New tube / no tube….

[Steve Connor]

[Douglas K. Dempsey] “Really. This is like a parody of “build on demand” wherein the normally hubristic Apple somehow anticipates NO demand, builds a couple dozen units and then sits on their hands to see how demand will shake out.

I can hear the plant manager: “Okay, prototype team, pack it up. People are actually buying the Tube, so no more one-offs. We’re tooling up to make … HUNDREDS of these things!” 🙂
“

Isn’t the tube assembled in the USA? If this is a new departure for Apple there could be all sorts of issues in the supply chain.

I know of a couple of people in the UK who have got their BTO Tubes and there are a few stock config versions available at some retailers.

Steve Connor

There’s nothing we can’t argue about on the FCPX COW Forum

[Marcus Moore]

Over at the FCP.co forums. At least one person has had their order status go from “Processing Order” to “Preparing for Shipment” to “Shipped” within 24 hrs.

[Paul Neumann]

April?

https://www.macrumors.com/2014/02/11/mac-pro-ship-estimates-april/

[Craig Seeman]

And B&H in the USA is now showing 4 to 6 weeks including the two stock models. Six weeks would certainly be April.

Does Apple have a very serious supply chain issue? This ranges from ongoing to worsening.

[Tom Sefton]

I was understanding that all shipping delays were hitting new orders (maybe hopefully) – meaning that anyone ordering now would be waiting until at least April. However, I could be wrong, and it wouldn’t be surprising that apple maintains radio silence whilst they have supply issues, before telling everyone on the 28th of Feb that their MP is shipping in March/April/May etc.

It’s surprising that apple didn’t estimate some form of high demand for the device that they described in October/November and start stockpiling them so that anyone ordering within 2 weeks would receive their machine inside the next fortnight….

[Craig Seeman]

What “gets me” is that B&H seemed to be getting the stock models in constantly until the beginning of February. Then as days progressed the delivery timed continued (continues) to lengthen.
I can’t help but think something is up given B&H went from “In Stock” for some time to lengthening delivery. Either demand is escalating or they have a supply chain issue (or both).

[Tom Sefton]

It’s a similar situation with Jigsaw24 in the UK. They have sporadic availability for the stock model with D300 graphics card, but haven’t seen a single one with a D700 and have seen few of the D500s. If you ring up to order one now, they haven’t got any stock, nor any information as to when it will be arriving. Apple is keeping everyone in the dark – most likely their own employees too…

I really wish we had purchased through apple business, or bought through an intermediary. Buying as an apple personal customer seems to offer much worse customer service, although I doubt many people who have ordered for business are being given much more info.

Something is wrong with the supply chain – either with the CPU, GPU or with apple’s build. It’s hard to believe that a firm as large as apple haven’t learnt from the iMac issues they experienced and stockpiled hardware to meet (potential) high demand.

[Andre Van berlo]

I hope this delay scenario isn’t going to unfold. I’d rather have them tell me now then tell me on the 28th of february! But as I’ve said before, I’ve had 2 emails in which they told me they’re still expecting the tube to be delivered as planned(in february). They would look kind of stupid if that would suddenly slip to end of march or april-may.

Then again, they’re really into this secrecy thing so we can expect anything. Maybe an announcement op april 1st? that would be hilarious :-/

[Marcus Moore]

So far as I know, the April ship date is ONLY on new orders placed after a certain date.

A client of mine who who’s order went in on December 24th has just shipped, so I’m expecting my order from the 26th to ship early next week.

[Marcus Moore]

I really think a shortage of components from Intel, as it seem very difficult to get Xeon E5v2 processors in any way, shape or form; not just in a MacPro.

And as to capacity. I’m not sure there is a solution.

If you set up to build to peak demand right after launch, then all that extra manufacturing capacity is wasted over the rest of the life of the product.