Apple Pulling iPad 2 from Best Buy?

[rufwork]

Screwing around is how they lost Macs in the first place. They wanted to only sell certain iMac Colors and Apple said you can sell what we send or not at all, that's why Apple left them in the first place years ago. Then they cam back with the "store in a store" concept.

I think the deal was that they had to sell the same number of each color, so if they got a shipment of 10 of each and had 5 limeys left over, they couldn't order 10 more of, say, blue until limey was gone.

Right? (And I owned a lime iMac, so quit your whinin'! )

 

[paul4339]

can't BB HQ send some ghost/mystery shoppers out and audit the store managers?

 

[notabadname]

Every day Apple stores get shipments of iPads....but they don't sell them when the arrive. They hold them for the line that forms the next morning.

Seems odd to me. Like they are purposely making a spectacle in front of the store every morning.

This morning the store I went to had NO AT&T models?!?!?! So tomorrow morning there will be yet another line of those that failed today (including myself).

On topic, I called Best Buy and was told that unless I pre-ordered before the day of the sale, I could not get an iPad 2. My co-worker walked in last week off the street and purchased one. Why the inconsistent message? I don't get it.

Not really a spectacle. They take the evening's drop shipment and get it into inventory. they sell it at the three places I can check before the Mall even opens, for example: Kenwood Town Center in Cincinnati opens at 7:00 for mall walkers. They let people in line at that time. The store opens at 8:00 to give "reservations" to the line standers for their choice of the available stock. They start processing/selling at about 8:30 and distribution is usually complete before 10:00 when the mall stores open and shoppers arrive. Apple doesn't open for sales till 10:00 either. So they are actually avoiding the spectacle and line in front of the store during normal hours, which you would have if everyone showed up around 4:00 or 5:00 to be around for the afternoon drop-shipment.

 

[Chip NoVaMac]

Good example, bad math. 100 iPad 2 64GB 3G = $830 x 100 = $83,000, not $830K. If Best Buy stores were pulling in $1M+ per day or even $500k+ per day then their stock would go through the roof.

I concur with you on the whole bean counter thing. I work for a large company and its amazing to me how much money bean counters waste in their attempts to save a few pennies. We once spent over $10,000 in time (when computing hourly wage by salary) to purchase a $100 piece of software because the bean counters tried to make us jump through hoops to prove we really really could not do without it. It was sad.

Thanks for the update.. was flying by the seat of my pants there. Was a bit angry in thinking about things. I used the $500K as an example though. Not sure what they bring in each day.

I feel your pain there. Miss the common sense days of doing business...

 

[notjustjay]

I wouldn't be surprised. The quota explanation was given already, but they might also be holding back stock of the cheaper models in order to drive more sales of the higher end ones. "Oh, you wanted the 16 gig wifi model? Sorry, all sold out. But we do have this lovely 64 gig 3G version. If you really want the iPad 2, this is your big chance... it's only a little bit more..."

That happened to me, almost, when I bought the original iPad from Best Buy here in Canada on our launch day last year. The guy almost smirked when he said, sorry, the 16 gig ones were all sold out, but they had plenty of the 64 gig models. Luckily I persisted and he managed to find one more 16 gig, the last one! How lucky was that!

 

[Imola Ghost]

This may be why I haven't gotten my iPad 2 white wifi only from BB. I put a deposit down a couple of hours after it went on sale. They just called me last night to tell me that it came in.

 

[Joshuarocks]

retail sucks dookey.. and Best Buy or Worst Buy can go out of business for all I care

 

[Chip NoVaMac]

Not really a spectacle. They take the evening's drop shipment and get it into inventory. they sell it at the three places I can check before the Mall even opens, for example: Kenwood Town Center in Cincinnati opens at 7:00 for mall walkers. They let people in line at that time. The store opens at 8:00 to give "reservations" to the line standers for their choice of the available stock. They start processing/selling at about 8:30 and distribution is usually complete before 10:00 when the mall stores open and shoppers arrive. Apple doesn't open for sales till 10:00 either. So they are actually avoiding the spectacle and line in front of the store during normal hours, which you would have if everyone showed up around 4:00 or 5:00 to be around for the afternoon drop-shipment.

I like Apple's approach on the iPad 2 vs my experience with the iPhone 4 - where I and 20+ of my closest friends packed the Reston Apple Store in order to see if we could score the iPhone 4 from that mornings delivery.

 

[MrXiro]

me too! I wanna learn!

How does withholding stock from the public aid a company? I can imagine holding them till everything is registered in their system and accounted for. But turning people away when they actually do have stock doesn't sound like a good business practice to me

Drives up the "hotness" of the product... I've seen Best Buys force you to buy their "packages" of accessories for whatever hot product and refused to sell to people unless they bought accessories and possibly their service plans.

I've also been forced to sign up for Sports Illustrated "free trial" the check register employee went as far as to sign me up without my knowledge at the register so that my info was on SI's database. I had to call to cancel the subscription.

Wouldn't put it past Best Buy to with hold iPad 2s after their daily goals have been met.

