Lets be honest...

[KPOM]

This hasn't been a very smooth launch, no doubt about it. Apple should have delayed the launch until they were able to produce more pencils and keyboards.

This is essentially a soft launch like the iPad Air and iPad mini 2 in 2013. Remember supplies were constrained, as well. I do think it was odd that there were so few Pencils and Keyboards ready given how much they were hyped. But lots of people aren't going to want either or both, so I don't fault Apple for putting the iPad Pros out before they have enough Pencils and Smart Keyboards. That said, they should have managed expectations better, perhaps even announcing a later launch date for the accessories.

totally not cool with it. Apple launch has been ****** since the Apple Watch

The iPhone 6s launch was very smooth. That's Apple's top selling product.

 

[Atomic Walrus]

I could understand a very limited supply, but we're talking about a crazy small ratio. Stores seemed to have tons of iPP units, and on average had 0-2 Pencils/Keyboards. That's about how many they receive each day. It just seems like more than a normal supply issue, like they sold the entire stock to Disney or some other giant company at the last minute.

Or in more general terms, like they're holding the stock of accessories for business clients only due to the supply limits. As they come in they're sold to business customers who ARE able to reserve them. Speculation, but we've seen reports of people getting them this way.

 

[spgiva]

While I find the lack of pencil and keyboard annoying I can not say that I am surprised. Apple has often had launches where product availability was pretty limited. I am surprised I was able to get an iPad Pro the day of launch without having to wait on any long lines. I have often wondered if apple intentionally keeps opening supplies under stocked just to keep people talking about it.

 

[iluvgadgets]

I would have been happy with them at least having a Smart Cover or something available to protect my device. I'm storing it in the box right now!

 

[Atomic Walrus]

I have often wondered if apple intentionally keeps opening supplies under stocked just to keep people talking about it.

Well, it's working whether or not it's intentional. I read an article last night where the author referred to randomly finding a Pencil as "winning the Pencil lottery." He wasn't really an artist and was more excited about getting the Pencil this way than he would have been if it had been widely available from day one.

I would have been happy with them at least having a Smart Cover or something available to protect my device. I'm storing it in the box right now!

Hah, I put mine back in the box overnight too. It just looked like so much scratchable surface and I haven't decided if I'm going to swap for a different model.

 

[xPad]

If MS Surface or Samsing Galaxy Series tablets launched without their stylus and keyboard we would be making fun of them. Apple iPad Pro launches without the marqee features and everyone seems just fine with it. Do you agree?

No.

 

[JT2002TJ]

While I am one of the few that has had my IPP (6 hours after ordering it), Keyboard & Pencil (30 hours after ordering it), I agree with a lot here. For the past few devices I have ordered at 3 am EST, (6+, Apple Watch, and IPP) I have gotten them on day one, but there have been issues all around. It seems like this problem is getting worse. Either apple has no way to gauge demand, or they are doing it on purpose, either way, this isn't the best way to customer retention. Especially since the competition is catching up with the level of Apple's quality (I said catching up, they aren't there yet, but are getting closer).

 

[AdonisSMU]

While I am one of the few that has had my IPP (6 hours after ordering it), Keyboard & Pencil (30 hours after ordering it), I agree with a lot here. For the past few devices I have ordered at 3 am EST, (6+, Apple Watch, and IPP) I have gotten them on day one, but there have been issues all around. It seems like this problem is getting worse. Either apple has no way to gauge demand, or they are doing it on purpose, either way, this isn't the best way to customer retention. Especially since the competition is catching up with the level of Apple's quality (I said catching up, they aren't there yet, but are getting closer).

I definitely think its people delaying decisions but realize there is a trade off... As in less liberal return policies.

 

[clyde2801]

Vomit on the street on top of a dog, that's disgusting..

Would the dog be digging under the street with vomit on it, or would someone had torn up a chunk of vomit encrusted pavement and placed it on top of the canine?

That's not disgusting, but confusing.

 

[richardmu]

Well, it's working whether or not it's intentional. I read an article last night where the author referred to randomly finding a Pencil as "winning the Pencil lottery." He wasn't really an artist and was more excited about getting the Pencil this way than he would have been if it had been widely available from day one.



Hah, I put mine back in the box overnight too. It just looked like so much scratchable surface and I haven't decided if I'm going to swap for a different model.

Bought the silicone back. Expensive and I don't like the cutout for the cover as I'm not fussed about protecting the screen. It's wifi only and will not be
leaving the house. There's probably lots of TPU back covers out there but
I wanted something when I bought the iPP yesterday and there was nothing
else to protect the back and make it easier to hold.
Have the smart case on my iPad Air 2 since day one and that's great.

 

[KPOM]

It seems like this problem is getting worse. Either apple has no way to gauge demand, or they are doing it on purpose, either way, this isn't the best way to customer retention. Especially since the competition is catching up with the level of Apple's quality (I said catching up, they aren't there yet, but are getting closer).

