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orangedv said:
I can understand the comments about how hard it is to glue chips together and test them all out and get everything working, but surely Apple must be judged not on the difficulty of the task, but on how it's competitors handle similar tasks.

That's the point. Their tasks are different. Only when you reach the level of companies like ServerWorks do you see similar design and QA environments. Even Dell and HP stick to 3rd party designed and QAd parts as far as possible.
 
Late april is being quoted for a January Order in Australia. Unfortunately we had allready found a buyer for the old 1Ghz xserve it replaces and he couldnt wait that long. So we are taking up the slack with a PC+cube combo.
 
If Apple released a product and then were shipping the next day, the customers who had purchased the superceded product would want a refund or a discount, so they cannot keep everyone happy
 
Naimfan said:
To a degree, this illustrates the tension between those who want Apple to roadmap products and those who want to know nothing until it is actually released. Tough for any company to deal with that!
Excellent point; I never thought of it that way. Considering that Apple can't give us accurate ship dates 1-2 months out, I don't think it's reasonable for roadmap advocates to expect them a full year out! Maybe if you're willing to deal with a "±3 months" kind of disclaimer on everything, Apple could give you a roadmap, but even with the kind of limited info that leaks out to the rumor sites I don't think we're doing much worse. Probably the biggest improvement an official roadmap could provide would be confirmation that they actually are working on a certain product (e.g. a G6 based on the 975/980/whatever), rather than when that product will ship.

WM
 
orangedv said:
Steve promised 3 ghz by this summer, and on my calender the start of summer is only ten weeks away and we are still seeing the debut G5's for sale.
Steve's initial "promise" (at WWDC) was kind of ambiguous, but by the time the G5s actually started to ship, Apple had clarified that to "3 GHz by the end of summer". Which is more like 25 weeks away.

WM
 
WM. said:
Steve's initial "promise" (at WWDC) was kind of ambiguous, but by the time the G5s actually started to ship, Apple had clarified that to "3 GHz by the end of summer". Which is more like 25 weeks away.
I think he actually said "within a year" so I'm not sure it's so ambiguous, although since they moved WWDC back a few weeks this year it's unlikely to be actually within a year. However, I can't remember if he actually said the chips would be shipping at 3 GHz or if the PowerMacs would be shipping at 3 GHz, which is a big difference. Clearly they are having a few issues at the moment with the transition to the new chips, but there's plenty of time to work that out by August/September (shipping date). I imagine they'd want to make the educational buyers if possible before then. Anyway, I think 3 GHz is still very doable in that timeframe, even if the interim products are lagging.
 
legion said:
...When a new server is designed, it isn't announced to the corporate market until they have set shipping dates (big iron and mid-range) and sometimes it isn't even announced until they have them available for next day shipping (smaller servers)....

that's exactly the way it should be, not only for servers but also for Desktops and Portables...
 
I am sooo tired of this stupid argument...

gerlitzappel said:
regarding all of the comments on Apple's small percentage market share:

Apple has a higher percentage market share in the computer industry that BMW or Mercedes do in the automotive industry.

I am happy to know that I own both a BMW and Mercedes computer!


This is the stupidest analogy ever. 🙄 It is basically apologism for Apple's marketing mistakes. Look, BMW and Mercedes and Ford all use the same gas, whereas computers are utterly useless without software.

If Macs and Windows machines all used the same software, then your analogy wouold work, but the problem with smaller market share is that you become less and less of a priority for software developers.

I have been running a Mac games site for 5 years, and anyone who thinks having BMW's market share in the computer industry is a good thing should just look at game release dates. You can also look at any specialized software, like P.O.S. systems, niche databases and productivity tools, the list goes on and on. Now in most cases, what software we have is of very good quality, and if you argued that we have most of what the average person needs, you would be right.

But to suggest that Apple shouldn't have a market share larger than 2% is...well...ludicrous.

You think maybe if Apple's market share was 10%, we'd all be seeing games and niche productivity apps faster? You bet your ass we would.

I think what a lot of people here are saying is that Apple continually shoots itself in the foot by doing this. The tech industry moves very fast...having products unavailable is just a bad idea. In my opinion, anyway, they'd have been better off announcing the XServes in mid-March if they weren't planning on shipping till the end of March.

When I see something sexy, I want to take it home...not fill out a Web form online and wait 3 months.
 
suzerain said:
This is the stupidest analogy ever. 🙄 It is basically apologism for Apple's marketing mistakes. Look, BMW and Mercedes and Ford all use the same gas, whereas [SNIP] take it home...not fill out a Web form online and wait 3 months.

Yes, you've posted this several times in several places. The original guy was shot down a page ago; get with the program and stop derailing the thread.

It's a shame that Apple's having such difficulty with shipping things "on time," but it's a tough battle to be played. For years now they've been accustomed to FAR less demand than they're experiencing now, and I'm sure the company has been shaped to reflect that. If they start experiencing some significant growth (like it seems they might, with all this interest), I'm sure they'll streamline again to deal. This sort of thing isn't a shift you can make overnight.

--Cless
 
So What?

gerlitzappel said:
regarding all of the comments on Apple's small percentage market share:

Apple has a higher percentage market share in the computer industry that BMW or Mercedes do in the automotive industry.


So What?

BMW and Mercedes use the same gas as a Chevy, run on the same roads, and their owners can buy parts at the same auto store.

