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Photo of rMB assembly line explains stock problem!
- Thread starter johngwheeler
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very witty. 
I have no idea what's wrong with this launch. Because Apple refuses to talk about it and apparently nobody (who is popular/well respected/ powerful enough) is asking the question. Which begs the question... is Apple beyond answering to its customers?
This launch is a mess. no display, no stock, no accessories (unless you are lucky enough to be in US). what's worst? Bestbuy gets them before Apple store. What the hell?
I have no idea what's wrong with this launch. Because Apple refuses to talk about it and apparently nobody (who is popular/well respected/ powerful enough) is asking the question. Which begs the question... is Apple beyond answering to its customers?
This launch is a mess. no display, no stock, no accessories (unless you are lucky enough to be in US). what's worst? Bestbuy gets them before Apple store. What the hell?
very witty.
I have no idea what's wrong with this launch. Because Apple refuses to talk about it and apparently nobody (who is popular/well respected/ powerful enough) is asking the question. Which begs the question... is Apple beyond answering to its customers?
This launch is a mess. no display, no stock, no accessories (unless you are lucky enough to be in US). what's worst? Bestbuy gets them before Apple store. What the hell?
It really wasn't though -
In the keynote it said "shipping" on the date listed.
And it did.
The problem is people kept checking for shipping updates early am/noon and then acting like the end of the world occurred because it didn't ship by noon.
Also people assuming it would be a world wide release.
The limited quantities sucked, but really they delivered all that they said they would.
It was launched in Europe at the same time as US and many other countries. US is already receiving BTO units where as Europe has nothing... not a single machine base model machine. Apple put Europe on 45 days delivery from the start. So they have been very economical with the truth.
Why didn't they just announce at WWDC?
Given that fact that many people still have 4-6 week waiting times (so well into June), perhaps Apple should have just ramped up production beforehand and announced at WWDC with "available immediately".
If they were concerned about how much interest there would be (not unreasonable given the controversy on this forum!), and didn't want to risk having 100s of thousand in production, then they could have had a pre-order period, say 2-4 weeks before general availability. This would have given them a chance to ramp up production.
What seems to have happened is they felt obliged to make at announcement at the same time as the Apple Watch, but didn't want to delay the shipping date too much.
April 10th was clearly far too early for them. The shipping date should have been the 24th at the earliest.
Not having display units in the stores seem like a huge blunder, as does Best Buy and others having in-store stock to sell, but not Apple - makes them look like a laughing stock.
The Watch clearly took precedence here, and has been more of less well handled:
1) Announcement at event
2) Pre-Orders and in store fittings
3) Some physical stock for sale (boutique outlets)
4) On time delivery of pre-orders.
5) General in-store availability (to come)
If the rMB had followed the same pattern (minus the boutique sales), then they would have avoid frustrated customers and embarrassed Apple store staff.
Given that fact that many people still have 4-6 week waiting times (so well into June), perhaps Apple should have just ramped up production beforehand and announced at WWDC with "available immediately".
If they were concerned about how much interest there would be (not unreasonable given the controversy on this forum!), and didn't want to risk having 100s of thousand in production, then they could have had a pre-order period, say 2-4 weeks before general availability. This would have given them a chance to ramp up production.
What seems to have happened is they felt obliged to make at announcement at the same time as the Apple Watch, but didn't want to delay the shipping date too much.
April 10th was clearly far too early for them. The shipping date should have been the 24th at the earliest.
Not having display units in the stores seem like a huge blunder, as does Best Buy and others having in-store stock to sell, but not Apple - makes them look like a laughing stock.
The Watch clearly took precedence here, and has been more of less well handled:
1) Announcement at event
2) Pre-Orders and in store fittings
3) Some physical stock for sale (boutique outlets)
4) On time delivery of pre-orders.
5) General in-store availability (to come)
If the rMB had followed the same pattern (minus the boutique sales), then they would have avoid frustrated customers and embarrassed Apple store staff.
Shocking photo reveals Apple's rMB production line.
Apple asks customers to be patient, as this guy is working really hard to fulfil your order
Excellent!