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Online iPad 2 Availability Pushed to 4-5 Weeks, First Deliveries Arrive

Piggie said:
Oh, I don't know.

Call me suspicious if you like, but if they had kept, as almost everyone thought, to their expected "One year since the last launch" they would of had another 4 to 5 weeks to ramp up production and build up stocks around the world so they could of launched with good stocks in shops and on-line.

Instead they launch 4 to 5 weeks early and just don't have anything like enough to even have much stock in stops, let along on-line.

Surly Apple don't plan THIS Badly do they?
Click to expand...

I imagine you are "suspicious" based on your belief that the Xoom presented an existential threat to iPad and that Apple had to announce early to prevent iPad sized lines from forming outside Verizon and big brick and mortar stores to buy the latest and greatest mobile phone OEM/Google creation.

We have to wait to see what the official sales numbers look like, but it could be a situation where a month would not make any substantive difference. iPhone 4 has basically been in a perpetual state of constrained production, and iPad 2 could be the exact same thing.

I think that it's safe to say that they are manufacturing as many iPads as possible and if they were waiting to be able to maintain shipping within a week on all models worldwide from the launch date, there wouldn't be an iPad 2 until iPad 3.
 
Piggie said:
Surly Apple don't plan THIS Badly do they?
Click to expand...

I've wondered this myself.

-The first iPhone was announced 6 months before launch, and even then an actual date was only given 3 weeks a head of time.
-The iPhone 3G was announced just a little over a month before launch.
-The iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4 was announced like 2 weeks before.
-The first iPad was announced just over 60 days before launch.

So why did Apple insist on releasing the iPad 2 just 9 days later, (obviously I don't work for Apple) but what damage would it have caused if they would have waited a few more days, or even a 1 or so after the event to actually launch the iPad and have more of a supply on hand? The announcement enough would have stopped people from buying a Xoom (if this was their fear) knowing that a new iPad was being released soon.

Of course, I am just assuming they had a short supply. Apple very well could have manufactured more than enough for the initial launch but the demand was still higher than what they had anticipated.

Eiter way, I have my iPad 2 and I am not letting it go. (I was considering trading mine in for a higher capacity model or a 3G model, but I feel that would be foolish of me).
 
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Man I ordered my white 64gb wifi only at 12:42, 18 minutes before it went on sale at 1 and it hasn't even prepped to ship. My thinking is, if you pay $700 you should get the thing delivered by now
 
saving107 said:
I've wondered this myself.

-The first iPhone was announced 6 months before launch, and even then an actual date was only given 3 weeks a head of time.
-The iPhone 3G was announced just a little over a month before launch.
-The iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4 was announced like 2 weeks before.
-The first iPad was announced just over 60 days before launch.

So why did Apple insist on releasing the iPad 2 just 9 days later, (obviously I don't work for Apple) but what damage would it have caused if they would have waited a few more days, or even a 1 or so after the event to actually launch the iPad and have more of a supply on hand? The announcement enough would have stopped people from buying a Xoom (if this was their fear) knowing that a new iPad was being released soon.

Of course, I am just assuming they had a short supply. Apple very well could have manufactured more than enough for the initial launch but the demand was still higher than what they had anticipated.

Eiter way, I have my iPad 2 and I am not letting it go. (I was considering trading mine in for a higher capacity model or a 3G model, but I feel that would be foolish of me).
Click to expand...

The reason they give a lot of notice before a first gen product and much shorter notice for later gen devices is they don't want people to stop buying the first gen devices for so long. If they gave two months notice, nobody would buy an iPad for two months... it makes sense.

Who wants to buy an old iPad if they know the new one is coming out in two months? It was already a mass selloff of the used market on CL and eBay... I imagine Apple likes to keep their sales consistent. Just like they don't update all the Macs at the same time but do them in cycles... helps for production and assures a nice steady stream.

What also gets factored in with these iOS devices is app development and notifying developers when there are resolution changes, or advancements increasing functionality.
 
ironscabula said:
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Man I ordered my white 64gb wifi only at 12:42, 18 minutes before it went on sale at 1 and it hasn't even prepped to ship. My thinking is, if you pay $700 you should get the thing delivered by now
Click to expand...

