“After a full month of being on the market, [Apple’s] MacBook Air is still a difficult commodity to obtain in some markets (not all), and Apple is still quoting a 5-7 business day minimum shipping time even for the most standard models ordered from its web site,” Ken Fisher reports for Ars Technica.
“Meanwhile, Amazon won’t be shipping orders until March 16 now, and many customers who run to a Best Buy thinking they’ll find one hiding out there will be surprised: there aren’t many to go around. One Best Buy source (not a retail floor worker) told me that Apple has kept them pretty thin on stock. Now I can see why,” Fisher reports.
“In and around Boston, the motto this weekend at Apple Stores was “no Air for you.’ Cambridgeside, North Shore, Burlington, even Natick were out of stock. An employee at the Burlington store told me that demand has been extremely high, admitting that some customers even ponied up for the far more expensive MacBook Air SSD because they stayed in stock longer,” Fisher reports.
“We heard reports from readers this weekend that the MacBook Air was also out of stock in New York City, Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. Doing some checking of our own, we learned these stores are getting daily refreshes of stock,” Fisher reports.
More in the full article, including how the the MacBook Air may be “a switcher device” and how “demand for the Air is increasing as people see it in person,” here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “MacVicta” for the heads up.]
Yeah, but what about privacy and glossy screens? I mean… really.
@R,
Grow a brain, moron.
muahahahahahaha!
how do all the morons feel now?
“they will never sell it! niche product! who would buy it when a pro is almost the same price! sure it is thin and light, but it sucks!”
meanwhile they have been leaving the stores in packs and it is the number one seller at the online store. ahahahahahaha!
how many times in a row, from the iPod, to the iPhone, iTMS, videos, TVshows….. hell people, wake up, this company knows what they are doing!
it is simple, people hear it is light and thin, they go to see how light and thin, they lift it, they say “holy shit!” and they buy one. i have watched it a thousand times already.
…so, what do the morons who said it would be a failure have to say now?
And what about the high price and the lack of games support or nonexistent CD/DVD drive? Where’s the missing USB, firewire and ethenet ports? How about a battery that can easily be swapped out by the user?
I don’t know who is more stupid. Apple or it’s MAC lemming customers. You might as well be buying air.
Your potential. Our passion.™
The Tech reviewers just don’t understand what the average user is looking for in a Laptop. Apple is the only one in the sub-notebook space to be selling the system that matches what customers are looking to buy. Very light, Full keyboard and screen, thin, full Wi-Fi, good battery life. That’s what customers want and Apple is the only maker delivering it.
@Zung Tang,
Your type who are still using an internal floppy can’t fathom an external SuperDrive to use only when needed, and especially your type has never heard of something called a, scream, HUB!! Your type IS used to your lemming PC battery dying, so I have a smidgen of compassion for you on that. Anything else you need set straight for you today, Zune Tang??
1000, shen, 1000?
Zuney: you’re slippin’, bro.
I had my doubts about the Air, but seeing one in person… it’s drop dead gorgeous! I think it’s one of the most beautiful products Apple has ever produced.
As a second or third machine or as a machine that can handle everything your basic user does, it’s darn-near perfect.
Yes, there are flaws, but remember, it’s Rev.A!
Just Imagine what Rev.C will be like!
Just shut your ridiculous pie hole! You’re getting very tiresome and un-original!
I’d get one if it had a 17″ screen and a Blu-ray-DVD-CD read-write optical drive.
And yes, that was sarcasm.
The Customers don’t give a crap about:
Ethernet – if their current laptop has Wi-Fi 99% never used the Ethernet port
DVD/CD drive – in their current Laptop the DVD/CD drive is only used to install software so it’s redundant to lug it around with you all the time
Removable batteries – 99.9% of average customers don’t know how to remove the battery in their current laptop
No Firewire port – Average user doesn’t know what this port is used for and have not used it even if their current laptop has one
More then one USB Port – The average user has one USB device on average connected to their laptop. The most common is an external mouse (most will use the one USB port as an excess to upgrade to a Bluetooth wireless mouse), others are Digital Cameras, External Hard Drives, iPods. Average customers do know and for the most part understand USB Hubs, but apparently tech reviewers don’t.
Apple did not get the Air wrong and it’s not a niche laptop, it’s a Sub-notebook game changer that will be a huge seller.
Note to Tech reviewers: In the future forget what you think you might be looking for in a product and review products based on what the average customer will want, and if you can’t do that then you should look for a new line of work because you no longer have any journalistic objectiveness and very little integrity left. I’m keeping score so if any tech reviewers what a rundown on how often they get it wrong let me know and I’ll post a list for you.
January: No new products to match the iPhone: Sell APPL.
February: MBA isn’t compelling enough to drive revenue growth: Sell APPL.
