MacBook Air Selling Out

[dapodaca]

Personally I'm always suspicious of manufacturers generating their own good news about one of their products. Usually news of high demand products come through the retail chain rathe than the manufacturer e.g. Ninendo Wii etc....

Actually, if you read the Original Post then you'll see that it's not Apple who published the stock observations, but Arstechnica:
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/pos...utter-demand-stays-strong-sold-out-often.html

In my experience, Apple usually waits until it has solid numbers before making a press announcement (like cumulative numbers sold over time):
Apple Sells Two Million Copies of Mac OS X Leopard in First Weekend:
http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2007/10/30macosx.html
Apple Sells One Millionth iPhone
http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2007/09/10iphone.html
...

 

[Maccus Aurelius]

To me, this is just like the G4 Cube. Pricey, limited abilities, zero upgradability. But it sure looks pretty. I'm not buying though. I'd buy my Black MacBook all over again if I were buying today. Better machine all the way around.

The black macbook is the better all-around computer for my personal uses as well. However, if I owned a Mac Pro, an iMac or whatever else as my main home-base system, the solid connection options of the MBP and MB would not be nearly as necessary as they are for me now.

Yes, it's way, way thin. Yes, it's 3 lbs instead of 5 lbs. But the dimensions of the thing (other than thickness, mind you) are pretty much the same as the MacBook. You're really not saving much...and you're loosing a bunch.

I guess it's a matter of perspective. The buyer is likely very aware of what's being sacrificed, but if this laptop is being used purely for travel, it's actually superior to the Macbook and Macbook Pro in this regard, because it's no better/worse than the standard Macbook with regards to surface area, but it's lighter, fits into bags a lot easier, and has a better chassis to take a beating with, unlike the flex-happy macbook and the dent-happy macbook pro. The one and only strike against the Air is the non-user replaceable battery. If you travel by air or by Amtrak, however, there's always the option for a power outlet.

I will admit, I must not be the target audience...and apparently Apple know there are people out there who want this wanna-be laptop.

I'm not in the target audience myself, but I wouldn't call this a wannabe laptop.

 

[lukechip]

Reality Distortion Field Strikes Again

The MacBook Air Availability Tool is a classic example of the Reality Distortion Field. The text says "The Apple Retail Store very likely has your MacBook Air in stock"

Yet when I check for my (former) home state, this is what I see:

So again, Apple don't want us to believe the facts, just their spin on them.....

 

[tuneman07]

I would be extremely surprised if the sales numbers were all that high- the actual numbers sold- not just the fact that they are selling out. There is no doubt Apple is keeping the stock low- the article even says that. They want to create hype and a feeling that if you could get one of these you are so lucky. This is very common practice to create hype.

 

[HLdan]

Part of me wonders if this is Apple purposely keeping somewhat short supplies of the MBA in order to drive up the demand.

Uh yeah...ever heard of supply and demand?

 

[eastcoastsurfer]

You are correct on this, it would appear.

I don't claim to be all-knowing, mind you. I was wrong when I thought the iPod mini and nano would fail. After all, think about it, who would want an 8GB Nano for $199 when they could get an iPod classic for $249 that has 10X the storage. 10X more for only $50 difference. Alas, I was wrong, there is a market for it after all.

I'm sure the Air will be a success, but it's one of the first Apple products in a while that I've not felt an urge to go get.

I wonder if the new 'fat' nano design is hurting ipod sales. All the people I know who want a nano are looking for used old style ones. I still don't understand the change to the fat ones.

 

[Rot'nApple]

After playing with a display model at best buy, I'm not surprised by this news. Amazing laptop, I'd love to have one. Makes my macbook seem way too heavy and thick...

Heard that!

I too went to my local Best Buy and played around with it, picked it up and the adjacent 15" MBP to compare weight, scoped out the hideway port door, screen, etc and fell in love with it myself.

Never having owned a laptop, I don't know what ports and connections I wish I would have versus the few the MBA supports. So it would be hard to judge what I wish it had versus what I really, really need. Doesn't matter, not having money either, there would probably be a few iterations of the MBA to come out before I thought about getting one, but it would be interesting to think about what Apple would possibly add to please customers.

 

[marmotte]

Talk about home-made hype. I have yet to see a single MBA in the wild. Then again, I do live in a small market, non-tech buying place called MANHATTAN! Shame on Apple for trying to fool us.

I saw one at Starbucks on Lex and 78th just this week-end

 

[tivoboy]

I bet

I bet there are selling through and then going to put the Penryn chips in there, which will ROYALLY piss off anyone who has already bought one.

 

[quinney]

I would be extremely surprised if the sales numbers were all that high- the actual numbers sold- not just the fact that they are selling out. There is no doubt Apple is keeping the stock low- the article even says that. They want to create hype and a feeling that if you could get one of these you are so lucky. This is very common practice to create hype.

It would be nice if Apple would release some stats at tomorrow's
shareholder meeting.

