Over 500,000 iPads Sold, Apple Delays International Delivery until May

[edddeduck]

I've seen apple screw people around too many times to be able to be confident that buying an iPad in June will equate to a good investment.

Then don't

I have seen what 4.0 adds, what the restrictions are and if anything the iPad is going to get better to use with 4.0. I know with open eyes than iPad 2 will be out next year and it will be better than the original.

However I bought a iPhone 1 and while some users held off said not till iPhone v2 or v3 (and used poorer phones while they waited) I had a good 14 months of using a phone that was way better (I thought) than anything else at the time. I did not care that a new phone would be out next year I just know I had a great device now.

If you are sure Apple are out to get you then just hold back and wait. Personally I will be getting a 3G one (when they ship) I know I don't NEED one, I know the next model will be better, but I also know if I get one I will most likely really like it and spend the next year (at least) using it.

The question is although next years model is always better, you have to decide when you buy one, I will might as well buy iPad 1 and have fun, if you want to wait for a better model that is cool too.

My point is no decision is wrong but everyones feelings on what is important when making a purchase are often very different. In my case I think having an iPad from day one and maybe missing out on iPad 2 for a while is better than waiting a year+ to even use one at all. I understand the logic behind the "wait and see" theory I just don't want to go that way.

Edwin

 

[jragosta]

Talking of which, I'll see you, Apple with the '14 day free return' policy of Apple UK. The hype started last year, by the time I will see the first iPad in UK shops will be over half a year after. I'm tired, other people are, too. But now I really want to try it and return it unless I'll be blown away. But I know I won't be. What I see now suggests that I will be really happy when I return it for a refund, safe in the knowledge that I tried, but the device is far too limited.

So you're going to buy a product with the intent of returning it? What a foolish waste of time. Why not wait until you're sure you want something before spending the time and money buying it?

Oh come on. Companies like Apple don't employ kids straight out of school, they employ the best so if their Marketing dept. have misjudged this so badly they should all be sacked en masse.

You've obviously never done product development. First, there is absolutely no way to know how many people will buy a product. Even if YOU think it's the greatest product in the world, it would flop. And companies don't want to be left with 10 billion of something on the shelf if it doesn't sell.

Second, you are apparently assuming that it's possible to place an order and have 10 million devices magically show up at your door the next day. Supply chains need to be created, tested, and verified. And even then, you're at the mercy of an earthquake in China.

It's clearly damned if you do and damned if you don't. If you build too many, you get hammered. If you build too few, you get hammered. Either way, it costs the company money (too many is money tied up in inventory, too few is lost sales). It's ridiculous to sit back somewhere after the fact and say that someone needs to lose their job - when you don't have any of the relevant facts. Just chill.

You clearly haven't understood. I CAN'T purchase one! it's not out here.

Just take a job with Israeli immigration authority. I understand that they've found a novel approach to acquiring iPads.

 

[xbjllb]

You do realise that your post is an act of libel?
Apple would be well within their rights to sue you for defamation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defamation

Defamation—also called calumny, vilification, slander (for transitory statements), and libel (for written, broadcast, or otherwise published words)—is the communication of a statement that makes a claim, expressly stated or implied to be factual, that may give an individual, business, product, group, government, or nation a negative image. It is usually, but not always,[1] a requirement that this claim be false and that the publication is communicated to someone other than the person defamed (the claimant).

Oh wow. I am so frightened. PLEASE, Steve, PLEASE FORGIVE ME!!!

Please take your medication. Now!

ROFL. He doesn't need meds. He's on the Apple payroll.

Perhaps respect is not in your vocabulary.

Respect? For what? A desperate lying cheating company headed by a crashing and burning mad CEO with a bombing product trying to create a grey market on eBay?

Apple, although brilliant in many ways, also do sometimes suck. They over-charge and under-deliver. Jobs is a control freak who only cares about squeezing the last penny out of the consumer.

Just my opinion. I hope I haven't broken any laws...

Steve and his lawyers are at my front door now. And we'll be at yours' next.

Well if anyone ever doubted that Apple doesn't give a toss about anything other than it's US market, here's the proof.

This might be their Achilles heel one day (although I doubt it).

Screw you, Steve.

He's done you a penultimate favor. Avoid the grey market he's trying to create like the plague, and by the time iPads are available outside the US the news will already have hit that after the first half a million eight year-olds bought, dropped, and broke theirs', the thing's his biggest bomb in decades.

P.S. Jobs' and Apple's Achilles heel will be proven to be Jobs' irrational hatred of Blu-ray and DRM. And fondness for what he can convince all eight year-old boys they really want.

Nobody really needs an iPad.

Steve and his lawyers. At your door. After we hit Reed Rothchild's place and perp walk him to the dungeons under Cupertino.