Probably turned away customers that said they weren't interested in Service Plans when they bought it too.

 

[MrXiro]

I wouldn't be surprised. The quota explanation was given already, but they might also be holding back stock of the cheaper models in order to drive more sales of the higher end ones. "Oh, you wanted the 16 gig wifi model? Sorry, all sold out. But we do have this lovely 64 gig 3G version. If you really want the iPad 2, this is your big chance... it's only a little bit more..."

That happened to me, almost, when I bought the original iPad from Best Buy here in Canada on our launch day last year. The guy almost smirked when he said, sorry, the 16 gig ones were all sold out, but they had plenty of the 64 gig models. Luckily I persisted and he managed to find one more 16 gig, the last one! How lucky was that!

Hmm... I think they did that to me! I went in just a few hours after the iPad 2 went on sale... they said all they had left was the 64gb Verizon model. :-/

I have an iPad already... I was just asking to see how they were selling.

 

[edgcrshr]

I am still waiting on my black 16gb wifi, I preordered it Sunday after launch and am still waiting for Best Buy to call me. I guess I am going to have to call them and see what is going on. I have not been looking elsewhere since I wanted to get it from them and use gift cards, looks like that may not be happening anymore.

 

[notjustjay]

I do not intend to be rude, but there is a difference in HDMI cables, no matter what the Internet tells you. Conductors, shielding materials/layers and the way the connectors are put together are a few differentiators. An AudioQuest Coffee cable, for example, which is several hundred dollars ($600 I believe for a 1.5m) is made of pure silver starting with the tips and going the length of the cable. This is not the same as a no name $5 dollar HDMI cable from Amazon.

Sure there is a difference, but is it noticable? Is it worth the cost?

A Ferrari costs a lot more than a Ford Fiesta. It's better built and has a lot more power under the hood. But if all you're ever doing is driving at 20 mph, then it doesn't matter, the Fiesta has all the power you need and you'll save a pile of money. Now, you don't want to go rock bottom and buy a junker that might break down, but as long as it runs smoothly at 20 mph, any car will do the job.

You don't want ultra-cheap crappy cables that can develop loose connections or come poorly shielded, as that can cause dropouts. But neither do you need pure silver or oxygen-free shielding or whatever. Any HDMI cable will either fail outright or do the exact same job as any other for the given application.

 

[faroZ06]

I am confused about this. Did Best Buy get iPads but tell customers that they don't have them? So now Apple pulled the iPads from the shelves, but there weren't any on the shelves...

Why would they do that ?

 

[steve no jobs]

I read over at TechCrunch that it was to meet daily sales quotas, which is to benefit the store manager, mostly. They look better for hitting/beating their quota everyday, regardless of whether or not it is actually at all helpful to Best Buy.

So it sounds like Best Buy has stolen a page from communist China's playbook. That seems like good business practice.

And why would it be an accomplishment for a manager to sell the quota of ipads for the day? You could set up a shop that exclusively sells ipads in the depths of a cave inhabited by a fire breathing dragon and you'd still have fanboys lining up at 6am to get one.

 

[faroZ06]

Sure there is a difference, but is it noticable? Is it worth the cost?

A Ferrari costs a lot more than a Ford Fiesta. It's better built and has a lot more power under the hood. But if all you're ever doing is driving at 20 mph, then it doesn't matter, the Fiesta has all the power you need and you'll save a pile of money. Now, you don't want to go rock bottom and buy a junker that might break down, but as long as it runs smoothly at 20 mph, any car will do the job.

You don't want ultra-cheap crappy cables that can develop loose connections or come poorly shielded, as that can cause dropouts. But neither do you need pure silver or oxygen-free shielding or whatever. Any HDMI cable will either fail outright or do the exact same job as any other for the given application.

Yeah, just get the cheapo HDMI cable. I'm not spending $50+ for some ripoff cable to play my H.264 lossy compressed "HD" videos.

I got two HDMI cables off eBay for $5 each and they're good.

I like Apple's approach on the iPad 2 vs my experience with the iPhone 4 - where I and 20+ of my closest friends packed the Reston Apple Store in order to see if we could score the iPhone 4 from that mornings delivery.

Can't you also get them from AT&T? Also, the Apple Store in Santa Monica never has a line for new iPhones or iPads for some reason. I guess they work fast?

 

[ABernardoJr]

When you are as HUGE as best buy, and you are selling a product as huge as the iPad, it makes sense to create a demand. People do this all the time. You can't get it now, so the second it becomes available to you, you buy it in fear that you might have to wait another month. This happens all the time with a lot of products.

How does that create demand? Instead of actually getting the sale, you deny a sale and hope it "creates demand" so that they'll come back and buy it in fear? Especially considering that they could have just purchased it in the first place and avoided the whole issue. Actually selling out the product and then having no more available in stock would create demand AND generate revenue. Doing what they did would generate SOME revenue and likely cause customers to look elsewhere for iPads.

