Exactly how high is the demand for the Mac Pro? It would seem that Apple is simply taking too much time to build each one, as usual. Are we talking 10,000 or 100,000 Mac Pro units being available? Has Apple ever mentioned any production rates or sales figures for this new Mac Pro?
Exactly how high is the demand for the Mac Pro? It would seem that Apple is simply taking too much time to build each one, as usual. Are we talking 10,000 or 100,000 Mac Pro units being available? Has Apple ever mentioned any production rates or sales figures for this new Mac Pro?
Numbers have never been broken down, but the guestimates are 100k a year I believe. Marvin, as usual, has better info.
Exactly how high is the demand for the Mac Pro? It would seem that Apple is simply taking too much time to build each one, as usual. Are we talking 10,000 or 100,000 Mac Pro units being available? Has Apple ever mentioned any production rates or sales figures for this new Mac Pro?
How have determined "too much time to build each one"? Your addendum of "as usual" implies your allotted timeframe is so to keep demand less than the ability to produce a unit which then means Apple's allowed timeframe, in your opinion, would vary depending on consumer interest with no regard to the model itself. The issue is therefore allowing Apple to speed up and slow down production by cutting corners simply to meet demand, but you have to wonder if Apple would have demand if they made their products with such a shoddy and irrational goal in mind. I don't think they would even exist today if they did that.
Numbers have never been broken down, but the guestimates are 100k a year I believe. Marvin, as usual, has better info.
We know that the iMac makes up at least 1m units per quarter from what Tim said (700,000 units down when not available for approx 2 months out of 3 in a quarter), this would make the iMac at least 4 million out of the 4.656m desktops they reported in their 2012 10K filing. This leaves around 700k for both the Mini and Pro per year. I would say the Mini would take a slightly higher share but the Mac Pro is likely somewhere between 200-350k per year or 50-90k per quarter. There was a report suggesting Apple held a 22% workstation share out of a 900k units per quarter market so that suggests more like 200k per quarter but that was a while back.
I could certainly believe that this model would ship over 200,000 units over a full quarter. I actually wonder if they were overly cautious about it. They knew what the demand was like before so they might have only prepared enough units to meet that lower demand. You have to remember that even overestimating the units by 150k for a $2999 machine, that's nearly $0.5b that has to sit in stock and it would be more than that as it's not just the entry model.
It also makes sense that their supply chain would be designed for the average demand rather than peak so that they aren't wasting resources when demand dies down. Once they know the demand over the incoming year, they can adjust accordingly as they have done with their other products.
They announced it in June so they had 5 full months to build them. If they expected a demand of 50k per quarter, that would be about 16k per month capacity so in 5 months, they'd be able to make just over 80k units. If their demand now is 200k units per quarter then that stock should last just over 1 month but obviously the orders come right on the first day because nobody has any patience these days. But by the end of the quarter, they should have another 50k units, maybe more as they can assess which models people prefer. It usually takes about 1-2 months for them to get their supply chain optimal. Given that they pushed back a lot of orders to February, they may have allowed for just over 100k units initially.
I think their just a little confused / sloppy. The way they (incorrectly) came to that number is that the $3000 model comes in 144 configurations, and the $4000 model has 54 configurations (which equals 198) What they fail to realize, is that every possible configuration can be made from the base model.
Yeah that's what I figured out and did to avoid paying an extra $100 for a fourth 4GB stick since I'll be pulling the 3 base sticks to put in four 16GB sticks for only $680 more thanks to that $100 saved by building my loaded six core MacPro from the base config.
Yeah that's what I figured out and did to avoid paying an extra $100 for a fourth 4GB stick since I'll be pulling the 3 base sticks to put in four 16GB sticks for only $680 more thanks to that $100 saved by building my loaded six core MacPro from the base config.
But then you don't get those nifty, black RAM sticks.
We know that the iMac makes up at least 1m units per quarter from what Tim said (700,000 units down when not available for approx 2 months out of 3 in a quarter), this would make the iMac at least 4 million out of the 4.656m desktops they reported in their 2012 10K filing. This leaves around 700k for both the Mini and Pro per year. I would say the Mini would take a slightly higher share but the Mac Pro is likely somewhere between 200-350k per year or 50-90k per quarter. There was a report suggesting Apple held a 22% workstation share out of a 900k units per quarter market so that suggests more like 200k per quarter but that was a while back.
I could certainly believe that this model would ship over 200,000 units over a full quarter. I actually wonder if they were overly cautious about it. They knew what the demand was like before so they might have only prepared enough units to meet that lower demand. You have to remember that even overestimating the units by 150k for a $2999 machine, that's nearly $0.5b that has to sit in stock and it would be more than that as it's not just the entry model.
It also makes sense that their supply chain would be designed for the average demand rather than peak so that they aren't wasting resources when demand dies down. Once they know the demand over the incoming year, they can adjust accordingly as they have done with their other products.
They announced it in June so they had 5 full months to build them. If they expected a demand of 50k per quarter, that would be about 16k per month capacity so in 5 months, they'd be able to make just over 80k units. If their demand now is 200k units per quarter then that stock should last just over 1 month but obviously the orders come right on the first day because nobody has any patience these days. But by the end of the quarter, they should have another 50k units, maybe more as they can assess which models people prefer. It usually takes about 1-2 months for them to get their supply chain optimal. Given that they pushed back a lot of orders to February, they may have allowed for just over 100k units initially.
