Apple Removes Personal Pickup for Thunderbolt Display

[MacRumors]

With only a few hours remaining until Apple's WWDC 2016 keynote at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco, a tipster informed us that Personal Pickup is no longer available for the Thunderbolt Display on Apple's online storefront.

A quick spot check reveals that Personal Pickup has indeed been removed on the Thunderbolt Display product page in the U.S., U.K., Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Singapore, and other countries where the tool is available.

The removal of Personal Pickup, a web-based tool for checking in-store availability of Apple products, will naturally stir speculation about a long-overdue Thunderbolt Display refresh at WWDC. The standalone display has not been updated since 2011, even though Apple could have released a new model with USB 3.0, Thunderbolt 2, and a tapered iMac-style design as early as 2013.

Nowadays, the 27" Retina 5K iMac could be the basis for a corresponding 5K Thunderbolt Display, which could feature the same 5,120×2,880 pixels resolution, USB-C ports for connecting Thunderbolt 3 peripherals, and possibly an ultra-thin design resembling the latest iMacs. Apple could also release a 4K Thunderbolt Display, but supply chain considerations make that less likely.

Thunderbolt Display rumors have regained momentum since in-store availability of the display became depleted at several Apple Stores in the U.S., U.K., and Canada around two weeks ago. Speculation pointed towards a 5K Thunderbolt Display with an integrated GPU, but iMore's Rene Ritchie later said no such product will be announced at WWDC. He did not clarify if a refresh of any kind is off the table.

The removal of Personal Pickup should be treated as anecdotal evidence at best, however, especially since the tool was removed from Apple's AirPort Extreme and Time Capsule product pages as well, only to reappear some days later.

While there is always a chance that Apple could surprise developers with a crowd-pleasing Thunderbolt Display announcement, expectations should be kept low, as it is widely believed that WWDC will have few if any hardware announcements. The focus of the event will unsurprisingly be software, including iOS 10 and OS X 10.12, but wishful thinkers are undoubtedly holding out hope for "one more thing…" today.

Apple's keynote starts at 10 a.m. Pacific Time, with a live stream (spoiler free) available on Mac, PC, iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, and Apple TV. MacRumors will also have full coverage of the event, with a live blog on our front page and updates in 140 characters or less through our @MacRumorsLive account on Twitter.

(Thanks, Ted!)

Article Link: Apple Removes Personal Pickup for Thunderbolt Display

 

[SMIDG3T]

I wouldn't get your hopes up. The beta site is down but the Apple Store isn't. The store would be down by now if new hardware was incoming.

 

[pat500000]

What if iOS and OS X announcement would be talked for 20 mins each? We would have enough time to talk about hardwares.......sigh.......so much for Debbie downer.

Ready to toss apples at them.

 

[keysofanxiety]

I wouldn't get your hopes up. The beta site is down but the Apple Store isn't. The store would be down by now if new hardware was incoming.

What if iOS and OS X announcement would be talked for 20 mins each? We would have enough time to talk about hardwares.......sigh.......so much for Debbie downer.

Ready to toss apples at them.

Come on you two, can't we at least wait a few hours to confirm if pessimism is necessary?

 

[pat500000]

Come on you two, can't we at least wait a few hours to confirm if pessimism is necessary?

I'm going through doubting withdrawal. Lol I will try to wait few hrs.

 

[Rogifan]

I wouldn't get your hopes up. The beta site is down but the Apple Store isn't. The store would be down by now if new hardware was incoming.

Maybe Apple has finally learned how to update the store without having to take the whole site down.

 

[Dilster3k]

Arggghhghhhhhhhghghghhhh, yes please.

 

[SMIDG3T]

Maybe Apple has finally learned how to update the store without having to take the whole site down.

Maybe but I think the reason they do that is to get people excited.

 

[Altis]

The hardware lineup is so out of date. If it isn't updated today, it's approaching neglect and disrespect.

Either update the lineup or cut the prices. I'm half surprised they can even source the parts for these anymore.

 

[MH01]

Maybe Apple has finally learned how to update the store without having to take the whole site down.

Blasphemy !!!! It's impossible and everyone knows is !! He he

 

[appleguy123]

I wouldn't get your hopes up. The beta site is down but the Apple Store isn't. The store would be down by now if new hardware was incoming.

It's kind of ridiculous that the Apple Store needs to go down for a few hours every time a product is added anyway. No other merchant has to do that.