 

[TanToday]

Gang, these are made in Shanghai, by Foxconn.

For those who don't follow things, for THREE SOLID weeks most of China was virtually shut down with the worst snows in 50 years. Add in the two weeks that almost every Chineese national takes off for their New Years, MUCH bigger than ours....and this all impacts the production lines, the suppliers, and the workers screwing things together on the manufacturing lines.

ALL of this happened almost immediately after the announcement.

Just about everything from China right now, is trying to get back going, fixing damaged facilities, and rounding up stranded and stray workers.

 

[cyberjunky]

Uh yeah...ever heard of supply and demand?

There is no right or wrong solution, merely an optimal solution.

Things change and supply and demand is so old, now manufacturers of expensive kit realise by creating shortages of units it gives the false impression to consumers that they are selling really well. This in turn creates wealth of new converts to any product that follows this model. Think of it like this, when you had the PS3 and Xbox 360 the xbox although ahead of the PS3 constantly was out of stock but then again limited numbers of stock contributed to this, and many people wanted one of the units so their retail value shot up along with resale price for early adopters, this generated more hype over the product and would be buyers of the PS3 would suddenly feel priveliged to be in the possession of a xbox 360 and thus they would try to purchase one.

Thing is, most of the products that follow this model are not only expensive but they rely on continued subscription and/or service models with high margin to earn the true profits for the business.

When you think about it, some users of mac find them so reliable and with such quality they are happy without a care for any of the problems windows users suffer to keep their machine for periods of up to 8 years in some cases. The average mac user probably keeps their machine for 2-6 years. If this is the case (and i am estimating figures here) then Apple are making back their profit during these periods where an otherwise PC user would be buying a new machine once every 1-2 years on the higher margins from iTunes and so fourth.

Its all a service and subscription based mini ecosystem, thats how these big businesses operate, its high margin.

 

[seedster2]

I believe that the supply is intentionally being limited by Apple to drum up media attention and create artificial buzz/demand

Initially, they were difficult to find but I have been to several NY locations and they all had stock despite what that locator tool on the website indicates. Keep in mind if people rely exclusively on that tool, they will get discouraged and order through Apple.com. My friend ordered rather than deal with the crowds at the B&M and had his within 72 hrs. Also, all of the BB's with them on display have had them in stock.

It's a well built machine that is ideal for a small niche, but I think there is a bit of trickery going on here with the sales' performance. It's quite common. At least with the Wii there is corroborated evidence of the sale performance.

 

[Whistleway]

Welcome to the world of simulated demand and rarity.

The MBA's revenue will do nothing but just a tick on the AAPL stock. It's a niche product and that's about it.

 

[TanToday]

I believe that the supply is intentionally being limited by Apple to drum up media attention and create artificial buzz/demand

Well, SOMEONE should stay away from running a business....

IF you are selling 'em like hotcakes, you MAKE them like hotcakes, and TOUT the sales numbers. D'oh, only a fool { and Stephen whatever he might be, isn't a fool } would leave money on the table to make a vacuous statement like that.

 

[TanToday]

Welcome to the world of simulated demand and rarity.

The MBA's revenue will do nothing but just a tick on the AAPL stock. It's a niche product and that's about it.

So was EVERY winner Apple now counts on.

Remember everyone trashing the little iPod, as not as good as the ones out there already, and WHAT IS A COMPUTER COMPANY doing selling music machines.....OR telephones....OR a new business of online downloads...

Sure, they start off small, EVERY truly innovative product MUST, since by definition, innovative products means that they don't have a ready made market, and the customers will normally adopt a "wait and see' mentality before jumping on any bandwagon.

 

[frank781]

You're right

Its the Wii of notebooks!

PharmD, ou may be on to something. Obviously this is the slowest of any Intel Mac being sold right now (even mac Mini has a a faster CPU and HDD). But lightness and super thin profile is grabbing a lot of people.

You have pick one of these things to understand why it is so appealing. It's extremely well build, especially for a 1.0 version. You may quibble about expandability, but this is not the proposition for this item.

I bought my MBP a few months ago so I'm not in the market for this, but for the exception of 3D animation and rendering and heavy Photoshop use, this baby can handle any program you can dish at it.

Coming back to the expandability, the optical drive is overrated. I've only used the drive in my MBP about 2-3 times since I'v bought it (and mostly when I was loading the apps at the beginning. Most of my video watching come from iTunes or videos I've downloaded.

Ethernet? I've stayed in Holiday Inns, Hilton's and other other smaller hotels and for the exception of 1 hotel in Malaysia (a 1-nighter because I couldn't get a better one), all had wi-fi connections and could connect easily.

My big problem with this laptop is that it doesn't have either integrated 3G capability or an Express card. The MBA is supposed to be about wireless (henceforth the "Air" moniker) and it's inclusion would've made it a perfect road warrior notebook (Apple claims that they wanted the user to have choice, but with only 1 USB, the choices are underwhelming)

In any case, I'm glad that the MBA is selling well, because that'll mean that version 2.0 will become a reality much sooner.