If Macs were cars, only 2% of the gas stations would have gas that would work with your Mac, and you could only drive on 2% of the roads.

Stop with the auto analogies. They don't work.
 
Dont Hurt Me said:
You are right, I wonder what they are doing with all those millions because it doesnt look like they spend a nickel on getting it right. Every Revision A product seems to have lots of problems and everyone buying them become Beta testers for Apple. I still think they have a bunch of clowns running the hardware division. They dont have a clue why the sales suck compared to any Pc company. Heck the likes of Acer are selling more. Now we get to hear more Bmw,Mercedes crap etc. I wonder why those Fords or rather Wintels are still matching dual G5 performance. I think i just figured it out those dollars are lining Jobs & Ives pockets while the come up with more spin trying to make hardware that matches last years stuff from Intel. Keep the crap up Apple and you will make a switcher out of me. Dell and Alienware are looking like a better idea every day.

Look if we really wanted Microsoft/Dell/Gateway/HP quality we wouldn't be reading this forum. We want APPLE Quality. So, we will just have to renew our Chill Pill prescriptions.
 
legion said:
That's a nice idea... but the business market segment is also keen on delivery. The "idea that Apple holds off" should have started with even the announcement of the G5 servers. They should not announce them until the servers are good to go. When you work with corporate budgets, your accounting dept and CFO finds IT expenses critical to fall into deadlines... if a server isn't delivered as promised (say a month later), that could have been money better spent. Do it too many times (say twice) and usually the company will loose the contract.

Let's take the big guns in the server market for example: IBM, Sun, HP/Compaq, and now Dell. When a new server is designed, it isn't announced to the corporate market until they have set shipping dates (big iron and mid-range) and sometimes it isn't even announced until they have them available for next day shipping (smaller servers) For instance, when IBM announced the AS/400, I was able to have one in a week from the announcement date. It was a simple process of calling up the IBM rep, having them fax a pricing sheet, writing up a PO, submitting it to our CFO, signed and accounting faxed it over to IBM, and IBM set a delivery date. That's how business likes it. If you don't have your product together, keep your mouth shut and fix it and when it's ready announce it and also don't give out vague delivery dates of 6 to 8 weeks or by "this date" or sooner. Can you imagine a big iron piece with vague delivery dates??? You have to plan for people to receive these machines and for node hookups... all of which costs money and takes planning.

Even with small businesses, say video editing with a few employees, what if you planned to take on a new larger scale project once your new G5Xserve showed up at the end of Feb. What do you do now with no machine to work on? You face the potential of a lengthened project timeline and possibly violating the terms of the contract with your client. I know what's happened in the past when Apple has screwed up delivery times... you end up subcontracting the work and paying the difference between your billing and your subcontractors if only to guarantee a future working relationship with your client. In the end, though, you just end up p.o. at Apple for not delivering.

If Apple is serious about the business market, it'll need to take some notes from real server providers.
Spot on! The server market is a bear to deal with. Overnight orders of hardware that must be installed by 9am, five 9's of reliability, etc. My guess is Apple is having issues with the power supplies (some are bad in the PM, and you can't have that in the XServe).

It doesn't really matter though, Apple's reputation in the server market is that of overpriced underperforming toys.
 
suzerain said:
think maybe if Apple's market share was 10%, we'd all be seeing games and niche productivity apps faster? You bet your ass we would.

I think what a lot of people here are saying is that Apple continually shoots itself in the foot by doing this. The tech industry moves very fast...having products unavailable is just a bad idea. In my opinion, anyway, they'd have been better off announcing the XServes in mid-March if they weren't planning on shipping till the end of March.

When I see something sexy, I want to take it home...not fill out a Web form online and wait 3 months.

Dam right. At most I wan't to wait no more than 5 working days to recieve goods that are advertised. Any longer and I start asking for a discount, or take my business elsewhere.

with apple's <5% market share your right software developers are beginning not to bother. Even the bulk of Multimedia, web, audio and video are done on PC's, though many on this site will try to perswade you otherwise. It's just fact that when >95% of the computing industry are using x86 machines, that cost less, are more avaliable and have a larger software base that, that is where most of the work is going to be carried out.

Not to mention that PC's $ for $ are faster. I awate scores of an Xserve vs Dual Opteron benchmark, with the same configuration. My money's on the Opteron based system. Not to mention that they are avaliable in large numbers as I type this and have been for quite some time.
 
xServe G5 order went from 3/10 to 4/29!!!

Well, it's happening!

Check my order this morning and sure enough it got bumped back 🙁

BUT, it's been pushed back all the way until 4/29 😡

That would mean a 4 month delay if doesn't ship before then!!!

Not a good sign, even for updated PM G5's.

Wonder if it's IBM have bigger problems pumping out at 90nm or Apple is really stuck here? 😕

Definitely NOT 😎

MM
 
MadMan said:
Well, it's happening!

Check my order this morning and sure enough it got bumped back 🙁

BUT, it's been pushed back all the way until 4/29 😡

That would mean a 4 month delay if doesn't ship before then!!!

Not a good sign, even for updated PM G5's.

Wonder if it's IBM have bigger problems pumping out at 90nm or Apple is really stuck here? 😕

Definitely NOT 😎

MM


Your machine is probably going to PIXAR.
 
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