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Apple delays worldwide delivery of iPod mini to July

updated 09:15 am EST, Thu March 25, 2004

Apple iPod mini rollout

Apple today announced that is to July due to the much stronger than expected demand in the U.S., which it says is "far exceeding the total planned supply through the end of June." Apple says expects to ramp up its manufacturing of the iPod mini to meet worldwide demand in the July quarter. "The iPod mini is a huge hit with customers in the U.S. and we're sure it will be the same worldwide once we can ramp up our supply in the July quarter." The iPod mini was scheduled to be availabe worldwide in April, following the February introduction in the US.

by MacNN Staff

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Semantic Mike
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jul 2002

0

03/25, 09:35am | report spam | close Reply |
Terrible PR again!

Once more Apple sends a 'the rest of the world doesn't matter as much as the US' message to it's foreign users. When will they realise that people who can't get iPhoto prints and can't buy online music for iTunes are going to end up going to a different supplier. C'mon Apple, wake up to the world!

beeble
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Mar 2004

0

03/25, 10:05am | report spam | close Reply |
Cry me a river

Apple just can't please some people. Oh nobody will buy it, it's priced too high. They start selling like hot cakes and still are. No one on the face of the earth predicted this so don't blame Apple for the fact that once again they've produced a product that is so cool that everyone (and it would seem almost literally) wants one.

Why was there such a delay in getting prints into Europe? Because they couldn't find a printer that met their quality standards. That's Europe's fault. They ended up having them printed in the US and shipping them to Europe.

Don't blame Apple for things that aren't their fault or are beyond their control. This is good PR for the same reasons that it's bad PR. Apple's products are so hot that everyone wants them. Do you think the rest of the world isn't goint to buy them in a few months just because of a delay. Why do people still buy Windows which has never shipped on time? Windows has often not just missed it's ship month but it ship year and yet people still buy it.

And before people rant and c*** on about arrogant Americans, I'm acutally Australian and in the same boat as everyone else. I'll wait and be happy that the firmware bugs are long gone.

shawnce
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Joined: Nov 2000

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03/25, 10:05am | report spam | close Reply |
Well it doesn't matter..

...in that, does Apple go an spread iPod mini supplies across the world so that no one in any particular country can find one? No. That would be a bad move and would knock the steam out of the self feeding sales factor that a "trend" can have.

So instead Apple insures that in the _largest_ _single_ market in the world that they do their best to have sufficient supplies to feed the fervor while they ramp up manufacturing so they can ship to other markets.

njfuzzy
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Apr 2001

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03/25, 10:06am | report spam | close Reply |
You can only make so many

If you can only make so many of something, and the demand is outstripping supply in the one place you have it available, you will piss off a lot more people by trying to sell it everywhere. Right now, some people in the US don't get iPods even though they are available. Launch it in the rest of the world, and people all over the world who believe the mini is available will be disappointed. It's a simple decision. Stop whining.

frozenflat
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Joined: Mar 2004

0

03/25, 10:08am | report spam | close Reply |
Apple asleep at the wheel

Come on Apple, this is why you have 3% market share. Expensive products, promised ship dates that are missed by months!, products released with flaws and issues. Think Different Apple!

shawnce
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Joined: Nov 2000

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03/25, 10:38am | report spam | close Reply |
Apple awake and driving..

They have 3% of the world wide unit sales for personal computers.

In regards to the iPods Apple is very much awake... The price concerns, etc. are obviously not a big issue since Apple is dominating the player market. They hold about 90+% of the market for hard drive based (large storage) players and this was before the release of the iPod mini. This yielded them about 30% of the overall player market (numbers from January).

With the iPod mini they are targeting the mid range flash based players (which I believe account for about 40+% of the market) and so far appears to be making strong in roads into that segment.

