August is next week, my friend.
True, but when Apple makes "In Month X" announcements, it classically happens closer to the last day of the month, not the first day (or even first Tuesday).
As such, if it was really going to be next week, then they could have easily announced "On Tuesday, August 3rd...".
We've waited this long, what's another week to save up?![]()
The money/value question really is a different issue.
My point here is about consumer expectations: if it isn't going to be available for just one more week, then why not simply delay the announcement for said week so that they can then say "Immediately Available"?
Ditto if it is only 2 weeks more, or 3 weeks, etc.
I personally suspect that this vague 'August' release date is because Apple still has more inventory on hand than they want and as such, the actual August release date is going to depend on how many sales of the current model they get to clean things out.
The traditional safety valve for Apple for inventory control is to shift the existing model's units over to the Apple Store Refurb Department so as to discount-without-discounting them to clear the inventory. Currently, there's zero Mac Pro's listed in the Refurb Store .. I just might keep an eye on that to see how it changes within the next week or so.
In the meantime, there's also likely to be some consumers who will wait another week (until 2 Aug) and then with the knowledge in hand of all of Apple's policies, to order a 'new' Mac Pro with the intention of potentially returning it within 30 days (and paying the stocking fee) so as to get the new model, or to get bumped up from a base model to something better for free.
-hh