Forbes Magazine: Apple Spokeswoman Says G5s To Ship This Month
The Week Ahead: Aug. 11-Aug. 15, 2003
Forbes.com staff, 08.09.03, 12:00 PM ET
Pent-up demand will likely give Apple Computer (nasdaq: AAPL - news - people ) Chief Executive Steve Jobs mixed emotions this week. Rumor has it that advance orders have been strong for the company's eagerly awaited PowerMac G5 computer. When the company announced the machine, it said shipping would begin in August. Many Apple customers have been holding back on their traditional upgrade cycles for months, partly in anticipation of the G5. And that's just one of the factors impacting sales volume, which has slipped to 771,000 last quarter from 808,000 in the year-ago quarter. While other rumors about a possible inventory shortage may be unfounded, it wouldn't be the first time Apple has faced such issues during a surge in demand for a popular product. Earlier this year, shipments of Apple's 17-inch Powerbook laptops slipped from February to March amid high demand. And last year Apple's flat-panel iMac fell short, in part, analysts said, because of manufacturing problems at a plant in Taiwan. In September 1999, a shortage of G4 processors produced by Motorola (nyse: MOT - news - people ) forced Apple to preannounce disappointing sales for that quarter. Apple's stock price dropped the next day by nearly $10. And an April 1999 fire at an LG Electronics manufacturing plant in Mexicali, Mexico, briefly disrupted iMac production and shipping. An Apple spokeswoman says the company remains on target to ship all orders for G5 machines this month.
Forbes.com staff, 08.09.03, 12:00 PM ET
Pent-up demand will likely give Apple Computer (nasdaq: AAPL - news - people ) Chief Executive Steve Jobs mixed emotions this week. Rumor has it that advance orders have been strong for the company's eagerly awaited PowerMac G5 computer. When the company announced the machine, it said shipping would begin in August. Many Apple customers have been holding back on their traditional upgrade cycles for months, partly in anticipation of the G5. And that's just one of the factors impacting sales volume, which has slipped to 771,000 last quarter from 808,000 in the year-ago quarter. While other rumors about a possible inventory shortage may be unfounded, it wouldn't be the first time Apple has faced such issues during a surge in demand for a popular product. Earlier this year, shipments of Apple's 17-inch Powerbook laptops slipped from February to March amid high demand. And last year Apple's flat-panel iMac fell short, in part, analysts said, because of manufacturing problems at a plant in Taiwan. In September 1999, a shortage of G4 processors produced by Motorola (nyse: MOT - news - people ) forced Apple to preannounce disappointing sales for that quarter. Apple's stock price dropped the next day by nearly $10. And an April 1999 fire at an LG Electronics manufacturing plant in Mexicali, Mexico, briefly disrupted iMac production and shipping. An Apple spokeswoman says the company remains on target to ship all orders for G5 machines this month.
Comments
Originally posted by Tidris
That doesn't make any sense. Go to the Apple store right now (Aug 10) and try to order a dual 2 gig G5. The estimated ship date is 7 to 10 weeks.
IE Early to Late October. I still think the queue will lead into next YEAR before Halloween. I hope I'm wrong. But all signs look that way.
Originally posted by Tidris
That doesn't make any sense. Go to the Apple store right now (Aug 10) and try to order a dual 2 gig G5. The estimated ship date is 7 to 10 weeks.
Why doesn't this make sense? If you order now, you're well down in the queue from people who placed orders as soon as the G5 was announced.
Just because Apple says they'll be ready to ship sometime this month doesn't mean they'll be able to clear their entire backlog this month. All it means is that the earliest orders will start getting filled.
Originally posted by shetline
Why doesn't this make sense? If you order now, you're well down in the queue from people who placed orders as soon as the G5 was announced.
Just because Apple says they'll be ready to ship sometime this month doesn't mean they'll be able to clear their entire backlog this month. All it means is that the earliest orders will start getting filled.
I think that the point is that the announcement is too vague.
Originally posted by shetline
Why doesn't this make sense? If you order now, you're well down in the queue from people who placed orders as soon as the G5 was announced.
The article suggests the rumors of inventory shortage are unfounded. If there is a 10 week long queue then obviously there is inventory shortage.
Originally posted by shetline
Why doesn't this make sense? If you order now, you're well down in the queue from people who placed orders as soon as the G5 was announced.
Just because Apple says they'll be ready to ship sometime this month doesn't mean they'll be able to clear their entire backlog this month. All it means is that the earliest orders will start getting filled.
It's about the last sentence:
"An Apple spokeswoman says the company remains on target to ship all orders for G5 machines this month."
That read ALL ORDERS ship this month. That is obviously a PR blunder. I'd be willing to bet that NO dual 2 G5s arrive anywhere in August.
Originally posted by Tidris
The article suggests the rumors of inventory shortage are unfounded. If there is a 10 week long queue then obviously there is inventory shortage.
Any level of inventory that allows the earliest orders to be filled, and merely allows a decent rate of working off the backlog of orders after that, could certainly be considered a good level of inventory -- certainly a much better level of inventory than is implied by some rumors that don't have G5s shipping until September and October.