 

[parish]

You've obviously never done product development. First, there is absolutely no way to know how many people will buy a product. Even if YOU think it's the greatest product in the world, it would flop. And companies don't want to be left with 10 billion of something on the shelf if it doesn't sell.

Second, you are apparently assuming that it's possible to place an order and have 10 million devices magically show up at your door the next day. Supply chains need to be created, tested, and verified. And even then, you're at the mercy of an earthquake in China.

It's clearly damned if you do and damned if you don't. If you build too many, you get hammered. If you build too few, you get hammered. Either way, it costs the company money (too many is money tied up in inventory, too few is lost sales). It's ridiculous to sit back somewhere after the fact and say that someone needs to lose their job - when you don't have any of the relevant facts. Just chill.

I'm well aware of that. As I said later in my post:

They started pre-orders in the US on 12th March and shipped on 7th April so the number of pre-orders and the queues in the retail stores on launch day should have given them a very good idea of demand.

Of course this doesn't mean that they would have been able to ramp up production to still meet the late April date, but they should have known much earlier that the international release date would have to be put back instead of keeping Late April showing on the online stores right up to yesterday.

As late as last week Jobs himself said that late April was the date; all the online stores went down on Tues. for the MBP updates and when they came back up it still said late April then suddenly, middle of the day (UK time) yesterday, it changed to late May.

My (main) gripe with Apple is that they should have been able to tell a lot earlier than yesterday that they would not have enough product to meet demand yet they persisted in telling us Late April.

 

[E.Lizardo]

It's an AMERICAN COMPANY, we get first dibs, deal with it. I'm still waiting for my 3g for crying out loud. Grow a spine!!!

So true!And let's remember Americans have to wait for things too-Vidio game consoles,cars,etc.
It works both ways.
If I want the Playstation 4 or Prius on launch day I move to Japan.You want Apple gear on launch day move here.Deal with it.

 

[ct2k7]

So true!And let's remember Americans have to wait for things too-Vidio game consoles,cars,etc.
It works both ways.
If I want the Playstation 4 or Prius on launch day I move to Japan.You want Apple gear on launch day move here.Deal with it.

You are still failing to recognise a simple point.

 

[E.Lizardo]

I suppose that gives the competition more opportunity to sway those on the fence....Not good Apple.

Joo Joo?Wepad?
I'm sure Apple is sweating bullets.

 

[E.Lizardo]

You realize you just answered your own question, right?

Actually he didn't.He was pointing out that the idea of a fake shortage is counterproductive,especially in this case since there has been NO shortage of hype about the iPad anyway.Trying to create even more hype by not selling it would be insanely stupid.

 

[Hmac]

Well if anyone ever doubted that Apple doesn't give a toss about anything other than it's US market, here's the proof.

This might be their Achilles heel one day (although I doubt it).

Screw you, Steve.

I can't begin to fathom why you would expect otherwise. It's a US company and the US always has been and always will be Apple's primary market.

As to the iPad situation, they took US preorders, then announced international distribution dates (didn't take any preorders) before they knew what the US demand would be and before they were aware of supply constraints. They had their obligation to their preorders that they had to fulfill. Somebody had to be disappointed - so whom? Those anticipating, or those who already committed $$$ ?

Sorry you are disappointed, but you're being unreasonable.

 

[Niteace]

Sometimes I wonder... Just don't understand how Canada is subjective to this international **** sometimes, I don't see the difficulty in firing them up here to us.

After reading that I had an image in my mind of apple employees literally throwing a few up the north american map, doesn't seem that hard surely!!
Firing a few across the atlantic to Ireland wouldn't hurt either.

 

[stevemarshalluk]

so annoying..

hello ebay

 

[50548]

Heh, you should include LTD in that group....

Count me in as well

 

[mk_in_mke]

Without counting on the SEC, the market, the shareholders, clean accounting procedure

Actually he didn't.He was pointing out that the idea of a fake shortage is counterproductive,especially in this case since there has been NO shortage of hype about the iPad anyway.Trying to create even more hype by not selling it would be insanely stupid.

Apple's success is well deserved and i have no doubt that after the first week and people trying the tool they found it appealing... Apple is not the type of company who would organize a shortage... This is conspiracy theory (and a very bad one).

I have been using my son's Ipad since 4/3 and I enjoy every minute spent on it... Waiting for my 3G one to be delivered...

 

[mk_in_mke]

Who cares?

I have a passport, I lived in Europe for years. I love Europe and I think Europeans have all the abilities in the world. Yet the so-called Euro-Crats and the EU Government suck. Suck innovation, suck talent, suck ambition out of their population. I have nothing against cheese regulation, just the way it is......

Really... ? Who give a D@#$ about your love of Europe on a forum dedicated to everything Apple? Stick to the subject or stop polluting the forum with your insanity and you senseless assumptions.

