Apple Overstocked on iPods and Macs?

[runninmac]

Yeah this seems like a bad thing to me...lots of inventory = no updates at WWDC?

Yeah not good

AND.. im almost positive its NOT good to have high invintory besides my dad being a finacual planer and asking him about it also I remeber in steve jobs keynote a few years ago (just resently watched it) he said he was proud that they had a low inventory compared to the other comp. makers. So the iMac G5 is actually selling good becasue the demand is up. Sorry if this doesn't make any sense I havn't gotten alot of sleep lately and its 10:30 here.

 

[Freg3000]

I personally think this means people are just waiting for WWDC before making purchases. If I were in the market for a new toy, I would wait to see what the other kids are playing with. 😀

I would suggest that the overwhelming majority of Apple owners don't even know what WWDC is.

 

[ScottDodson]

The U2 iPod was a bad idea in the first place, really. But that's just my opinion. :x

Yeah, I was never a fan of it. Why is it that this is *understocked*? Apple just not producing these things, or are people actually buying it up? Anyone got any numbers on it? I figured Apple would have a huge stock of these.

 

[Toeside]

I'm in the market for an iBook and history shows that an update is overdue. If the iBook has a high inventory, then I'm afraid that an updated model won't be announced at WWDC, like I'm hoping.

It's really hard to pay $1000 for the same config that went on the market in Oct. I'm pessimistically optimistic that a new iBook config will be announced at WWDC. I'll order one the day it's announced!

 

[barneygumble]

Just becasue they have lots of stock does not mean they have lots of "old" stock if you know what i mean.

 

[aldo]

Aldo, aldo aldo, what did you just do buy Dell StocK?

If you're considering a Mac then there's No Comparision to a PC.
It's the Hardware and the SOFTWARE. You keep forgetting.
Plus, the slow recovery from Paranora. No Virus's no spyware no problems.

Really, you've got to do better Trolling than that.

Please don't bother.

Apple can't rely on it's current userbase for the tremendous growth they need to achieve to keep up with Wall Street's expectations.

So, basically Apple needs to find new customers. Walk up to the average person on the street and ask them if they know what 'Spotlight' is. Or hell, even what 'OS X' is. Then ask them if they know what 'Windows XP' is.

You'll find the vast majority don't know anything about the software. How do you propose that because the software is better (even though the vast majority of the market doesn't know anything about their software!) that somehow, people will just suddenly start buying Macs?

Please don't call me a troll BTW. I'm simply making an observation.

 

[nagromme]

Why? It's extremely expensive and lacks significantly compared to its PC counterparts.

If you actually look at ALL (not just one or two) of the specs and features of the iMac models, compared by price, I don't think you'll FIND any PC counterparts 😀 Then add OS X, lack of viruses, and a great software bundle. The iMac's a great deal!

And it WAS the best selling Mac, at least prior to the Mac Mini. (It may still be, I don't know--but they sure made it a lot better for the same price recently!)

that somehow, people will just suddenly start buying Macs?

The trend would seem to be exactly that 🙂 They HAVE suddenly started buying Macs. Windows users who have never touched them before. Thank the iPod, the Mac Mini, Tiger, the continued problems with Windows and security/privacy, the delay of Longhorn, and the awakening of the press to all of the above.

Does everyone understand that Macs are better? Obviously not yet--and that extreme case is unnecessary. Are sales and awareness increasing? Yes.

This quarter is normally a slow one, seasonally--expected to have lower sales than the last one. And last quarter would be expected to have lower sales then the holidays.

Yet sales have gone UP each quarter. Marketshare too. And Apple's retail stores, which have thrived, are selling about half to Windows users.

I can't find the doom and gloom in this 🙂

 

[DeadEye686]

Agreed. I'd much rather see a healthy supply in the channel than weeks of waiting for a product. And perhaps this rumored big media blitz is indeed coming very soon and that's why they've allowed their inventories to increase.

I think (well, I hope, I guess, without any facts either which way) that this is the reason for the extra supply.

Edit: Beautiful post by nagromme while I was typing. Couldn't have said things better myself.

 

[madmaxmedia]

Note that the original story didn't say Apple was overstocked, it only said that there was enough inventory that Mac resellers are finally able to get product. Which means that Apple could have had more sales, but couldn't fulfill all orders.

Sales have been fine the last couple of quarters, there's no reason to believe they shouldn't be fine now.

 

[nagromme]

AI has an odd habit of putting a negative (probably unintentional) spin on products not being out of stock. There may be some of that happening here, I don't know.