There probably is at least 1 new hardware product coming from Apple today. Even if it's just colored smart covers for the iPad pro or something else small.

 

[TMRJIJ]

Maybe but I think the reason they do that is to get people excited.

Maybe....Maybe they're changing it up on us making us think that there is no hardware to be announced and secretly updates the store while we're distracted by Craig's luscious hair.

 

[iZac]

Like all of you, I'm a bit despondent that we're likely not to see any new hardware go on sale after the keynote since as others have noted the Apple Store is still up, but maybe they'll have a Mac Pro style preview with orders starting in a month?

I'm quietly, foolishly hopeful.

 

[inhalexhale1]

The hardware lineup is so out of date. If it isn't updated today, it's approaching neglect and disrespect.

Either update the lineup or cut the prices. I'm half surprised they can even source the parts for these anymore.

That's a little dramatic on the parts sourcing, haha. But I agree. Prices need to come down when they're using older tech in products.

 

[yaxomoxay]

It's kind of ridiculous that the Apple Store needs to go down for a few hours every time a product is added anyway. No other merchant has to do that.

They do it for hype, not out of necessity.

 

[dannyyankou]

I'll be shocked if a new Thunderbolt Display isn't announced.

 

[pat500000]

Maybe....Maybe they're changing it up on us making us think that there is no hardware to be announced and secretly updates the store while we're distracted by Craig's luscious hair.

Or maybe they are changing things to let us know there is no hardware update.
[doublepost=1465832149][/doublepost]

I'll be shocked if a new Thunderbolt Display isn't announced.

I think numbed or disgusted would be a better word.

 

[newdeal]

I wouldn't get your hopes up. The beta site is down but the Apple Store isn't. The store would be down by now if new hardware was incoming.

Not really. Its such a low volume product that it could be announced today and available in a month or two

 

[alvesik]

I wouldn't get your hopes up. The beta site is down but the Apple Store isn't. The store would be down by now if new hardware was incoming.

I'm relying on the great conspiracy that I just created in my mind that Apple isn't putting the online store down because they want us to be that unsuspecting when they release a Mecca of new hardware in just over an hour. Am I delusional? Most likely but I want a new MBP too badly to care.

 

[rodpascoe]

I haven't checked historically but isn't WWDC more software related than hardware? Isn't today going to be all about iOS, tvOS and macOS?

 

[WMD]

The store doesn't go down anymore because they integrated it more closely with the rest of the site. To take it down now would necessitate bringing down large parts of the Apple website, so they don't do it.

 

[jonnysods]

Oh my stars this would be perfect. I've been holding off buying the TB Display for this day.

THEY HAVE TO UPDATE THEM!!

 

[anthonylambert]

the blutooth 5 release seems to coincide with the event today. Maybe they will announce new machines with BT 5.0 compatibility ?
[doublepost=1465834213][/doublepost]If there is a Thunderbolt Display announced it will have two connectors - mark my words....

 

[rdlink]

The hardware lineup is so out of date. If it isn't updated today, it's approaching neglect and disrespect.

Either update the lineup or cut the prices. I'm half surprised they can even source the parts for these anymore.

It's actually interesting. They haven't updated the TB display since 2011. They have products that were manufactured that year that are now on the vintage/obsolete list...

 

[macduke]

I want one so bad, but my first-gen retina MacBook Pro can't drive it. I hate to ditch a perfectly good machine, because even after four years it's not far behind the current lineup in the benchmarks (64-bit multicore GB is 12,695 for my mid-range model vs. 14,027 for the current mid-range model). Actually, now that I think about it, that's pretty sad. But Intel hasn't been doing much to help that either. I thought by now we'd have hex-core MacBook Pros benching at least 20,000. The just over four year period from my non-unibody early 2008 MBP to my mid-2012 rMBP was a huge leap in performance across the board. Every single thing was massively improved. The only tangible benefit for me is to drive 4K at 60Hz, faster SSD and AC WiFi. But my MacBook is often right next to the Airport Extreme and after using HDDs my whole life, the SSD is plenty fast. It's essentially a matter of an app opening in one second instead of two. And every external drive I have is slower, which creates a bottleneck there. So is that worth spending thousands? Not yet. I'm thinking since my MacBook is too legit to quit, I'll just add an iMac next year and be done with it.