iPads in short supply as tablets take off

Availalbe now in a grey market near you

Not in Apple stores but....

There were plenty (20+ I think) in Kuala Lumpa Airport at a 20% mark up. Whilst they are still a sale to Apple, how many have gone elsewhere to hit the grey market and are now sat on someone elses shelf rather than a users lap?

Let them eat cake...

...less competition around to buy the Adam when it comes out so i stand a reasonable chance of getting my hands on one of them beauties sporting tne new nVidea power performance chipsets. Luverley.!!!

Not a dead donkey

We can argue about the niceties of 'sold' versus 'shipped' (FYI most 'consigned stock' supplier agreements treat stock shipped to retail stores as 'sold', this is standard business practice). But certainly the iPad is not in the position reported by, ahem, one of our competitors, who a few years ago bought into a large quantity of a product variant tipped as 'the latest thing in fashion branding'. The comment their purchasing director made after a few days' of minimal sales was "We have enough of these things to pave a road." How we larfed!

Demo iPads

All the Apple Stores I went into actually had special demo models of ipads with 'not for sale, demo only' or some such verbiage inscribed on the back. I presume Apple are make an effort to make it less rewarding for people to steal the things.

Regardless, there's no cross-over at all between for-sale stock and demo models. Your store's issued 6 or 8 demo ipads can't be sold.

On the subect of the Apple tablet, the laptop-with-a-touch-screen has been on sale (And failing to sell meaningful amounts) for well over 15 years. It's cheering that Apple has finally figured a middle ground of price and utility that will drive sensible tablet like devices in the future. If you don't like Apple, buy one of the other things that will appear in the niche Apple just created in the next 2 quarters.

Shops hold onto demo units

I don't see a contradiction if an Apple store says it has no iPads in stock but has a dozen or more on display as demo units. I think most people want to try the thing for themselves before committing to a purchase and would expect to be able to try one out even if they can't actually buy one yet. The store has to hold onto demo iPads at the moment (that will change as time passes).

Engineering a perception of shortages (through popularity) is something a business might try either about the time a product is launched or if it has messed up production. It's possible the latter is true, but otherwise there is no way a store is going to tell a potential customer to go away when they have product to sell.

This is good

Okay, I'm an Apple whore and so this is obviously good news to me, even though I probably won't be selling my other kidney to get one (I sold my first kidney for a MacBook Pro...). Before the iPad's launch I actually wondered whether it would take off or not, going on the poor history of tablets that went before it. I'm actually really surprised that it is doing so well. And, far from decrying the 'me too' efforts by other manufacturers (e.g. HP) I think it's good that this very niche market is beginning to expand. I think some very cool stuff could come to market in this arena within the next few years.

But I can't help feeling just a little smug at it being another poke in the eye for the naysayers who were convinced it would fail. Like it or not, Apple do have a knack of injecting life into a market sector and generating interest across the other manufacturers to give us all lots of lovely new shiny toys. The iPad's success is a good thing, as is the iPhone's. It encourages innovation and competition that will ultimately benefit the consumer.

(I'm just pissed off I didn't buy Apple stock in the 90s...)

Apple's business model

...is completely different to most. The shortages are real, and global. End users are still getting their orders shipped direct from the factory. When equilibrium is reached, there will probably be about 6 weeks inventory in the channel. But how fast can new manufacturing machinery and production lines for the IPS touch screens be built? I think there may be shortages until the autumn.

Apple does it again

This is good for all concerned. Even the Apple haters, as this will spark interest in alternatives that may turn out to be superior, like the ADAM. However, without the tablet being brought front and center by Apple, the ADAM could flop by obscurity (yes, bought by geeks, but that likely wouldn't sustain the company).

Now I am an Apple fan, and own an iPad, but I am open to alternatives should something superior come along (i am very interested in the ADAM, and when my wife comes to getting a tablet, she might just inherit my iPad!). I think what everyone has to admit is that this market was pretty much stagnant until this year. Hopefully we'll all benefit from renewed interest in this segment....

Fwiw

Historically, Apple has only counted product sold not product shipped, so it is highly likely that the numbers are very real and not marketing spiel.

Can't have it both ways!

It's hard for Apple to get it's suppliers to increase production at the same time that it is telling them to fire all the underage workers, cut back on excessive overtime, not deal with environmental bad guys, clean up their reporting procedures, etc.

Twenty years ago, Apple had the opposite problem. Too much production created excess inventory, that became obsolete while still in the warehouse - due to the speed at which new components were being research and developed by suppliers and competitors [cough]Intel[/cough]. Apple was trashing obscene amounts of inventory - so much so it was losing money, not making money.

A responsible employer doesn't gear up for a spike in demand, because that only leads to layoffs later. A diversified manufacturer can re-allocate resources between product lines, but Apple only has a few products - unlike companies like HP and Dell.

Abstract should have read:

Empty shelves vindicate Microsofts vision. Seriously, this is just Apples take on a very old idea...

Keep the iPads flying

The main function of the iPad is for its owners to be able to demonstrate their financial superiority off to those less fortunate than themselves. How many iPad owners do you think there are who keep it a secret, who don't boast about how cutting-edge their latest gadget is (even though it isn't) and how much better it makes their life (even though it doesn't)?

That warm feeling owners get when they discuss what their iPad can do doesn't come from the sudden extra freedom or productivity or creativity the device gives them. It comes from smugness and self-satisfaction. You know that episode of South Park when the Prius owning middle-class families spend their time sniffing their own farts? That is what an iPad owner is doing when he uses his iPad - smelling his own gas and loving it. And I bet quite a few of them listen to Oasis, support Man City and wear Che Guevara t-shirts. F*cking hypocrites.

As Che said: I am not interested in dry economic socialism. We are fighting against misery, but we are also fighting against alienation.

The iPad is the poster-boy for consumer-driven social alienation. THAT is why so many people hate Apple's latest spawning.

Remember Mary Whitehouse?

The members of her Viewers and Listeners association could confidently condemn films without ever having watched them.

It seems there is a gadget equivalent. People who can assert the uselessness of a device without ever trying it.

C.