Think Secret provides a product-by-product breakdown of current Apple stock and it's availability to fulfill orders on time.
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Product Inventory Delays?
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There were some reports from new machine owners of the PPC970FX starting to show up recently in the 2.0GHz PowerMacs, and some reports of sudden delays in 1.8GHz people's BTO orders (sudden 1-2 day to 2-week switch).
Apple "could" very well be in transition from the 130nm to 90nm CPUs in the 1.8/2.0GHz PowerMacs, which would put a temporary crease in product availability.
It's a move that Apple needs to make as soon as they can, since the 90nm CPU should be less expensive than the 130nm part.
Of course it is also the back-to-school period...
Apple "could" very well be in transition from the 130nm to 90nm CPUs in the 1.8/2.0GHz PowerMacs, which would put a temporary crease in product availability.
It's a move that Apple needs to make as soon as they can, since the 90nm CPU should be less expensive than the 130nm part.
Of course it is also the back-to-school period...
Sounds more dire than it is
The article opens with "a majority of Apple's products are experiencing longer-than-normal shipping delays."
Sounds dire--but when you read on, most Apple products are still pretty easy to come by. To summarize:
The following have delays of at least a week or two if not more:
PowerMac dual-2.5
iMac G4 (duh!)
iPod Mini
30" displays (and 6800 Ultra DLL)
...While the following are generally available, at least IF you order from Apple directly:
PowerMac dual-2.0
PowerMac dual-1.8
12" PowerBook
Top-end iBook
iPod (4th gen.)
20" & 23" displays
...And these are readily available at Apple and resellers alike:
Xserve
Xserve RAID
15" PowerBook
17" PowerBook
Low-end iBooks
eMac
The article opens with "a majority of Apple's products are experiencing longer-than-normal shipping delays."
Sounds dire--but when you read on, most Apple products are still pretty easy to come by. To summarize:
The following have delays of at least a week or two if not more:
PowerMac dual-2.5
iMac G4 (duh!)
iPod Mini
30" displays (and 6800 Ultra DLL)
...While the following are generally available, at least IF you order from Apple directly:
PowerMac dual-2.0
PowerMac dual-1.8
12" PowerBook
Top-end iBook
iPod (4th gen.)
20" & 23" displays
...And these are readily available at Apple and resellers alike:
Xserve
Xserve RAID
15" PowerBook
17" PowerBook
Low-end iBooks
eMac
Ya know, I love apple's products and all the 'emotion' that evolves around WWDC and all the other Apple Conferences, but I am definatly loosing confidence in apple's ability to "deliver". Sure, they have the hotest products around at the time of anouncements, but by the time you are able to get the product in your hands it's already near a release cycle for the next version of the product.
Sun Baked said:
From Ars -
$ ioreg -l | grep cpu-version
| | | "cpu-version" = <003c0300>
| | | "cpu-version" = <003c0300>
M.Isobe - IBM changed not only version number, but also PID (processor ID) of 970FX. Your processors are PowerPC 970FX (PID: 0x003C) revision 3.0.
Sun Baked said:
when the 2.5s came out, i thought i noticed on apple's pm page that apple changed its info about the pm from using 130nm processors to 90nm processors. i just looked, and i can't find references to either size on apple's site. are the xserves have 90nm, right? but the dual 2.0 in the pm does not?
The XServe G5s had the 90nm (PPC970FX) processor from the start, and a huge long wait for such a low volume product.appleface said:
When M.Isobe first checked the 1.8 & 2.0 Rev. B PowerMac G5s, they still had the 130nm processor -- was either that or wait until Aug/Sept to kick the darn things out the door as 2.0-2.5GHz units.
Some people have recently reported getting new 2.0GHz PowerMac G5s with the PVR/PID value jwdawso referenced.
Even ThinkSecret says the XServe G5s are starting to flow, and if the 1.8/2.0GHz PMs finally are getting 970FXs -- it's good news for the iMac G5.
I ordered close to $4,000 worth of stuff from Apple at end of last month; everything came except for the iSight and Airport Express (both had a 3-4 week shipping time). I understand the Airport Express, but the iSight?
.narco
.narco
The products ThinkSecret mentioned as have delays are not exactly surprises. I normally expect more from a ThinkSecret news story, so I'm a bit disappointed with this article.
Let's just hope that Apple is able to keep their promise of new iMacs shipping in September.
Let's just hope that Apple is able to keep their promise of new iMacs shipping in September.
Just once...
...I'd like Apple to not announce a product and begin accepting orders until they have a few warehouses full of the damned things scattered around the country-- "just in time" inventory method be damned.
I'm a patient guy, but my dual 2.5 order is two months old now. I'm starting to get aggravated. Crushing demand for your product is a good thing. Crushing inability to ramp up production to satisfy that demand in a somewhat timely manner is a very bad thing.
And while we're talking about unavailable Apple products, let's not forget the iSight. I ordered one of those on June 9th with my G5, and that was cancelled from the order by Apple a couple weeks ago. Availability of the iSight is listed as "2-3 weeks," presumably when a new iSight will be announced.