I would expect to see at least a 10% increase in their overall player market share but it could be much larger then that.

nickgold2012
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Joined: Jul 2002

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03/25, 10:40am | report spam | close Reply |
this makes no sense

But wait -- I thought nobody was going to buy a mini? They're too expensive, right? But now they can't make enough of them...

DOES... NOT... COMPUTE... *KABLAM!*

Why do some people think products can be manufactured in limitless supply at the snap of a finger? They are pumping out thousands and thousands and thousands of them EVERY HOUR, as many as can possibly be made. The other microdrive-based digital music player manufacturers would also be having this problem -- if they were selling them in any quantity, that is.

BTW, I've had my gold mini since they were released, and it rocks.

---
http://thewired.blogs.com/teotwawki
The techno-mediated cultural conspiracy

Me�vv
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: May 2001

0

03/25, 10:49am | report spam | close Reply |
not good

it owuld be better to send a little to every market. the "lucky few" will act as ambassadors and their envious friends will start saving money. Why piss off a whole market? Europe is already paying more for the iPods so why not let supply and demand take care of the pricing?

mikerally
Senior User

Joined: Jan 2000

0

03/25, 11:45am | report spam | close Reply |
Big Deal

Big Deal,

I can just import the iPod from the USA, and it would still be cheaper than what Apple intended to sell it for here in the UK (�130 as opposed to �199).

I know people in the USA who would buy it for me and send it to me as long as I pay them back.

eswinson
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Joined: Jul 2002

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03/25, 11:52am | report spam | close Reply |
Grow Up People

Nobody rides Sony's a** about the stuff they launch in Japan months sometimes years before it makes it to the US in a watered down form. I waited 6-7 months to purchase a Canon Digital Rebel in the US after it was already avaialable in Japan and Europe as the 300D. Was I angry at Canon? No, I was just anxious to get my hands on one. It's not like I was going to go out and buy another "lesser" digital camera when I already knew what I wanted. I waited patiently and bought one as soon as it became available.

Most people are not as uptight, impatient and demanding a we are in america. If they want a quality product they will wait. If not they will buy what ever is available to fit their needs. Most likely a standard iPod in this case. It is not like everybody that is ever going to buy an Mp3 player is going to buy them in a 6 month time frame. Apple will be selling iPods and there successors for years to come to first time buyer in the US and the world alike.

klinux
Senior User

Joined: Jul 2002

0

03/25, 12:48pm | report spam | close Reply |
Good point

"it owuld be better to send a little to every market. the "lucky few" will act as ambassadors and their envious friends will start saving money. Why piss off a whole market? Europe is already paying more for the iPods so why not let supply and demand take care of the pricing?"

Hear hear! Very good point here. I for one am sick and tired of Apple annoucing something and two months later it finally starts to ship.... incompletely (Xserve but only single CPU or iPod mini).

"But it's not Apple's fault! Blame IBM, Hitachi, etc!"

STFU. People who say that never blame Apple for anything. Damn apologists/

jonbwfc1
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Joined: Nov 2003

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03/25, 12:58pm | report spam | close Reply |
iPod minis..

Ok, I can see that demand has outstripped supply. I can also see that supplying a market in which the product is already launched while delaying launch elsewhere may be prefereable to having it unavailable everywhere although to me personally the effect is much the same - I can't buy an iPod mini. The 'why' is a less important question to me than thinking 'OK, should I buy a rio instead?' but that's another issue.

However, what is the deal with the production delay? They can't ramp up production for four months? What is going on with that? Do they have to build another factory or something? A few weeks I wouldn't be surprised about, but if they can't figure out a way to make more of a product people are falling over themselves to buy in reasonably short timescale and/or made no provision for increasing production should it prove popular, that's a pretty poor show.

beyere
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Joined: Jun 2002

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03/25, 03:21pm | report spam | close Reply |
Clearly..

If Apple had a crystal ball and could have predicted the sheer volume of demand for this -completely- new product, they surely would either have found a way to increase production or delay the shipping date to ensure it would be available in quantity when they said it would be. Produce way too many more than you need and your company takes a loss. Produce not enough and you piss off customers who want to buy one. Neither is ideal, but clearly the latter is preferable.

