Apple Bluetooth keyboards in short supply??

[Mr.Gadget]

Are these keyboards being updated by Apple? I cannot locate one at CompUSA, Amazon or my local 3rd party Apple store. They are back ordered everywhere I look. Apple still shows them in their store so I could get one there, but I was hoping to pick one up sooner rather than later.
Anything new coming down the line?

 

[Cybergypsy]

Are these keyboards being updated by Apple? I cannot locate one at CompUSA, Amazon or my local 3rd party Apple store. They are back ordered everywhere I look. Apple still shows them in their store so I could get one there, but I was hoping to pick one up sooner rather than later.
Anything new coming down the line?

One on the refurb site this AM.....short supply of refurb macbooks too "

 

[PieMac]

Are these keyboards being updated by Apple? I cannot locate one at CompUSA, Amazon or my local 3rd party Apple store. They are back ordered everywhere I look. Apple still shows them in their store so I could get one there, but I was hoping to pick one up sooner rather than later.
Anything new coming down the line?

I was wondering the same thing. I ordered one from Amazon that's been on back order for a week and the earliest listed ship date was yesterday and it's still an open order. So, this am, I decided to look around online and every site I went to, they were out of stock. You can order one from Apple online but there is a 3-5 day wait....same for the local Apple Stores.

Well, I wouldn't mind a new, improved one if I have to wait

 

[Reflow]

They have them in stock at my apple store. I would suggest call around to different stores to see if they have them in stock

 

[Mr.Gadget]

Hum... Thought I had replied already but...

I went ahead and purchased the refrub from the Apple Store after Cybergypsy posted (thanks!). Not a huge savings, but at least something and it was in stock...

 

[PieMac]

They have them in stock at my apple store. I would suggest call around to different stores to see if they have them in stock

Called four closest Apple Stores-all out. Very strange....

 

[Mr.Gadget]

I have a local Apple retailer in town (not an official Apple Store) who told me they are scheduled to be back in stock at Apple during the last week of this month (January) and his store will get them a week after that; so around 1st of February. Makes me wonder if there will be some quite, small update or if someone simply missed the mark with suppliers? Another Apple mystery which can only be solved with time.... (I hate those!)

 

[Richard Flynn]

I ordered one yesterday using the Apple UK online store. It was dispatched on the same day, and delivered today.

 

[mkrishnan]

The much simpler explanation is just never appealing, is it....

When you think about how these keyboards are made, what do you think the cycle time is? Half a minute? Probably quite a bit less? These keyboards are almost certainly made on a line that is making a lot more than just Apple Bluetooth keyboards, or at least by employees who are also working other lines / cells. It's most common for products like these to be manufactured in batch runs -- even with lean manufacturing, smaller / simpler / zero configuration / low variety products like these are still typically made in batches.

What that means is that, whenever sales are robust, supplies tend to run low right before the shipment of a new batch. Apple has effective delivery chain management -- they don't flood or oversupply. It's much better to slightly undersupply a consumer product like this than it is to overproduce stock.

What I'm saying is, the most likely explanation is simply that it's a fluctuation in Apple's stock, and that the next batch will be run, just like the previous batch, if it has not already been run, will be shipped in the near future, and availability will return to normal....