Have people's credit/debit cards been charged yet?
 
igazza said:
4-5 weeks wait? more like epic fail. :)
Click to expand...

I hope this is sarcasm. If rumors are true and there were a million iPads sold this past weekend then Apple probably made a $100 million in profit easily, probably more, in just three days. That's not a fail by any means.

For people saying that Apple is deliberately withholding stock to increase demand, I highly doubt that. You can only manufacture so much of a given product at one time. Remember, Foxconn manufactures other products than iPads too. And after the publicity nightmare of the treatment of employees by Foxconn, there's strict regulation on how much these people work now.
 
What I think is crazy is there is not only a crazy demand for the iPad 2 but the demand is so great that people are willing to spend an extra 2 - 3 hundred dollars to save a couple weeks to get one. If I would of known that I would of bought 2 and sold them and waited for them to be more available for me to have one. :rolleyes:

Going to be prepared for iPad 3!
 
I don't think this is some sort of strategy. Unless that strategy is: sell lots and lots and a whole lots
 
pittman87 said:
I hope this is sarcasm. If rumors are true and there were a million iPads sold this past weekend then Apple probably made a $100 million in profit easily, probably more, in just three days. That's not a fail by any means.
.
Click to expand...

probably closer to 300 million. Avg price around 650, and average cost around 300.

complete guesses out my butt, but that's what I expect
 
I don't get why people are acting like the delay is hurting apple lol... Apple couldn't care either way, not having enough supply to meet demand doesn't really matter if you can continue to sell the product before you even have it ready to sell.

The delay is growing because despite the long delays, people are continuing to order iPads.
 
They only allotted a ration to the US, and im sure it's in the millions, but they still have to make millions and millions of them for the rest of the world on the 25th. Demand for this is incredible. Mine is shipping to me on Friday!
 
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First post here after being a reader for a long time. All I'm going to say is that if you factor in the thousands of iPads that are being sent overseas to highly inflated markets, and the willingness of people to get one now whatever the cost, I'm not surprised at all supply is constrained. Sure Apple could have waited a little longer to release but that would only be delaying the inevitable, it would have sold out anyway.
 
I wouldn't use the online availability as an indicator of actual availability - I've always found Apple stocks its actual bricks-and-mortar stores in preference to fulfilling online orders, so while it's 4-5 weeks online I would bet you will be able to get one in an Apple Store well before that.
 
Piggie said:
Oh, I don't know.

Call me suspicious if you like, but if they had kept, as almost everyone thought, to their expected "One year since the last launch" they would of had another 4 to 5 weeks to ramp up production and build up stocks around the world so they could of launched with good stocks in shops and on-line.

Instead they launch 4 to 5 weeks early and just don't have anything like enough to even have much stock in stops, let along on-line.

Surly Apple don't plan THIS Badly do they?
Click to expand...

Why do people think this way?

Look, if Apple built up supplies for 4-5 weeks and launched mid-April they deliver EXACTLY the same number of units they would do anyway. The only difference is those they'd be storing those units in a warehouse for a month rather than storing them in the homes of happy customers who are using them NOW. Worse, considering that they're now looking at 4-5 week lead time in the US they probably still wouldn't be able to meet demand anyway. You end up in the exact same situation as we have now just four weeks later.

The simple fact of the matter is this: Apple have done a remarkable job with the launch considering that a) they're launching internationaly within two weeks of their home market, something comparable products (games consoles mainly) tend not to do, b) they're in uncharted waters with the iPad and have no real way of knowing what demand for the new unit might be. The complaints seem to be coming from people with very unrealistic expectations and, I suspect, no matter what Apple did they'd be complaining.

Frankly I expect Apple to be ramping up as quick as they can now (without hitting silly levels and being over supplied after initial demands fade) but if demand persists at high levels you can expect waiting lists for some time, that's the way of the world with high demand items and there's little they can do to completely solve the problem.
 
ironscabula said:
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Mobile/8F190)

Man I ordered my white 64gb wifi only at 12:42, 18 minutes before it went on sale at 1 and it hasn't even prepped to ship. My thinking is, if you pay $700 you should get the thing delivered by now
Click to expand...