That actually annoyed me more, because I figured I'd at least have the iSight to play with while I waited for the G5 to finally ship. As it stands, all I have is the damned AppleCare box. Whoo hoo.
Edit: Not long after posting this I found out that my G5 had indeed shipped from China. It arrived on Friday morning, 8/13, and the box is sitting here beside me right now. No, I won't be seeing daylight this weekend, how did you know?
~Philly
...I'd like Apple to not announce a product and begin accepting orders until they have a few warehouses full of the damned things scattered around the country-- "just in time" inventory method be damned.
I'm a patient guy, but my dual 2.5 order is two months old now. I'm starting to get aggravated. Crushing demand for your product is a good thing. Crushing inability to ramp up production to satisfy that demand in a somewhat timely manner is a very bad thing.
And while we're talking about unavailable Apple products, let's not forget the iSight. I ordered one of those on June 9th with my G5, and that was cancelled from the order by Apple a couple weeks ago. Availability of the iSight is listed as "2-3 weeks," presumably when a new iSight will be announced.
That actually annoyed me more, because I figured I'd at least have the iSight to play with while I waited for the G5 to finally ship. As it stands, all I have is the damned AppleCare box. Whoo hoo.
Edit: Not long after posting this I found out that my G5 had indeed shipped from China. It arrived on Friday morning, 8/13, and the box is sitting here beside me right now. No, I won't be seeing daylight this weekend, how did you know?
~Philly
ryanw said:
I'm starting to feel exactly the same. I used to be really full of Apple-zealotness but latley I've quieted down and don't even know if my next desktop will be a Mac (when PC prices are so good). Tiger is nothing really special to me - search isn't a big part of my life. The G5 iMac also sounds stupidly highly priced. I could be wrong, but with pricing it's usually apple's motto of price themselves out of the correct market.
ryanw said:
I don't think that's true at all. Near a release cycle for the next version? The new 6 gig mini is due out in September? I agree that Apple has some supply chain issues but nothing that would cause someone to pass on a product to wait for the upgrade.
You already know the prices of the G5 iMac? That's amazing. And it's amazing you know that it's overpriced.aldo said:
Actually we won't know what the prices are until around the time they're announced. And we won't know if they're overpriced until we see how many orders Apple gets for it.
I'm not sure your pricing comparison is accurate. At various points I've configured PC's and Macs (both Laptops and Desktops) and gotten similar pricing. For Laptops, the camparison was to Dell, Toshiba and IBM.aldo said:
Is there a game you're itching for that isn't out on the Mac?
Also, Tiger doesn't just include the "search" feature. It includes other features as well. What is WinXP going to give you that MacOS X doesn't?
If my 6800Ultra doesn't ship till September, I am going to cancel my order. I've had 2 months to ponder if i really need a 600 $$$ VC upgrade...nagromme said:
Announcing Products
Apple is damned if they do, damned if they don't. The problem on the G5 rests solely with IBM. At the last quarterly conference call - you can listen to it via Quicktime, you'll hear Apple execs complain about IBM and how G5 based product will be constrained for the last quarter of the year. It now looks like Apple's hope that yields of processors would improve is not as yet happening. For those who need to wait, it comes with the territory with Apple. Unlike the other manufactuers, Apple does use a lot of proprietary elements. But you already knew that. If you got along with your present computer, you can get along with it a few weeks or a month or so longer. Apple's bread and butter these days are laptops and in that regards they're in better shape. The company that makes them for Apple also produces other laptops... Dell, HP, etc. Supplies are fairly reasonable depending on availability of LCD screens. iPod minis are in short supply because Hitachi is just increasing production on the drives. This is a well-known situation and things should improve towards the end of the year. However, Apple, to their credit, did announce constraints on iPod minis for the foreseeable future. Think Secret's report just confirms what Apple said... the company was honest about supply and told the truth... if anyone cared to listen.
P.S. Don't be surprised if the new iMac ships in late September, in very limited quantities. Again, it's all in IBM's hands at the moment.
Apple is damned if they do, damned if they don't. The problem on the G5 rests solely with IBM. At the last quarterly conference call - you can listen to it via Quicktime, you'll hear Apple execs complain about IBM and how G5 based product will be constrained for the last quarter of the year. It now looks like Apple's hope that yields of processors would improve is not as yet happening. For those who need to wait, it comes with the territory with Apple. Unlike the other manufactuers, Apple does use a lot of proprietary elements. But you already knew that. If you got along with your present computer, you can get along with it a few weeks or a month or so longer. Apple's bread and butter these days are laptops and in that regards they're in better shape. The company that makes them for Apple also produces other laptops... Dell, HP, etc. Supplies are fairly reasonable depending on availability of LCD screens. iPod minis are in short supply because Hitachi is just increasing production on the drives. This is a well-known situation and things should improve towards the end of the year. However, Apple, to their credit, did announce constraints on iPod minis for the foreseeable future. Think Secret's report just confirms what Apple said... the company was honest about supply and told the truth... if anyone cared to listen.
