Saturday August 24th, 2002

[awrc]

It just struck me - Saturday??? Who in their right mind launches a new product on a Saturday? Great way of making sure that the people who paid the extra $$$ for overnight shipping don't get the thing until the 26th, maybe even the 27th, also a surefire way to avoid having a timely press-release to give the stock a kick.

I sometimes think Apple is its own worst enemy.

 

[jefhatfield]

better then than waiting until mwsf

apple has been its own worst enemy and somewhere in their culture early on, they did not have being a company in mind

not only does steve jobs and the apple employees i know have that philosophy, many people who know nothing of apple or silicon valley get that vibe from them

when it leads to an outside the box innovation like the imac in 1998, that's great

but when it comes to squandering profits and buying other small ventures with nothing to show for it so far, it's just another chapter in the "infinite loop" bestseller

it's as if apple has this curse where they drop the ball everytime it looks like they are going to break through and up their market share...here's what i seemed to see in the last four years:

1998-99 - apple launches imac and ibook the following year off to an amazing re-start with sj at helm...apple's stock rises

2000-01 - as things are looking better for apple, motorola gets stuck at 500 mhz for 18 months and the high tech market takes a nosedive

development and acceptance of osx is not where it should be and many users stay with os 9

2002 - intel and amd push way ahead into 2ghz proximity and apple does not deliver the faster powermacs in july as expected...by end of year, intel and amd likely to be near 3 ghz or equivalent

i hate to say it, but where apple looked invulnerable two years ago, now they look like the same company when they were in their long decline in the 90s while the pc world moves ahead

 

[mnkeybsness]

patience young one....patience

 

[peterjhill]

I believe that Windows 2000 was released on a saturday also.

First .mac=.net, next releasing software on Saturday, hell, they might start putting pentiums in new macs next!

just kidding.

 

[AlphaTech]

OS 9 was also in stores for the first time on a Saturday. I went and picked it up that same day, so that I wouldn't have to wait any longer then I had to. I am trying to find out how to get a copy of 10.2 if it is available (on shelves, not shipping) on that Saturday.

 

[awrc]

Originally posted by AlphaTech
OS 9 was also in stores for the first time on a Saturday. I went and picked it up that same day, so that I wouldn't have to wait any longer then I had to. I am trying to find out how to get a copy of 10.2 if it is available (on shelves, not shipping) on that Saturday.

Yeah, I'm secretly hoping that Apple themselves might ship slightly early - if they can get it in stores so it's on the shelves Saturday morning, they can get it to me by Friday afternoon. I won't tell anyone I got it early, I swear. Of course, "can" and "will" are completely different things, right now I expect Apple to actually shift the order state to ready for pick up on the Saturday and not actually put it in FedEx's hands until Monday.

The alternative is almost too terrible to contemplate. The new Apple Store in Mayfair Mall here in Milwaukee isn't likely to be open by then, and I can't afford to buy it at CompUSA at their current $82,000 price (and refuse to buy from CompUSA anyway, on principle), so if I want to get it on the 24th, it means a drive to visit the Apple Store in <crash of thunder> Schaumburg, IL.

After the last time I went there I swore, never again, never again. I can live with having to drive on roads full of FIBs - I just start driving like an ******* (and, yes, inhabitants of IL, I know you hold similar feelings of love and brotherhood towards those of us who head south from WI) but as for the actual roads themselves...

It's just getting to the mall in Schaumburg itself. The signposting from I-94 is so poor it's almost surreal. I swear there are signs that indicate the turn for Schaumburg was on the right, 3 miles back. As for the traffic around the mall itself, ach, no, it's horrendous. It says a lot that even people from Chicago hate having to go there. I was involved in more near collisions just getting from the freeway to the mall on that one Saturday morning than I have been involved in anywhere else, ever. I've heard the road system around there was originally designed as a new circle for Hell, but was rejected as unnecessarily cruel and tormenting. Going back I had to cross four lanes of 120mph traffic in about 5 yards to get to an on-ramp that the previous sign had said was still two miles away when I encountered a second tiny sign saying "I-94 - 10 Yards. We Lied. Oh, And Make Sure You Have Your Toll Money Ready, We've Got A Guy Tailing You Who Has Instructions To Lean On His Horn If You Can't Hit The Basket At 80mph".

So I'm at the mercy of Apple's shipping and FedEx. You'd think for $23.50 for overnight shipping for what is basically a fairly dinky box, they could at least throw in Saturday delivery