“Apple’s iMac 2012 range could see its release date slipping into 2013, according to the latest rumours,” Jon Mundy reports for Trusted Reviews.
“French website MacBidouille reports that Apple is experience production issues with the new generation of iMacs, with the new super-slim profiles posing a problem for manufacturers,” Mundy reports. “This new skinny profile – which means that there’s no place for a physical media drive in the new units – apparently requires advanced welding techniques to produce, as well as a new method for producing the LCD screens.”
Mundy reports, “Those expecting a skinny new iMac under the Christmas tree this year may be in for a disappointment.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Yeah, but they’ll have a hell of a new year!
Good things come to those who wait (and this is still just a rumor, so take it a grain of salt)!
Apple promised 2012. Looks like another drop in stock prices.
That is why AAPL drops again ?? Come on , the Mac sales don’t even count over 30% of Apple revenue !!
Traders are looking for *any* excuse to drop the stock price.
Is that right? Tell me how that works exactly.
Meant to say that traders (not longer-term investors) are looking for any excuse to drop the stock (i.e. sell). So any negative news results in exaggerated drop in stock price.
aapl should not be introducing the new imac if they can’t release the product before the holiday season. that will fall on tim cook and would be a big disappointment regardless how much revenue the imac accounts for. wouldn’t be surprise to see the stock drop to 450 if this rumor is true. there’s been slew of negative news already.
Apple screwed the pooch on this one. Congratulations, Apple.
I have a hunch that this could be true.
Fact: it’s mid-November and even the 21 inch iMacs are nowhere to be seen except on the website (and the video of the Apple event).
You can’t even pre-order them.
But what are people going to do? Buy a Dell instead?
We will know it when they start selling special “iMac gift certificates” for Christmas….
The iMac business is now tiny compared to the iPad and iPhone business. So, while it’s a PR-nightmare, most customers won’t even register it (as long as they can have iPhones and iPads).
I’m glad my 2008 iMac still works, going into the 5th year 😉
Yep mine too! Bought in 2008 for £799 which is cheap compared to the £1000+ they cost now. I think it’s the oldest thing I own and it still works damn well!
Exactly … We can’t order it yet and today is November 15.
They are not even offering the old model. This is going to hurt their Q1 some. It’s Christmas and you have no iconic flagship desktop to sell? REALLY APPLE!!!
Like MDN, says, this is a rumor, but the stock manipulators use any and everything to create pump and dump cycles.
On one hand, it’s sad that Apple supposedly has so many production problems given the supply-chain “genius” who is now CEO.
On the other hand, it’s just a byproduct of Apple’s innovation. They are doing things that have never been done before on a mass scale, and dragging manufacturing processes into the future as they do it.
This dragging into the future should happen before you announce products that require the future now..
Here’s the thing: there was NO NEED to drag manufacturing processes (miniaturization, specifically) into the future for DESKTOP computers. You’re not carrying an iMac around, you’re not going to admire it from an angle after the first week, so the things that improve iPads and iPhones (less weight, thinner) are not the big selling points for the iMac.
As long as the iMac wasn’t ridiculously thick, it was fine–and now the new one is so thin they won’t let you upgrade the RAM yourself on the smaller model.
I wouldn’t be surprised if there are ventilation (removing heat) issues.
There are benefits to Apple of thinner and lighter though. First, it allows them to use less raw material (namely, aluminum), so the bill of materials is lower. Second, assuming the box is smaller too, it allows them to transport more product per plane, boat, and truck, and use less fuel while doing so. Third, it’s more stuff they can tout on their Environmental site.
Not to mention, if the boxes are smaller, it takes up fewer shelf space in their stores, allowing them more room for selling, and less for warehousing.
Any savings on the bill of materials is outweighed by continual materials R&D and upgrades to equipment/software necessary to achieve this.
Packing box: slim savings, because the limiting factor isn’t the thickness of the body, but depth of the stand, and difference there is half an inch. You *might* be able to squeeze one more box per line in a shipping pallet, meaning maybe 6-8 extra iMacs per pallet.
Weight savings is admittedly considerable, about 40% savings (20.5 down to 12.5 lbs for 21.5″ iMac), so Apple might save a bit on shipping there.
But all this is stuff that benefits Apple’s bottom line.
How does a thinner/lighter iMac benefit consumers?
Currently, it appears the new iMacs are vaporware. When does Apple intend to release the 21-inch model, 31 November, and the US only?
+1
The current Mac is beautiful !
Not that I particularly care for an optical drive. I’ve had several fail on me (clogged with dust). Much better to have an external DVD drive, especially if you are in control of several Macs. Latest formats and speeds.