 

[jfull15]

I'm glad that someone is buying it even if it's not my cup of tea.

AMEN. If I had the cash, I'd sweep it up in a second, after I get the new MBP

 

[50548]

Very nice. Sales figures please or it didn't happen.

It's gonna show in Apple's statements soon, don't worry. Buy you may have an idea at "best sellers" lists everywhere...

I'd point out that 'leader' is not the same as OS dominant. That would still be Windows.

A leader is a leader, period. The fact that Windows is the majority among a zillion tiny makers is irrelevant. OS X is here to stay and conquer, nothing else. Dell used to brag about edu markets, and now it's a goner; Apple was the leader with the Apple II, and is now once more with the Mac. No one is better than Apple in that market.

Doubt it since the iPhone has kind of sputtered in the European markets. They'll need to raise their game to beat Nokia's S60 based 'phones.

"Sputtered" if you compare it with those ridiculous subsidized bricks. The iPhone has received the best customer reports ever and sells like bananas for the market it's designed...Nokia is lost in the woods and even RIM should start to worry now.

Actually that would be Amazon - media includes music, video and games.

I am talking about stores with products and content similar to those at Apple's. The iTMS is LEADER in online-distributed music and video, and no one comes close, not even Amazon.

You do realise that global PC sales went up 13% last year? Apple accounts for about 3% of the total global sales figure. You may want to reconsider your statement.

Apple is already closing at 8% in its home market and growing everywhere else. As for PC sales, 13% growth is a PALTRY amount compared to what Apple has been growing year-over-year, just check the news.

Drivel. There were plenty of units with good sized screens and light weights. The Lenovo X61 weighs 3.5 lbs and has a 12.1" screen. The Dell XPS M1330 weighs under 4lbs and has a 13" screen.

How thin are they? Why is the Lenovo heavier with a smaller screen? Thank you.

Actually, yes it does. Maybe not for you but for others it will although, in fairness, I would rather have and X61 or the Dell.

Honestly, you should actually know what you're talking about before saying such silly things. I like Macs but I can't be bothered with people who can't look at things objectively.

Again, look at the best seller lists...those bricks can't compete with the MBA...not to mention they can't run OS X, of course...

 

[TuffLuffJimmy]

I think it's funny that everyone is saying the air is a niche market machine. It's just as much of a niche market machine as a Macbook Pro. How many people actually need a dedicated video card? (Not everyone does the kind of work people on macrumors do) I'd say there are just as many business men and other people looking for small thin laptops as there are people who need portable workstations and I think Apple recognizes this.

 

[!¡ V ¡!]

After using the demo model in a BB, I like what the MBA has to offer (maybe in the future). The price of me is not a problem even with a SSD, its the expandability of the product, no express card, a second USB 2.0 or maybe even a 3.0 (down the road) would be welcomed.

What I really dislike is the glossy (glass) screen, this fact along has kept me from purchasing the new iMac, MB and now the MBA.

I have a MBP and would not mind having a MBA if it did not have a glossy screen, second USB 2.0 or FireWire and an express card.

Here is hoping for MBA 2.0

 

[netdog]

The end of the article seemed quite telling...

"...according to the Apple Store sales rank widget, the MacBook Air has been the top selling Mac since before the middle of February, outselling the MacBook, the iMac, and the MacBook Pro—this, despite week-long shipping delays."

I expect a nice announcement by Steve on Thursday that will reveal just how well the MBA is doing.

 

[phatcat]

I was just about to get the Air when the updated MBP's were released. Bang for the buck it was a no brainer for me. MPB all the way.

I imagine it must be a combination of supply and demand. The Air has so many new components, that if a supplier failed to deliver a component in time, it would shut down the line. Plus I imagine China's also focusing some of their efforts on the new MBP production lines.

 

[seedster2]

Well, SOMEONE should stay away from running a business....

IF you are selling 'em like hotcakes, you MAKE them like hotcakes, and TOUT the sales numbers. D'oh, only a fool { and Stephen whatever he might be, isn't a fool } would leave money on the table to make a vacuous statement like that.

Ha, I guess my point flew over the COO's head

Apple had an idea how well the AIR would sell.

When they first arrived at stores and I tried to purchase one they "werent available for sale artificially inflating demand. When AIR's finally became available they had short supply and still receive small incremental shipments to Apple stores. This creates an artificial "selling like hotcakes I have to have one because they are in such short supply" hysteria.

The stores arent receving huge amounts. I don't doubt it's selling well, but it's not hard to sell out a few, we're not talking iphone supplies. Air is a wonderful niche product and people should keep that in perspective when proclaiming it's the next ipod.

 

[netdog]

it may not be the next iPod, but it will redefine the truly portable laptop. they got it right.