What about bananas? the EU rules on bananas (size, form...)... Care to share with us your insight on EU Regulations for Bananas? there is certainly a PC forum where you can express yourself... In fact, no... do not talk about bananas on PC Forum... Just talk about nuts...

 

[mk_in_mke]

@ Sarko

You are not serious! This posting is offending... Please stick to the point on the forum... Representing S. Jobs as Oussama Bin laden is simply insulting to the man, to the company, to the employees and to all of us who like Apple's products and services.

Apple left the Chamber of Commerce because the CoC was going too radical, Apple supported gay rights during Prop 8 debate, Apple took so many steps to become greener... There are so many ways where Apple showed that in addition of being a well managed company, they were acting as a 'responsible' company...

It is a shame you posted this!

 

[rolphi]

Oh come on. Companies like Apple don't employ kids straight out of school, they employ the best so if their Marketing dept. have misjudged this so badly they should all be sacked en masse.

There have been rumours/predictions/interest in an Apple tablet device for years now. The hype and buzz when the iPad was first announced was phenomenal. They started pre-orders in the US on 12th March and shipped on 7th April so the number of pre-orders and the queues in the retail stores on launch day should have given them a very good idea of demand.

Of course this doesn't mean that they would have been able to ramp up production to still meet the late April date, but they should have known much earlier that the international release date would have to be put back instead of keeping Late April showing on the online stores right up to yesterday.

I think other posters have covered this, but you don't build a church sized for Easter Sunday, and you don't build a supply chain sized for launch day.

Which is to say, even for a hit, there is a lot of pent up demand and a spike on launch day which then settles down to a steady state. If they could have set up a supply chain to produce all the iPads necessary for right now, what would they do with that capacity in 2 months, when the demand returned to a normal level?

This is difficult problem and requires decisions and trade-offs. I understand that you do not like the choices they made, but insisting that someone smart enough could have solved it is asking too much.

 

[mk_in_mke]

"... Jaded comic in me"

I just thought of something:

The rating of this article is purely subjective.

The "positive"/"negative" depends on your feelings. "Is it a good thing they sold 500,00?", I would say so... so you can rate it a positive. "It's being delayed in other countries"; that's a negative.

Splitting the article up like that muddies up the waters of rating this article positive or a negative. Just thought I'd throw that out there for Mac mods here for future wording of articles.

Furthermore, you could rate 500,000 as a (-) because you can't believe there's that many suckers in the world. lol But that's just the jaded comic in me for the last paragraph. And so is this picture.


http://i44.tinypic.com/16ab6t4.jpg

... People are dying laughing... stop please!

When I think of the millions of people who embraced Windows and got 'sucked in' the MS marketing "Ultimate", "Home", "XP" editions + 95, 98, NT, 2000, Vista, Windows 7... Given the extensive number of MS Suckers, 500K people who VOLUNTARILY decided to acquire a great tool (Ipad) powered by a great OS (Iphone OS) is not bad at all...

It must be the jaded comic in me who thinks that that your previous post deserved a feedback.

 

[jayhay]

suck it up

As a Canadian, I cannot believe how much whining and complaining in coming from the international customers! The fact is, there are not enough units to release the iPad everywhere at once. So, we have two options. Apple can release them to the US first and to the international market second (and when there are enough units available to release them properly), or they can hold back and set a simultaneous world wide release date. Personally, I am happy they released them in the US first as this provided developers with a chance to get their hands on them and start developing apps. It also gives Apple a chance to get an idea of what kind of demand they are looking at so that they do not end up short-changing us with too few units when they are launched here. Lastly, it provides people like me with the chance to spend the extra money and get it from the States early. Sure, I could whine and cry about how much it sucks to pay more by picking it up in the States or buying it on the black market – but at least I can get one. If I have a problem with it, I can sit back and wait until it is released in my country and stop my whining. I however chose to spend the extra $300 bucks, drive down, pay hotel and such so that I can have it early. Believe me, it has been great being one of the first to have it - worth the extra money in my opinion.

 

[mk_in_mke]

I think other posters have covered this, but you don't build a church sized for Easter Sunday, and you don't build a supply chain sized for launch day.

Which is to say, even for a hit, there is a lot of pent up demand and a spike on launch day which then settles down to a steady state. If they could have set up a supply chain to produce all the iPads necessary for right now, what would they do with that capacity in 2 months, when the demand returned to a normal level?

This is difficult problem and requires decisions and trade-offs. I understand that you do not like the choices they made, but insisting that someone smart enough could have solved it is asking too much.

You make a very good point... Reminds me of the Iphone launch... Same ol', same ol'... I have not read that Apple would also ask people outside the US would have to pre-order (therefore plan the deliveries based on production and shipping constraints) which could eliminate some of the critics for not having the product available (people would be given a date for availability...)

I guess we can think we are lucky enough to have our Ipad and enjoy the apps...