I'm sure it isn't on purpose. Apple is entering new product categories, but at the same time they must continue to prioritize the iPhone since that is the bulk of their revenue and profits. It is very difficult to get the product mix right from the start, particularly when a launch is so high profile. It seems that Apple's strategy for new products lately is for "soft launches" with broader availability later. iPhone demand is pretty predictable, so Apple has gotten that down to a science.

The Watch always did seem to me to be a holiday gift, so I view the April launch as a soft launch. They worked out some of the bugs and have an expanded lineup in place for this quarter. The long term success of the iPad Pro won't come down to whether or not the Apple Pencil and Smart Keyboard were available the first few weeks of the launch. It will come down to whether or not Apple convinces the buying public that there is a use case for a large tablet as a notebook replacement.

That said, Apple does need to do a better job of managing expectations. Had they said "iPad Pro, available November, and Apple Pencil and Smart Keyboard, available December" there might not be as many complaints.

 

[macguy360]

No. People are criticising Apple too, big time, fans and customers alike.

Im not fine, im waiting too, and am a huge Apple device advocate, yet Apple's launch is absolutely disgusting. No excuses.

Me too. I am a huge apple fan but this is ridiculous. Their pricing is awful, both for the Pro and the keyboard/pencil. If you buy all 3 your spending over $1000 before tax. If you buy all 3 and you get the higher end 128gig model your spending over $1300. Their student discount for the device is laughable $20 off for being a college student. Thanks but no thanks Apple. I have the air 2 which I have yet to have any performance issues with, so I'll just wait for the iPad air 3 thank you.

If Apple stopped developers from putting freemium games in the App store so developers would actually make quality games and not addictive apps posing as games, then sure I would invest in an iPad pro. But I don't see that happening any time soon so I'm pretty sure my air 2 can handle clash of clans and the other garbage that developers only want to release since those are what make money.

 

[Amazing Ox Space Monkey]

And not only that, but the promise there will be apps that will be specific to the iPP and will utilize its powerful processor, ram and whatnot.

Personally, the leading reason why I'd get the iPP is the possibility to write sheet music on it using Sibelius. So far Sibelius has not announced plans to port their program to iPP. They already done it for the Surface but reports say it's not quite what fellow composers expected. I'd imagine such program would heavily rely on the Pencil. Did I say Pencil? Where's the Pencil?

But, as you say, no Pencil, no Software, no reason to buy an iPP. In a sense, the launch of the iPP resembles the launch of the first Macintosh - it's a very beautiful piece of hardware with no beautiful software. Until such software appears, I won't be buying. And the software producers won't adapt their software for it, because nobody buys it. Catch 22. But hey, my 4 year old iPad is still pushing it, I don't need another, more expencive device to use Booking, Lufthansa, check emails, reply on MacRumors, especially taking into account the Pro costs twice more than a regular iPad.

 

[danmart]

But why are those the only options? Either it's bundled or the ratio of accessories to devices at launch is <= 1:1000? There wasn't a limited supply of Pencils at launch, there were zero. Still are zero, some stores have never even received any to sell. The ones that have got single-digit numbers.

That isn't the question I was answering. The OP compared the Pro to the SP4, which I have never read about, so I looked it up. And it comes bundled with both keyboard and pen. I definitely don't want the keyboard, so I would object if I had to buy it. Customer choice is good.

Apple have struggled with supply recently. See my avatar? 'The Black Unicorn' is a great book but also homage to the Space Black Link watch I ordered within 8 minutes of orders opening but didn't receive for months until after launch day. So I know about Apple's poor recent track record.

They seem to be ultra conservative on their non-core products, using just-in-time production but their supply chain seems to be struggling to deliver.

 

[KPOM]

That isn't the question I was answering. The OP compared the Pro to the SP4, which I have never read about, so I looked it up. And it comes bundled with both keyboard and pen. I definitely don't want the keyboard, so I would object if I had to buy it. Customer choice is good.

The Surface Pen is included, but the keyboard is $130. That said, with both pen and keyboard the 128GB model is $1029 vs. $1217 for the 128GB iPad Pro. $1129 buys the same package but with a more powerful Core i5. I wonder how the Surface Pro sales will compare with the iPad Pro. Neither company is likely to break out specific sales, so we'll just have to guess, but if the iPad Pro doesn't sell as well as Apple wants, I wouldn't be surprised if we see a 64GB model in the future. 64GB at $799 might be a lot more palatable to a lot more people.

 

[QquegChristian]

It's a laptop replacement because it's a laptop. Do you ever see anyone using the device without the kickstand and keyboard attached? Do you ever see Microsoft marketing the device without the kickstand and keyboard attached? No and no.

I use my Surface almost exclusively without the keyboard, but with the pen in full desktop mode.

So much talk of how OS X wouldn't work on a touch device... But it doesn't have to be fantastic with touch when you have a stylus. The stylus is a great alternative to mouse/trackpad. The lack of a right click button on the Apple Pencil would be the biggest issue. You can even use the pressure sensitivity within the OS to approximate Force Touch.