Having said that, Apple has a long history of production and distribution problems. The fiasco last Summer/Fall with the G5 and the PB17" are still brightly imprinted on my brain. It would surely help my perception of Apple as a company if they could/would do more to have product available in quantity on or close to the launch date.

bfalchuk
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Joined: Jul 2003

0

03/25, 03:23pm | report spam | close Reply |
Ramp up

Ramp up isn't about buying a factory. It's not like there's tons of excess capacity to build these things. There is a select group of contract manufacturers, and, within them, a select set of factories or even assembly lines that will build these. You can't merely flick a switch. Retooling would be needed to make a line or a factory ready to build these. You need to train workers (or robots), and get enough parts into the factory for a steady mass-production run.

Man, you guys know zero about marketing or manufacturing. All you do is either blame Apple, blame someone else, yell at each other, or a mix of all three...usually the latter.

HeatherEcsedi
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Joined: Oct 2001

0

03/25, 03:29pm | report spam | close Reply |
We got used to it...

Everyone should know that when Apple announces a shipping date, delays should be expected. This has become so typical, not only at Apple's but pretty much everywhere. I guess share holders want to see their stock go up and the stock exchange is simply functionning on early announcements and rumors, hardly facts any more (sadly).

And yes, Apple has a much lesser consideration for European customers. With the US Dollar at an all time low against the Euro, Apple products cost more in Europe (even though Apple runs several European manufacturing plans).

bfalchuk
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jul 2003

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03/25, 03:56pm | report spam | close Reply |
EU Plants?

What plants does Apple run aside from Ireland, which does very little work anymore?

All laptops, the former bastion of Apple Ireland, come from Quanta and AlphaTop in Taiwan now. From what I recall, Ireland is just for publishing (cds and manuals).

Bogartte
Forum Regular

Joined: Jun 2000

0

03/25, 04:32pm | report spam | close Reply |
and then what?

Fine, music is great business, and the iPod, etc., have done it, and all the others are ramping up... now it's time to move on to something else... something really great, so everyone else can follow again.

slider
Mac Elite

Joined: Oct 1999

0

03/25, 04:51pm | report spam | close Reply |
Clearly

I don't know a damn thing. I was one of those that thought the iPod mini was way over priced and only early adopters that had money to burn would be getting it. Proving once again that Apple does do market research and knows it's own market, dispite being on the short side this time. I suppose there will always be a variable.

Dakar
Professional Poster

Joined: Mar 2004

0

03/25, 05:49pm | report spam | close Reply |
Me too

I thought the mini was overpriced as well. However I take consolation in the fact that it's being sold because of it's mini-ness, rather than for it's storage or versatility (big iPod).

bashar
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Joined: Jan 2000

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03/25, 05:54pm | report spam | close Reply |
I got mine

Wow! I live in the UAE, we get our apples from england, and they are relatively overpriced, I orderd my mini from the US in Feb and paid an extra $50 for fast fed ex shipping, got mine a week ago, and I can not go to sleep since, its the most s*** product I have ever seen.
BTW, mine is baby blue...

droosan
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Joined: Sep 2001

0

03/25, 06:48pm | report spam | close Reply |
Nobody likes them

and nobody is buying them, except some guy in Phoenix, who is buying them all to keep all those foreigners from getting them. Just think what those foreigners would do with them. I bet they'd listen to foreign music on them. Is that what Steve intended? I think not. Why do you think he doesn't let the foreigners download music off of iTunes?

jormundgand23
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Mar 2004

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03/25, 08:53pm | report spam | close Reply |
re: Ramp up

bfalchuk wrote:
>There is a select group of contract manufacturers, and, within them, a select set of factories or even assembly lines that will build these. You can't merely flick a switch. Retooling would be needed to make a line or a factory ready to build these. You need to train workers (or robots), and get enough parts into the factory for a steady mass-production run.