For instance, they said a couple times that certain iPod models were selling poorly. But in the text of the article the evidence was simply that OTHER models were backordered, while these ones (like the Photo) were available. Being able to meet demand may partly be a sign that some products sell better than others (which is natural), but it doesn't mean that anything is selling poorly.

(Incidentally... if there's one Mac line that our little micro-slice of the 'net tends to gripe about needing improvements, it's the PowerBook line. They MUST have a G5 inside and all else is irrelevant! 😉 But haven't I seen that the PowerBooks are one of Apple's best-selling lines at the moment all the same?)

 

[groovebuster]

Actually I think it is consistent with this article:

http://www.macnn.com/articles/05/05/17/demand.down.for.products/

With almost every product Apple is behind technologically compared to the PC World. If you want to gain market share when only 2% of the people are using your products, you need to be ahead...

The Mac platform didn't gain market share that much. If you want to convince the average consumer to buy your products (which are not mainstream) you need to be able to offer more than a nice design and a nice OS. Especially for that price. Numbers and price are and will always be important for Joe Six-Pack. Otherwise everybody would drive around in luxury cars.

The iPod hype seems to be over and sales are cooling down. Also not that much of a surprise. The iPod was always also a fashion accessory. And fashions normally come and go. When things become to much mainstream the fashion caravan moves on and looks for a new gadget...

groovebuster

 

[iJaz]

Hmm, the shipping for the 2.3GHz PM I ordered last week was pushed back one week until the 7th of June "due to unexpected high demand for the product"! 😱
So no overstock over here! 🙄

 

[MontyZ]

Gee, I wonder how Apple can unload all those extra iPods. Maybe lower the price ... a lot?? iPods are one of the most expensive digital players on the market, so, if they want to move stock, all they have to do is have a big SALE!

 

[sw1tcher]

This over supply doesn't sound good to me. I get the feeling sales have slowed. Could explain why Apple has decided to simplify next quarters sales numbers by splitting the sales categories into desktops and laptops only. Apple probably foresaw the sales slowdown.

 

[zv470]

well, I don't think it's a bad thing for Apple to be overstocked... If they are. It was much worse being understocked.

Research and Dev costs have been covered, it's better if people are able to purchase Mac stuff when they want it.

Looks bad if people can't buy what stuff and Apple can't supply. 🙂

 

[toddya]

Apple overstocked?

If they are overstocked.. then it's probably due to retail climent being "mixed bag".

I live in Hawaii.. And the apple store in Hawaii is among the highest grossing stores!! Get that.. Can you imagine? Someone told me it does more than their "A" stores (like SF and NY) the big stores.. and our store is a "B" store in terms of size..

It ain't very large nor impressive in terms of size. But they sure sell lots of stuff man.

When everyone was complaining about NO Mac Minis, they had them (after a few initial weeks of being out however). They've always had a good stock of IPODS and almost every color for many "generations".

They even had stock of lots of stuff. So I can imagine that its just a slow time right now. Gas prices, housing prices, inflation. Its all starting to hurt our economy as a whole.

And can you imagine? The MEDIAN price of a freaking HOUSE in Hawaii was annnounced today at $620K!! And it ain't no castle either. 1200-1500 sq feet interior. Maybe 5K square feet of land. VERY VERY average.

You could probably buy something like this in the Continental US for maybe $100K? I don't know.. you should know.

Most people in Hawaii aren't well off either. Florida is the state with the highest number of wealthy people (I believe).

Anyway... Don't panic yet. Apple still has the "halo effect" everyone has been talking about.

Look.. It worked on me.. I became a 'rebel' again and use a MAC as my main personal machine. With Windows as my 'general work' machine.

Go figure huh?

Take care guys and gals.

Todd

 

[rosalindavenue]

Since I'm waiting for a update to the 12" ibook, this part of the Appleinsider report caught my eye:

"sources have only commented on slightly redesigned iBooks said to be making the rounds on the west coast."

I wonder what's redesigned? I figured that the widescreen rumors (if they were true at all) would not be fulfilled until the end of the year...

 

[topgunn]

Could it be that Apple is filling their warehouses in anticipation of their busiest time of the year? The school year is over and that means the new school year is right around the corner. Last year they had the whole debacle with their primary consumer machine not being available from early summer until late October and even later for some people. I think they are doing what they can to avoid that mistake again this year.

 

[Windowlicker]

Funny. A friend ordered a pink iPod mini over a month ago and it still hasn't shipped. Apple's system said the shipment (for new orders) would take 8 days -- that was 10 days ago.

Also, my mom ordered an ibook with bluetooth and a bigger hard drive over two months ago. Still hasn't shipped.. I believe she cancelled the order because I told there might be new ibooks coming ot very soon.

So I guess something's wrong.