Edit: This isn't to say that I don't recognize the concept of reaching quotas for the day and saving products for the next day's quota. That's a different argument. What I'm referring to is that this is likely not about demand but about selfishly wanting to meet quotas and turning away customers in the process. Not creating demand. It's immoral, but business/retail and morality don't always work so well together.

 

[ChrisA]

I do not intend to be rude, but there is a difference in HDMI cables, no matter what the Internet tells you. Conductors, shielding materials/layers and the way the connectors are put together are a few differentiators. An AudioQuest Coffee cable, for example, which is several hundred dollars ($600 I believe for a 1.5m) is made of pure silver starting with the tips and going the length of the cable. This is not the same as a no name $5 dollar HDMI cable from Amazon.

Yes, but the silver does nothing to improve the signal. HDMI is a digital signal that gets re-clocked at the receiving end. The signal is either inspec or not, there is not "better" or "best". The picture and sound quialty depends only on if the bits got there and nothing else.

 

[Chip NoVaMac]

Can't you also get them from AT&T? Also, the Apple Store in Santa Monica never has a line for new iPhones or iPads for some reason. I guess they work fast?

I meant last year when the iPhone 4 was released....

 

[faroZ06]

I meant last year when the iPhone 4 was released....

Yes, did they have the iPhone 4 in the AT&T stores? I thought they did. I know for sure when the 3G came out, they had it in the AT&T stores as well as the Apple stores.

I don't mean the $50 3GS that you can get now from AT&T.

 

[moochermaulucci]

How does that create demand? Instead of actually getting the sale, you deny a sale and hope it "creates demand" so that they'll come back and buy it in fear? Especially considering that they could have just purchased it in the first place and avoided the whole issue. Actually selling out the product and then having no more available in stock would create demand AND generate revenue. Doing what they did would generate SOME revenue and likely cause customers to look elsewhere for iPads.

Edit: This isn't to say that I don't recognize the concept of reaching quotas for the day and saving products for the next day's quota. That's a different argument. What I'm referring to is that this is likely not about demand but about selfishly wanting to meet quotas and turning away customers in the process. Not creating demand. It's immoral, but business/retail and morality don't always work so well together.

Now, now, we'll have none of that common sense in these here forums.

Well said, btw.

 

[fenderbass146]

I am in the Geek Squad at a Best Buy, and at least at my store there is no such thing happening, nor have we ever been instructed to tell a customer that we don't have a certain product, unless it's unreleased such as new movies etc,,, but once something is released, if we have it we sell it.

 

[faroZ06]

This.

I went to buy a Time Capsule 1TB from these goons one day and noticed the pricing. I pulled up Apple.com's pricing of the TC and asked the "mac specialist" WHY they are charging a $34.99 premium over Apple themselves. He instantly said "no problem, we'll price match." I told him I'd buy it now for instant gratification, and then order from Amazon for $285 w/no tax and free Prime shipping.

Then I'd return the overpriced "pricematched" one back to best buy. He said I can't do that.

I did it 48 hrs later.

I hate that place. If they just had the MSRP Apple price on the shelf without me having to catch them trying to make an extra few bucks, I would have bought it and walked out happy.

That stunt **** me off and I hope they had to resell it as an open box.

I hate Best Buy.

Yeah, get Apple stuff from Apple. However, Best Buy is good for getting video games. I used to get all of my GameCube games (before the Wii came out) from Best Buy for cheap.

Now I don't have much to buy from there since they stopped selling old games, and I have a GameCube and XBOX so they don't support me
Sorry, the Wiimote sucks too much, the PS3 is a ripoff with barely any good games and Bluray, and the XBOX360 is MS hardware which runs horribly and always breaks.

 

[faroZ06]

I am in the Geek Squad at a Best Buy, and at least at my store there is no such thing happening, nor have we ever been instructed to tell a customer that we don't have a certain product, unless it's unreleased such as new movies etc,,, but once something is released, if we have it we sell it.

I agree, this rumor is sketchy. It looks like they have one unreliable source. Still, I don't see why BB is good for Apple stuff unless the Apple store is too crowded.

 

[faroZ06]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8G4 Safari/6533.18.5)

Guys Apple is not to blame for this one. Well other than doing business with a sleazy business like Best Buy.

Honestly it has been like eight years since I've entered a Best Buy, everything about the place just feels undesirable and corrupt. The fact that many here are surprised at this non-sense highlights a marginal expectation for ethical behavior. No one really needs to shop at Best Buy, there are plenty of alternatives.

I don't know, I usually go into Best Buy and find stuff at good prices. However, the cables are a ripoff, but most cables are anywhere. I'd still go to Best Buy for some stuff.

 

[fenderbass146]

I agree, this rumor is sketchy. It looks like they have one unreliable source. Still, I don't see why BB is good for Apple stuff unless the Apple store is too crowded.

I agree, if I am shopping for apple stuff, i would prefer an apple store, however there is a best buy every where. I live in northwest indiana, and the nearest apple store is 40 minutes away, and im sure a lot of people have it worse.. It would be absoutly idioitic of apple to quit supplying best buy because best buy has a longer reach then apple to more people.