 

[oldmacs]

It's a laptop replacement because it's a laptop. Do you ever see anyone using the device without the kickstand and keyboard attached? Do you ever see Microsoft marketing the device without the kickstand and keyboard attached? No and no.

I have multiple friends with various varieties of the surface (Pro & RT) and quite often I see them being used without the keyboard and without the kick stand.

 

[racer1441]

Agreed....but the other companies are ok with it from top to bottom...Apple could fix it with the elimination of that moron running deployments....apple watch, tv, and pro....she needs to go.

 

[KPOM]

Agreed....but the other companies are ok with it from top to bottom...Apple could fix it with the elimination of that moron running deployments....apple watch, tv, and pro....she needs to go.

A little sexism here? Was it Ron Johnson's fault that the white iPhone 4 didn't ship for months after the black iPhone 4? Or that supplies of the iPad 2 were severely constrained at launch? Angela Ahrendts can't control whether or not the supply chain could produce enough Smart Keyboards or Pencils, or whether there would be enough Watches on hand to stock every store. She played the hand she was dealt. Rather than lose an entire holiday season of iPad Pro sales, Apple decided to release the iPad Pro first, even though some accessories weren't available for it.

So much talk of how OS X wouldn't work on a touch device... But it doesn't have to be fantastic with touch when you have a stylus. The stylus is a great alternative to mouse/trackpad. The lack of a right click button on the Apple Pencil would be the biggest issue. You can even use the pressure sensitivity within the OS to approximate Force Touch.

That's what Microsoft was counting on with Windows 8 (i.e. an "OK" touch interface would work). But it really doesn't.

 

[Kal-037]

If MS Surface or Samsing Galaxy Series tablets launched without their stylus and keyboard we would be making fun of them. Apple iPad Pro launches without the marqee features and everyone seems just fine with it. Do you agree?

No Apple are a bunch of boneheads. I think all of 2014 and 2015 they have been dummies too.
12" Retina MacBook price is a joke.
MacMini update was terrible.
15" MacBook Pro update was lame.
iMac 4K coming standard with 5400rpm drive was beyond stupid.
iPad Pro reveal and long wait time with no info was bad business as was the unorganized actual release.

I don't know what Apple is doing these days. I'm hoping it's just some stupid temporary hiccups, and that next year they'll get their act together again.



K.

 

[racer1441]

A little sexism here? Was it Ron Johnson's fault that the white iPhone 4 didn't ship for months after the black iPhone 4? Or that supplies of the iPad 2 were severely constrained at launch? Angela Ahrendts can't control whether or not the supply chain could produce enough Smart Keyboards or Pencils, or whether there would be enough Watches on hand to stock every store. She played the hand she was dealt. Rather than lose an entire holiday season of iPad Pro sales, Apple decided to release the iPad Pro first, even though some accessories weren't available for it.

Nice...throw around that sexism card all you want, but she has never been that great of a executive at anything she has done. And yes, men can be as big of a screw up as a woman, it doesn't matter. She has played the hand she was dealt very poorly time and time again.

I don't care what is between her legs...it's the lack of what's between her ears.

 

[KPOM]

Nice...throw around that sexism card all you want, but she has never been that great of a executive at anything she has done. And yes, men can be as big of a screw up as a woman, it doesn't matter. She has played the hand she was dealt very poorly time and time again.

I don't care what is between her legs...it's the lack of what's between her ears.

Burberry tripled in value during her tenure there.

 

[Arran]

I'm messing with the idea of replacing my old iPad 4 with a pro just for the big screen (for reading) and a speed bump. That's all.

Mildly curious about the pencil. Not at all interested in the keyboard cover, although I would like a simple leather smartcover. That big glass screen is a mighty big target.

 

[racer1441]

Burberry tripled in value during her tenure there.

By doing simple things like cutting back on certain agreements and going after counterfeiting.....not by innovating or producing.

I said it other places and I stand by it....she is the average football coach that always goes 8-8...too good to be fired, but not good enough to actually matter.

 

[AdonisSMU]

By doing simple things like cutting back on certain agreements and going after counterfeiting.....not by innovating or producing.

I said it other places and I stand by it....she is the average football coach that always goes 8-8...too good to be fired, but not good enough to actually matter.

Youre not even qualified to make that assessment. Only those people working above her at Apple are. You cant triple in value simply by going after counterfeiters and agreements. Sorry that lame argument doest cut it. You just sound like the typical sexist going in on the women in power without any data points to go on. Nothing new to see here. Apple has always had shortages of products and accessories at launch. Ive never known a single Apple launch in at least the last 5 years not to have this problem.

I will say the online experience has been vastly improved since Angela took over. The online store didnt go down for hours just before the iPad Pro launch. In Store pick ups have been expanded so people arent waiting outside overnight simply to be told they wont be able to get the device in the configuration they want because scalpers zapped up all of the supply because they are being paid to wait inline overnight for days at a time.