad Mini that's about to launch, freight companies will know which gift to give their nearest and dearest when Santa sub-contracts them to deliver Xmas gifts.

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