>Man, you guys know zero about marketing or manufacturing.

Thank you.

Big Fat Octopus
Junior Member

Joined: Jul 2001

0

03/25, 11:35pm | report spam | close Reply |
iTunesStore is US only!

People who buy iPods are prime candidates for online music sales. Now seeing how iTunes Music Store is only available to US residents it makes sense to feed the iTunes service with sales from iPod Mini.

No point releasing limited stock to Australian market when you can fill backorders in the US and get those people buying from iTunes Music Store!

One drives the other. So as much as I'd love to get a Mini and use iTunesMS in Australia I have to admit that Apple is taking the most common sense approach in this case.

HCRefugee
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Joined: Mar 2003

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03/25, 11:49pm | report spam | close Reply |
Apple's Demise

OMG, demand outstrips supply for Apple's insanely popular miniPod. Can Apple's demise be far behind? Read about it first at C/NET.

klinux
Senior User

Joined: Jul 2002

0

03/26, 12:43am | report spam | close Reply |
Calm down

No one's saying Apple's dying, so chill out.

But I, for one, think Apple looks bad whenever it delays its product (which is virtually every hardware release) because it has no frigging idea on how to forecast and manage its vendors.

Lyra
Forum Regular

Joined: Jul 2000

0

03/26, 02:28am | report spam | close Reply |
I still have my old iPod.

Well I still have my old iPod, so that means Apple has extended its life till July when I'll order my mini...

Unlike most people, I am not in a DIRE need of an iPod, as it probably won't change my life all that much anyway... The only thing I would love too see here in Europe is iTunes in action, and that is cause other companies are muscling their way into the Eu market. I want Apple to be the no.1 in online music stores here as well... As the EU is a S***** PC driven place... Oh and don't forget the Bin Ladens own quite a few stocks in Microsoft...

jonbwfc1
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Joined: Nov 2003

0

03/26, 02:42am | report spam | close Reply |
Music Store

"People who buy iPods are prime candidates for online music sales. Now seeing how iTunes Music Store is only available to US residents it makes sense to feed the iTunes service with sales from iPod Mini."

That's completely the wrong way round. Jobs has admitted the iTMS is virtually running at break even. They make next to no money off it but they don't care because the iTMS makes people buy iPods, which they do make a big profit on. They also make even more profit selling iPods in Europe because the price of them there is significantly higher than in the US, even taking exchange rates and local taxes into account - for the record the UK price of a 15GB iPod is $450 equivalent and EU sales taxes aren't 50%.

If they were actually thinking globally, they'd be flooding the EU with iPods to maximise their profit on them and the US would be back of the queue, because that's where they make least profit on them. Basically Apple gets a bigger reward for selling an iPod in Paris than in Pittsburgh and both places sell out. Which would you ship the iPods to?

Given they can sell as many as they can make in either market, which is 'bigger' is pretty irrelevant. However the fact that the reverse is the case shows that it's simply down to Apple not giving a damn about the EU. There are numerous examples of this, from the pricing structure to the iPhoto debacle to... well.. I could go on.

This is not about economics, it's about attitude. And unfortunately, now everyone in the EU can boot up Safari and go see how much stuff costs on the Applestore US page as oppose to their local Applestore page, it's starting to hurt Apple. This is just one more straw on an already overburdened camel.

bashar
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jan 2000

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03/26, 07:37am | report spam | close Reply |
European Prices

your so right, apple prices in Europe are so over inflated, and apple is ignoring such a big and important market, it hurts...

njfuzzy
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Joined: Apr 2001

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03/26, 08:08am | report spam | close Reply |
Armchair CEOs

Sometimes I wonder why I ever click through to look at the comments at all.

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Apple delays worldwide delivery of iPod mini to July

updated 09:15 am EST, Thu March 25, 2004

Apple iPod mini rollout

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