 

[mk_in_mke]

As a Canadian, I cannot believe how much whining and complaining in coming from the international customers! The fact is, there are not enough units to release the iPad everywhere at once. So, we have two options. Apple can release them to the US first and to the international market second (and when there are enough units available to release them properly), or they can hold back and set a simultaneous world wide release date. Personally, I am happy they released them in the US first as this provided developers with a chance to get their hands on them and start developing apps. It also gives Apple a chance to get an idea of what kind of demand they are looking at so that they do not end up short-changing us with too few units when they are launched here. Lastly, it provides people like me with the chance to spend the extra money and get it from the States early. Sure, I could whine and cry about how much it sucks to pay more by picking it up in the States or buying it on the black market – but at least I can get one. If I have a problem with it, I can sit back and wait until it is released in my country and stop my whining. I however chose to spend the extra $300 bucks, drive down, pay hotel and such so that I can have it early. Believe me, it has been great being one of the first to have it - worth the extra money in my opinion.

finally a voice of Reason...

 

[jragosta]

As a Canadian, I cannot believe how much whining and complaining in coming from the international customers! The fact is, there are not enough units to release the iPad everywhere at once. So, we have two options. Apple can release them to the US first and to the international market second (and when there are enough units available to release them properly), or they can hold back and set a simultaneous world wide release date. Personally, I am happy they released them in the US first as this provided developers with a chance to get their hands on them and start developing apps. It also gives Apple a chance to get an idea of what kind of demand they are looking at so that they do not end up short-changing us with too few units when they are launched here. Lastly, it provides people like me with the chance to spend the extra money and get it from the States early. Sure, I could whine and cry about how much it sucks to pay more by picking it up in the States or buying it on the black market – but at least I can get one. If I have a problem with it, I can sit back and wait until it is released in my country and stop my whining. I however chose to spend the extra $300 bucks, drive down, pay hotel and such so that I can have it early. Believe me, it has been great being one of the first to have it - worth the extra money in my opinion.

I agree about 99%.

The only thing I would have suggested is some way to get them into developers hands earlier. The simulator is great, but most developers want to try the real thing.

For example, what if Apple allowed any developer who has been a continuous member of the Apple developer group since 2008 to buy up to 5 for early release (to eliminate the people who would sign up as developers just to get the iPad). They would be responsible for their own power conversion issues.

The only problem with this would be if the holdup is regulatory. Given the disparate rules in different countries (including the US, of course), this would not be possible until a given country had approved it (no iPads for Israel).

 

[ct2k7]

Personally, I am happy they released them in the US first as this provided developers with a chance to get their hands on them and start developing apps.

So what about developers from other countries, or are they subordinate?

 

[jayhay]

So what about developers from other countries, or are they subordinate?

No, they just got the short end of the stick. Life isn't fair, and in most cases, there is always going to be one person who gets a better hand over another. You can look at the developer argument the same way as the international release argument. Either no developers can have it early, or the American developers can have it early. I am happy that SOMEONE got it early as I am now enjoying their apps. If we all had to wait, then there would be no iPad right now and subsequently, no apps. It is not about who got it first and who Stevie loves most. The fact is, if you want the iPad right now, no matter who you are or where you live, you can suck it up, pay the price and buy it. International developers can buy it too, they just have to pay the premium price. If you cannot afford the "US buyers charge" and international shipping, that sucks for you - but do not tell me it is not available. I would have paid $2000 to get the iPad 3 months ago when we were all still salivating over the mere mention of a release date. That is a stupidly ridiculously amount of money, but to have it early, I would have been the idiot ready to pay it. That is my prerogative. If somebody is not willing to pay a premium price now to have it ‘early’, then I respect your good sense, but stop your whining and wait patiently.

 

[cmaier]

So what about developers from other countries, or are they subordinate?

I'm a developer in the U.S., and I'm unlucky enough not to have had access to an iPad before the public, whereas EA and the big guys got early access.

I'm not crying about it.

 

[kernkraft]

It is a shame you posted this!

It's lucky, however, that you quoted it!

You didn't say, whether it was offensive to Osama Bin Laden or Steve Jobs.

So you're going to buy a product with the intent of returning it? What a foolish waste of time. Why not wait until you're sure you want something before spending the time and money buying it?

It is still more than what it deserves. Currently, I am fairly sure that I don't need the device. I don't even want it that much. In fact, I have so many issues with it that I will probably feel that it's just a stupid purchase.

But the same thing didn't stop thousands and thousands from purchasing. What do you expect the return rates on the iPad to be like, when (or before) the 3G version comes out? I think it's going to be pretty high. New genre, hype blinding people's vision...




Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if one reason behind the delay was networks' reluctance to subsidise the iPad overseas or sign up for exclusivity. Here, in Europe, people are more skeptical about the iPad - if they even know that it exists.