P.S. Don't be surprised if the new iMac ships in late September, in very limited quantities. Again, it's all in IBM's hands at the moment.
I ordered a G5 2.0 last Friday
This'll be my first Mac purchase and I'm eagerly anticipating the G5's arrival.
When I placed the order at apple.com it said the estimated ship time was 3-5 days, but once the order was placed, the estimated ship time showed as Aug. 17th--11 days to ship.
I wasn't happy about that (Apple seemed a bit misleading about 3-5 days to ship, but 11 days isn't so bad in the end I suppose) but then I read this article and now I'm really questioning if I'll have my new G5 next week or not.
I'm wondering if anybody's ordered a G5 2.0 in the last week or two and whether or not they've received it or not.
This'll be my first Mac purchase and I'm eagerly anticipating the G5's arrival.
When I placed the order at apple.com it said the estimated ship time was 3-5 days, but once the order was placed, the estimated ship time showed as Aug. 17th--11 days to ship.
I wasn't happy about that (Apple seemed a bit misleading about 3-5 days to ship, but 11 days isn't so bad in the end I suppose) but then I read this article and now I'm really questioning if I'll have my new G5 next week or not.
I'm wondering if anybody's ordered a G5 2.0 in the last week or two and whether or not they've received it or not.
We all know the problems associated with the 90nm G5 processors and the hard drives for the iPod mini. If you think customers are frustrated think about how the good folks at Apple feel! (I bet that Steve J keeps his hair cut short so he can't pull it out.)
In terms of products like iSight and Airport Express, how do you project (a $5 word for "guess") what the demand is going to be when you commit to production quantities? Remember when the ipod mini was introduced? Everyone said it was way over priced and would never sell. Apple had to make major commitments before the announcement and they didn't commit to buy every HD produced. Fair enough.
Another "problem" is that PC users are starting to look at, and buy, Macs. A lot probably decided to look after using an iPod. Others learned about it from friends. Regardless, the impact of this growing market is very difficult to project when committing to production capacity.
Apple learned a very costly lesson a few years ago when they had warehouses loaded with unwanted inventory. Just in time approaches has served them well, in terms of avoiding this problem and the primary times consumers suffer are when component suppliers cannot meet unexpected demand, or there are unanticipated technical production problems - like the 90nm G5.
So what's a customer to do? I've been waiting for a G5 iMac since January and I'll continue to wait because that is the computer I want to replace an old 450 Dull at home. I figure that it will be announced on August 31st or early September and I'll buy it the day it is announced. I also know that availability will be very soon after the announcement as Apple has publicly stated that gross margins will drop a bit because the initial G5 iMacs will be air freighted into the country.
Other consumers will also need to decide what they really want, and if it is worth waiting for. Some might decide to go to a PC (no way am I going back to that mess) and some will decide to wait it out because they feel their new Mac will be well worth the wait. Those that get out of the backorder line, however, may find it very difficult to get back in.
All in all Apple is going through a rough time in terms of component availability. Think of where they would be if there had been no problems with the 90nm chips, plenty of HDs for the iPod mini and supplier able to deliver on needed components for products like AE. Think about that and you can understand the frustration at Apple, and how it is greater than ours.
In terms of products like iSight and Airport Express, how do you project (a $5 word for "guess") what the demand is going to be when you commit to production quantities? Remember when the ipod mini was introduced? Everyone said it was way over priced and would never sell. Apple had to make major commitments before the announcement and they didn't commit to buy every HD produced. Fair enough.
Another "problem" is that PC users are starting to look at, and buy, Macs. A lot probably decided to look after using an iPod. Others learned about it from friends. Regardless, the impact of this growing market is very difficult to project when committing to production capacity.
Apple learned a very costly lesson a few years ago when they had warehouses loaded with unwanted inventory. Just in time approaches has served them well, in terms of avoiding this problem and the primary times consumers suffer are when component suppliers cannot meet unexpected demand, or there are unanticipated technical production problems - like the 90nm G5.
So what's a customer to do? I've been waiting for a G5 iMac since January and I'll continue to wait because that is the computer I want to replace an old 450 Dull at home. I figure that it will be announced on August 31st or early September and I'll buy it the day it is announced. I also know that availability will be very soon after the announcement as Apple has publicly stated that gross margins will drop a bit because the initial G5 iMacs will be air freighted into the country.
Other consumers will also need to decide what they really want, and if it is worth waiting for. Some might decide to go to a PC (no way am I going back to that mess) and some will decide to wait it out because they feel their new Mac will be well worth the wait. Those that get out of the backorder line, however, may find it very difficult to get back in.
All in all Apple is going through a rough time in terms of component availability. Think of where they would be if there had been no problems with the 90nm chips, plenty of HDs for the iPod mini and supplier able to deliver on needed components for products like AE. Think about that and you can understand the frustration at Apple, and how it is greater than ours.