No iMac for you!
Businessweek.com has a decent article up about Apples changing relationship with their resellers which is something I've talked about from time to time. It's kind of old news, from about a week ago (yeah, I'm behind) so I wasn't going to bother posting it...
But I'm clearing out some bookmarks before I try to post another chat tonight and I found the subject a little ironic when put into the context of Apple kinda sorta basically having nothing to sell in the consumer space for the next 3-5 months (yes mindflayer I saw it before I crashed ;)) due to the delay of the iMac.
My head is kind of spinning trying to put this into the context of how I know suppliers, inventory, and how the normal product development process works... there's a story here. These kinds of things just don't happen unless there is massive incompetence involved or something much larger is going on behind the scenes. And no, by something larger behind the scenes I don't mean the standard scenario of the G5 iMac taking longer than expected so yeah, hey, instead of ordering extra inventory we're just gonna kinda sorta cede huge amounts of educational share again.
For the news to get shot out right after the keynote like that just seems bizarre. The only reason Jobs wouldn't announce a new iMac that would ship 3 months later would be because they wouldn't want to cannibalize sales of their current models. Since they aren't even going to be selling those they wouldn't be hurting much by talking about what's going on and what they have coming. It wouldn't be the first time they've announced something that didn't actually ship for another 3 months...
Resellers and VARs still have the iBook and eMac to sell, but geesh, its going to put some hurt on as the sales of those weren't exactly doing really well. The iBook did well year over year, but not quarter to quarter. And yes, I mentioned it'd be 3-5 months until they had a new model in. Unless this is a speed bump that has gone horribly, horribly awry (I'm not aware of any earthquakes in Taiwan a week or two before the keynote) this will prolly be a new enclosure, etc.
Maybe I'll be surprised... but looking back over the history of new Apple product announcements, what are the odds these things will actually be shipping in 3 months? Announced, ok. Perhaps a trickle of shipments, but geesh.
Apple, what the hell.
Posted by drunkenbatmanJuly 02, 2004, at 05:07 PM
Comments (3)
Posted by: M at July 2, 2004 10:21 PM
Is the iLamp dead?
Please, tell me the iLamp is dead.
Better yet tell me it was a suicide pact with the eMac and they're both gone gone gone.
No offense intended to anyone except the morons responsible for inflicting those wretchedly ugly models on the world, but I really hate them both and will be very glad when they're gone. So, there is a silver lining.
-M
Posted by: Eli Sarver at July 6, 2004 04:01 PM
Actually, I heard on the radio this morning that there was an earth quake in Taipei, this morning. Maybe they have some sort of earthquake prediction.
OK maybe not.
Either this iMac is going to be a complete re-design and there is a flaw in the new model, or they are having problems with their processor supply or LCD supply or something mundane.
Or maybe they are tired of taking flack for announcing and selling slow-to-market products that kill their stock.
I just hope the new iMac is killer.
I agree. Something really weird is going on... I guess we'll have to wait to see