March: Apple can’t meet demand for the MBA: Sell APPL.
The next earnings call can’t come soon enough. It should silence a bunch of bozos for at least the next 89 days.
PS: I got my MBA at Tyson’s Corner VA about 3 weeks ago.
Shen, did you read this portion of the article?
“Apple, of course, remains silent on the early successes of the MacBook Air. There’s speculation out there that Apple simply didn’t order near enough machines from the manufacturer, and therefore the shortages aren’t truly reflective of sales.”
Without an exact set of figures quantifying how many MBAs are being shipped and being sold, who cares about MDN’s spin and your fanboish enthusiasm. Apple’s undeniable silence may very well demonstrate that MBA is not the WoW product Apple intended or, owing to criticism of the features or lack of features of the MBA, scaled back MBA’s production. In either case, Apple seems to be out of touch with many Mac users.
Zune Tang or whatever
I “know” the game market is huge, but I never really understood it. I don’t play games I have too much fun doing making CAD and Database in to a game. When I want to really play, ummm I go OUTSIDE! You know, what is on the other side of the door, blue sky, fresh air, and if you live near me, lots and lots powder snow. I just don’t get the game market. Put your joystick away and go find a girlfriend to play with.
Georgy, and kith, You just don’t get it. I mean seriously! He quotes all the reasons why no sane laptop-user would want to buy an MBA – all good and valid reasons, by the way – then suggests it is selling because the purchasers are NOT sane. The analysis is, of course, wrong. It isn’t people who need laptops who are buying. Most of the purchasers are folks who have needed an ultra-portable – not a mere laptop – for a while and finally see one that’s good enough.
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Did Apple underestimate the built-up demand in order to draw headlines from the run? In order to maximize profit? Or because they messed up their projection? And … have they adjusted their purchasing to meet the demand? Or are they going to ride it into the ground? Think I’ll go check the price of my stock.
@Afib
Apple NEVER announces sales numbers except at the quarterly reports. Their silence 1 month into the life of a product means nothing.
Can you spell v-i-n-d-i-c-a-t-i-o-n ?
Lordy, it gets tiring listening to all these nay-saying experts who don’t know sheepshit from chokecherries.
Good to hear. I always thought the Air would be better appreciated by Windows users than current MacBook users. I think it is an excellent switcher’s machine.
It’s also sold out at Victoria Gardens Apple Store.
Oh, and BTW, if they are typically “sold out”, that would mean that they are drawing people into the stores even when they are NOT there. Even better than I suggested a couple of weeks ago. Be great if Apple designed a gawker-draw with a break-even in the thousands and then saw it sell in the tens (hundreds?) of thousands. Sort of like renting the mint for a week, eh?
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Leave me alone… and go buy a MBA…
Without numbers, this shortage report only means demand is outstripping supply. It doesn’t automatically mean that its selling like hotcakes, or even that Apple misjudged demand (it could be a supplier related issue). Of course it could be that it IS selling like hotcakes, which from my anecdotal in-store experience, would seem true. However, I’ll wait for the report from Apple before cheerleading.
THE TRUTH IS:
It’s not selling like hot cakes because we would have already seen people lining to buy that thing, or lots of users of this forum praising the MBA. So far, it’s been silence about this product.
CONCLUSION:
The very low demand of the MBA outstrips the extremely low supply of it…
“Shen, did you read this portion of the article?
“Apple, of course, remains silent on the early successes of the MacBook Air. There’s speculation out there that Apple simply didn’t order near enough machines from the manufacturer, and therefore the shortages aren’t truly reflective of sales.””
yes, i did. i have also seen numerous mailing lists and forums with rather a lot of new switchers talking about their MBA’s and watch more than a hundred walk out the door at the local Apple store.
and despite the wondering, the MBA remains the top seller at store.apple.com.
maybe, just maybe, people are buying them.
ChrisM points out “Of course it could be that it IS selling like hotcakes, which from my anecdotal in-store experience, would seem true. “
then he says he will wait to call it a success until Apple says it is…..
i seem to remember this. like a flashback from a bad movie.
how many products will Apple release to people saying it will be a flop and then selling them by the truck before people think, “hey, maybe these guys know more than the armchair quarterback posters at some rumor forum!”
…..more and more i think that “teh inter-tubes they is make us teh dummer.”
time for a hiatus. good luck to the second guessers, i am going to go choose between an Air and an iPhone.
see ya in the funny papers.
Try Atlantic City. I bought one there a few weeks ago and they said they had plenty.
Seems to be some kind of marketing trick..
The Macbook Air has suffered from a poor demand.. and also the new Macbook Pros must have hurt its sales
<a >MacBook Air as Lightweight as Sales</a>