I agree. the problem with Apple in the past few years is that they are prepared to forfeit customer satisfaction for their profits. iP4 is a perfect example. Truth is like all mega corporations, Apple dont give a ****. They have your money now and have invested it- making more money and your left waiting because the iPad itself is way more important than you.
 
Piggie said:
Oh, I don't know.

Call me suspicious if you like, but if they had kept, as almost everyone thought, to their expected "One year since the last launch" they would of had another 4 to 5 weeks to ramp up production and build up stocks around the world so they could of launched with good stocks in shops and on-line.

Instead they launch 4 to 5 weeks early and just don't have anything like enough to even have much stock in stops, let along on-line.

Surly Apple don't plan THIS Badly do they?
Click to expand...

Engage brain, then speak.

So if the launch 4 or 5 weeks later, when do they announce the new device?
If they wait for 4-5 weeks to do the announcement, then what will they have in the stores to sell people?

If they have switched the production lines from iPad 1 to iPad 2, then they would have run out of iPad 1 models to sell well before the new model was available. Then you would have been saying it was done on purpose to get press about sell out figures of iPad 1 or bad planning.

Apple can only make so many iPads on the production lines, they will be making as many as they can, if demand is more than they can make then you will get shortages. You can't stock pile iPads as that means you are therefore holding back stock from sale, which creates the same problem.

You can';t make more than your production line capacity!!!!
 
Piggie said:
Oh, I don't know.

Call me suspicious if you like, but if they had kept, as almost everyone thought, to their expected "One year since the last launch" they would of had another 4 to 5 weeks to ramp up production and build up stocks around the world so they could of launched with good stocks in shops and on-line.

Instead they launch 4 to 5 weeks early and just don't have anything like enough to even have much stock in stops, let along on-line.

Surly Apple don't plan THIS Badly do they?
Click to expand...

People want what they can't have ;)
 
Full of Win said:
Exactly. It's nothing new what they are doing.
Click to expand...

The "Wii marketing strategy" is just another way of saying "high demand". The Wii did not have sub-standard initial sales (as a planned low supply situation would imply). Rather, it sold at a record-setting pace.

Artificially reduced supply would always be revealed through initial low sales (even if we suppose that keeping low supply is a magical recipie for increasing demand, which is rather doubtful if there is not very strong demand to begin with).

Also, any demand effect is likely to be offset by the simple fact that most of that additional demand can´t be met (because supplies are short, duh!).
 
So if I toddle into Best Buy or Apple tomorrow and see the model I want (Black, 64GB, AT&T), can I buy it and cancel my online order for the same item? I'm not going to die if I don't get it until early April, but if I can get it at a retail store, will I be forced to go through the rigamarole of accepting delivery on the one I already ordered and then return shipping?
 
I just checked the US Apple Store.

Not all iPads are on the 4-5 week delay, many still have the 3-4 weeks.
 
SteelWheel said:
So if I toddle into Best Buy or Apple tomorrow and see the model I want (Black, 64GB, AT&T), can I buy it and cancel my online order for the same item? I'm not going to die if I don't get it until early April, but if I can get it at a retail store, will I be forced to go through the rigamarole of accepting delivery on the one I already ordered and then return shipping?
Click to expand...

From my understanding you can cancel your online order anytime before the status changes to prepared for shipment. At that point your card has been charged for the product you ordered.
 
SteelWheel said:
So if I toddle into Best Buy or Apple tomorrow and see the model I want (Black, 64GB, AT&T), can I buy it and cancel my online order for the same item? I'm not going to die if I don't get it until early April, but if I can get it at a retail store, will I be forced to go through the rigamarole of accepting delivery on the one I already ordered and then return shipping?
Click to expand...

Yes, you can (as long as it hasn't reached "Prepared for Shipment").

Here's what I did... I canceled my order while in line at Target (once I had a ticket for mine in hand) on Friday.
 
First online orders are already arriving??? I ordered mine 4:01EST and it is not even prepared for shipment .... :( I will get the nice cover tomorrow and the HDMI adapter and camera kit in two days, no word yet on my iPad :confused:

Anyway: Congrats to those who already got it ...
 
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