 

[iGary]

Why? It's extremely expensive and lacks significantly compared to its PC counterparts.

If you are going to spend $1000+ on a computer, I think the vast majority are going to be fairly clued up on what they are buying. They will look at the specs and see they lack majorly compared to Dell, HP, or Mr. Whitebox.

Don't say the software is better because frankly people don't trust bundled software anymore after years of crap from the PC makers. They need to be educated on this, but they are simply not.

I think Apple needs to cut the PowerMac prices significantly, and perhaps the iMac's soon.

What I do think would be a very good idea to clear out all this inventory they have is a '$100' iPod deal. Buy an iMac, get an iPod for $100. It'd work better than a simple price cut of $150 (the 'loss' in terms of the iPod sticker) and would be a great upsell (Welcome to the Apple Store. You want an iPod? Well.. take a look at this great deal: shows a great iMac with an iPod for less than half price).

Well, I don't know. Seems like a good idea to me 😉.

Troll.

 

[heisetax]

You would think the iMac G5 would have the most demand...

The iMac G5 is Apple's Professional Line now. The G5 Tower is Apple's least cared for product. This is where the 3 GHz pressure is being given. Since Apple & IBM have not been able to produce this product they have realigned their models. iMac G5 is the Professional Line. the Mac mini is the consumer model. So this gives no need or place for the G5 Tower. The iMac User has accepted the fact in the past that they would have good equipment, but not top of the line. But if Apple keeps making the G5 Tower a non-top-of-the-line with the most advance features, then the pressure will probably be moved to the iMac G5. This gives a lose=lose situation, i.e. no neat G5 Towers & the iMac being bad mouthed because there is no 3 GHz iMac.

Bill the TaxMan

 

[wrldwzrd89]

The iMac G5 is Apple's Professional Line now. The G5 Tower is Apple's least cared for product. This is where the 3 GHz pressure is being given. Since Apple & IBM have not been able to produce this product they have realigned their models. iMac G5 is the Professional Line. the Mac mini is the consumer model. So this gives no need or place for the G5 Tower. The iMac User has accepted the fact in the past that they would have good equipment, but not top of the line. But if Apple keeps making the G5 Tower a non-top-of-the-line with the most advance features, then the pressure will probably be moved to the iMac G5. This gives a lose=lose situation, i.e. no neat G5 Towers & the iMac being bad mouthed because there is no 3 GHz iMac.

Bill the TaxMan

You're right that the PowerMac G5 is a product with a small market, and thus doesn't sell all that many units, such a reorganization would be utterly stupid on Apple's part because it would kill the graphic design market for Macs as we know it.

 

[Frobozz]

Wow

Wow. Apple has finally got their inventory in order.

What a concept. You can get an Apple product that is advertised!

To those who speculate this is due to poor demand: you're reading WAY too far into this. It's just Apple responding to shareholder complaints about availability. Being able to supply product to a market is critical to the bottom line and recognizing revenue instead of putting it off because you can't deliver.

 

[Tilmitt]

Well regardless of what we think, the panicky shareholders have stripped 5.5% off the share price since yesterday. Come on new iBooks next week!!!

 

[Silencio]

The iMac G5 is Apple's Professional Line now. The G5 Tower is Apple's least cared for product. This is where the 3 GHz pressure is being given. Since Apple & IBM have not been able to produce this product they have realigned their models. iMac G5 is the Professional Line. the Mac mini is the consumer model. So this gives no need or place for the G5 Tower. The iMac User has accepted the fact in the past that they would have good equipment, but not top of the line. But if Apple keeps making the G5 Tower a non-top-of-the-line with the most advance features, then the pressure will probably be moved to the iMac G5. This gives a lose=lose situation, i.e. no neat G5 Towers & the iMac being bad mouthed because there is no 3 GHz iMac.

Just because the clock speed hasn't hit 3GHz yet doesn't mean a thing.

Just because PowerMac G5s don't have PCI Express or some of the other latest and greatest technologies doesn't mean it's obsolete, either.

I'm as disappointed as anybody else that IBM hasn't met their expectations in terms of ramping up clock speeds on the PPC970 series. However, they *have* outperformed Intel in that area in the two years since the PowerMac G5 was announced. And despite running "obsolete" tech like AGP 8X, the PowerMac G5 is still one of the top performers in the industry in applications that are well-optimized for dual processor use. Check those After Effects benchmarks again.

I do care about what's under the hood, but I care more about getting work done, and the PowerMac G5s still do that very well, thanks.

The iMac G5 does blur the line somewhat between "consumer" and "professional": it's certainly good enough for pros that don't run MP-aware applications or need gobs of RAM.