An inventory large enough to suddenly fill every outstanding order at once, even orders placed today, is not realistic to expect. I have no idea if the Forbes story is true or not, but you're applying an extreme measure of where inventories would have to be in order for the story to be true.
Originally posted by Multimedia
It's about the last sentence:
"An Apple spokeswoman says the company remains on target to ship all orders for G5 machines this month."
I passed that comment through my BS filter without even thinking about it. Most likely, the comment was either clumsily stated in the first place, or not properly transcribed when reported. The comment should probably have read "...remains on target to ship all initial orders...".
? hmm? when will the G5 be in stores?
Originally posted by shetline
...certainly a much better level of inventory than is implied by some rumors that don't have G5s shipping until September and October.
If you order a dual G5 today you will find that September/October shipping is a fact, not a rumor.
Originally posted by shetline
An inventory large enough to suddenly fill every outstanding order at once, even orders placed today, is not realistic to expect.
I agree it isn't realistic for G5s at this point, but that simply means currently there is a G5 inventory shortage. When Apple becomes able to ship non-BTO G5s the same week they are ordered, then I would argue there is no inventory shortage.
The idea is that the units won't be delayed.
Originally posted by ryukyu
I think that the point is that the announcement is too vague.
Apple to ship G5 to ryukyu
38 minutes ago - Reuters
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Apple will ship one of its G5 personal computer, dubbed the worlds fastest personal computer, to ryukyu on August 26th, 2003. (Nasdaq: AAPL - news).
Originally posted by Tidris
The article suggests the rumors of inventory shortage are unfounded. If there is a 10 week long queue then obviously there is inventory shortage.
Theres a difference between an inventory shortage caused by a production problem and an inventory shortage created because Apple didn't decided to pay IBM $1.5 trillion dollars to shut down all of their other business and temporarily convert all of their factories over to G5 production for the week just so you can get your new machines a week earlier.
Originally posted by Jukebox Hero
Apple to ship G5 to ryukyu
38 minutes ago - Reuters
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Apple will ship one of its G5 personal computer, dubbed the worlds fastest personal computer, to ryukyu on August 26th, 2003. (Nasdaq: AAPL - news).
Now that's funny!
A little too specific this time though I'm afraid.
Actulaly, I just meant that maybe if they said all preorders up until a certain date.
I wish mine was coming that soon!
I better.
8)
Hey, buddy, why the furrowed brow? The haunted look? The air of quiet desperation? Wait, don't tell us, let us guess: you ordered a Power Mac G5 about twelve milliseconds after they showed up online at the Apple Store, and you're giddily awaiting the day when it arrives on your doorstep and you finally get to punch yourself through a supporting wall and get your house condemned-- but because of the whispers of massive demand and sketchy supply, you're starting to get a little edgy about your delivery date maybe getting pushed forward into the next decade or so. Meanwhile, your intact and uncondemned dwelling seems to taunt you with its jeering fitness for human occupation.
Well, not to alarm you still further, but your concern may indeed be genuine; lead times on new G5 orders are in the 7-10 week range, at least for the dual-processor model (which is still in the Top Ten at the Apple Store). Then there was that InfoWorld article from a mere two weeks ago which reported that the G5 processor was "not yet in production" at IBM's spiffing new chip fabrication plant in Fishkill, NY, which is enough to make anyone a tad nervous. And while you might have been comforted somewhat by those reports that certain "larger corporate and government customers" had already received at least some Power Mac G5s last month (implying that at least the machine's been in active production for a while), Mac OS Rumors insists that said reports are bull-hockey: "Nope. BS Factor: 10. Maybe 11, even."
But don't freak out, here, because there is some good news about Power Mac delivery dates, and it comes from a pretty trustworthy source-- Apple itself. Forbes recaps Apple's previous major too-much-demand, no-freakin'-supply missteps of days past, dredging up such painful memories as the flat-panel iMac flub and the ever-popular 1999 G4 shortage that ensued when Motorola decided to see if it could make PowerPCs with a mountain-fresh scent by forgoing silicon for those pine tree-shaped air fresheners. (You find one in every car.) No, that's not the part that's supposed to make you feel better. The happy bit is this: "An Apple spokeswoman says the company remains on target to ship all orders for G5 machines this month." There you have it, straight from the horse's mouth (no offense to the nice Apple spokeswoman). Heck, if she's right about that, it sounds like even people who ordered last week should get their systems by early September. So you can relax now.
What's that? You didn't order a G5? You say the furrowed brow, haunted look, and air of quiet desperation are actually because lately you're feeling alone and unloved in a Godless universe, and you're increasingly convinced that Good and Evil are social constructs that are subjective if not entirely arbitrary and/or fictional? You're questioning the fundamental purpose for our existence upon this planet's surface and you're becoming more and more terrified that there isn't one?
Well, duh. That's because you haven't ordered a G5 yet, genius. Now get with the program.
I wouldn't worry about how quickly it comes. Just think of Apple as taking their time to get it right. Surely that's worth more than having it now (little compensation I know).