Ah, thank you Marvin. That is a well founded and reasoned post. I think they really should build more models of new products before putting them in the Store. Not just this product, with new manufacturer process and all, but the iMac last year as well. With iPhones I can understand they don't create a large stock before selling them; they really need a quick time to market for such a high demand product. But releasing the MP with just 100k produced seems silly. They could've waited till April-ish for their release and meet demand better. It's not like the competition had anything to gain by their slower TTM. And it was already a long wait for the new model to arrive, a few more months wouldn't suddenly make that disappear or forgotten.
I have to agree, the nMP is a huge step forward in workstation design. I actually think Apple will have issues keeping up. I also wouldn't be surprised to see a mid 2014 refresh that offers up more flash storage and other possible improvements.
As to those "pros", there are still people whining about their ability to run software for their original 68000 based Mac. This machine is a very shrewder move for Apple.
It's getting harder for the "pros" to criticize, especially now that we're finding out how upgradable this machine really is.
The nMP reminds me of the 5C in a way. Most of the reviews of the 5C were positive, and I haven't read or seen many instances were owners were disappointed with the device. Most of the complaints have come from people who never had any intention of buying it. So far I'm seeing the same with the nMP.
Sounds like they publicly committed themselves to release by the end of 2013 and then ran into production problems. This reduced the amount of inventory that they could go live with.
What is the actual holdup on delivery? I've heard the processor's from Intel are in very short supply, or is it the ramp-up of the new manufacturing facility?
What is the actual holdup on delivery? I've heard the processor's from Intel are in very short supply, or is it the ramp-up of the new manufacturing facility?
Or any number of other issues, including (on the positive side) actual demand much higher than the assumed demand or (on the negative side) a ruse to make demand look better than it really is.
Comments
I'm surprised there weren't any comments (that I read) about the Mac Pro and Apple must suck if it's being sold at a Best Buy.
Edit: I see you mean something else.
Numbers have never been broken down, but the guestimates are 100k a year I believe. Marvin, as usual, has better info.
How have determined "too much time to build each one"? Your addendum of "as usual" implies your allotted timeframe is so to keep demand less than the ability to produce a unit which then means Apple's allowed timeframe, in your opinion, would vary depending on consumer interest with no regard to the model itself. The issue is therefore allowing Apple to speed up and slow down production by cutting corners simply to meet demand, but you have to wonder if Apple would have demand if they made their products with such a shoddy and irrational goal in mind. I don't think they would even exist today if they did that.
We know that the iMac makes up at least 1m units per quarter from what Tim said (700,000 units down when not available for approx 2 months out of 3 in a quarter), this would make the iMac at least 4 million out of the 4.656m desktops they reported in their 2012 10K filing. This leaves around 700k for both the Mini and Pro per year. I would say the Mini would take a slightly higher share but the Mac Pro is likely somewhere between 200-350k per year or 50-90k per quarter. There was a report suggesting Apple held a 22% workstation share out of a 900k units per quarter market so that suggests more like 200k per quarter but that was a while back.
I could certainly believe that this model would ship over 200,000 units over a full quarter. I actually wonder if they were overly cautious about it. They knew what the demand was like before so they might have only prepared enough units to meet that lower demand. You have to remember that even overestimating the units by 150k for a $2999 machine, that's nearly $0.5b that has to sit in stock and it would be more than that as it's not just the entry model.
It also makes sense that their supply chain would be designed for the average demand rather than peak so that they aren't wasting resources when demand dies down. Once they know the demand over the incoming year, they can adjust accordingly as they have done with their other products.
They announced it in June so they had 5 full months to build them. If they expected a demand of 50k per quarter, that would be about 16k per month capacity so in 5 months, they'd be able to make just over 80k units. If their demand now is 200k units per quarter then that stock should last just over 1 month but obviously the orders come right on the first day because nobody has any patience these days. But by the end of the quarter, they should have another 50k units, maybe more as they can assess which models people prefer. It usually takes about 1-2 months for them to get their supply chain optimal. Given that they pushed back a lot of orders to February, they may have allowed for just over 100k units initially.
But then you don't get those nifty, black RAM sticks.
Mac Royale with cheese.
Ah, thank you Marvin. That is a well founded and reasoned post. I think they really should build more models of new products before putting them in the Store. Not just this product, with new manufacturer process and all, but the iMac last year as well. With iPhones I can understand they don't create a large stock before selling them; they really need a quick time to market for such a high demand product. But releasing the MP with just 100k produced seems silly. They could've waited till April-ish for their release and meet demand better. It's not like the competition had anything to gain by their slower TTM. And it was already a long wait for the new model to arrive, a few more months wouldn't suddenly make that disappear or forgotten.
I don't understand why people post without reading the thread first.
What state is the new Mac Pro made in? Thanks
It got canned¡
The nMP reminds me of the 5C in a way. Most of the reviews of the 5C were positive, and I haven't read or seen many instances were owners were disappointed with the device. Most of the complaints have come from people who never had any intention of buying it. So far I'm seeing the same with the nMP.
What state is the new Mac Pro made in? Thanks
Austin, Texas.
Sounds like they publicly committed themselves to release by the end of 2013 and then ran into production problems. This reduced the amount of inventory that they could go live with.
Or any number of other issues, including (on the positive side) actual demand much higher than the assumed demand or (on the negative side) a ruse to make demand look better than it really is.