I agree. I LOVE the SD card slot on the side of my 2010-ish iMac, and use it all the time. Putting it on the back makes it useless unless you’re willing to tip the thing forward 90 degrees to access it. And no user-upgradeable memory? To put design this far over usability is ridiculous, especially (as you mention) the user spends all his time sitting in front of the thing making its ‘thin-ness’ a moot point.
Apple put the SD slot on the back?? I didn’t even pick up on that detail. I get that for sake of aesthetics Apple doesn’t want ports on the front of an iMac, or USB and other cables dangling from the side/bottom, but for an SD card slot that makes no functional sense. Even aesthetically–you’ll *occasionally* have a small card sticking out the side.
Apple Web site still showing Nov and Dec for availability.
Not 01 Nov, not 02 Nov, not 03 Nov….not 15 Nov. As every day passes Apple promises become less and less realistic.
So Apples innovation in this case is a manufacturing process so complex they cannot meet manufacturing targets. To reward Ive he is given the keys to OS X and IOS? How do you screw up such a simple, evolutionary update to iMac?
Ya know, I was on record defending Tim against the army of naysayers here, but I am really starting to wonder just what the hell is going on at 1 infinite loop…
My 2006 iMac is drastically showing its age. If this rumor is true, maybe it is time for Apple to go back to building ‘beige boxes’ they can have mass produced with no difficulty and are able to deliver ON TIME! Apple, leave the art for the wall!
Over 530 days for an update. If this rumor turns out to be true… ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS!
RE MDN Take: Waited too damn much already!
True or not, the stock price is dropping. And I was thinking about getting back in around here. I got out at $700 and started inching my way back in about a week and a half back. That didn’t work out so I quickly pulled out. Looks like I’ll have to wait longer now. Or simply look for other horizons. I think AAPL will be a decent investment in the future but will never be what it was before. It is so big and there is so much competition now unlike before. And there is so much negative sentiment about Apple, whether it is real or not, that it will never be able to make the extended moves up as it has in the past. And that’s a shame. Because as long as you knew when to take profit occasionally, Apple was a fairly reliable investment. If they can boost the dividend it could become a decent value investment. Or a value trap. We’ll have to wait and see about that. There’s a lot of pent-up angst with people who have been holding shares and failed to take profit when it was at its all time high. So the stock could make a strong move up in the next two months. But be very careful. Beware of a suckers rallies. I don’t think it will go up and stay in nosebleed territory any length of time. Learn to take profit off the table. Learn from the last seven weeks. Good luck.
Stock just dropped through $528. I believe that was the latest “resistance point”. Was.
Pity it’s coming up the holiday period. You can’t buy an iMac at all from Apple, not huge sales, but effectively discontinuing a product for a quarter is hardly great news. It will give me a bit longer to save up for one as in the last few weeks I’ve begun to get a bit impatient with mine as it’s now 5 years old. Served my more than well though.
Shaking head in disbelief if true. Is there any newly released product free of delays, manufacturing issues, or supply shortages? I guess when it rains, it pours, and it’s a frigging hurricane right now.
Hey Cook, how about a pledge to give up 1 share of your stock option for each unit out of stock? It’s hard for investors to see you and your boys lavishly rewarded with our money for such incompetence. Cook’s dismal performance shows that he’s a mediocre executive without Jobs tutelage and supervision.
Speaking of delayed products, hows itunes 11 coming??
Some may move to a MBP or MBA.
Fact based truth has nearly become extinct in the expanding vacuum of regurgitated rumors and investigative laxity.
I was actually hoping for 2013 so the iMac would get the latest greatest processors… March to June – Haswell
Not really good news for my shares. I know a lot of people waiting for this one. When I saw the presentation I immediately thought: Nice, so flat, but is it a real advantage to have it 5 mm thick than 10 or 15 mm? It is not an iPhone or iPad where every half of a millimeter counts, so why they make the production so difficult. Apple still would lead by far if it was 10 mm, but easier to make. Latest technology always it nice – if the product makes it to the market in the numbers the people want to buy.
Why is Apple letting another company in another country perfect these manufacturing techniques? So it will be simpler for them to produce copy cat products?
I don’t care when it comes. The Mac mini I have now will work perfectly fine until the new iMac’s arrival. I wasn’t intending on blowing a few grand on my own computer before Christmas anyway, that would be kind of selfish.
Tim Cook should be placed on the CEO Walll of shame I am sure everyone who held the stock or had options has just gotten destroyed. It’s a shame, there is no silver lining here except for the shorts. My dad always said dont love a stock because it can’t love you back and he was right. The dream is over.
To all you consevaturds: I guess it’s President Obama’s fault the stock prices continue to fall, not Tim Cook’s.
Is delay for BOTH new 2012 iMacs or just the larger 27 inch model only?
Why did Apple insist on such a radical thinness for a non-portable, versus a more stepped and incremental adjustment (say-ipad mini thinness at the edges)? Again, almost two years of time since the previous PROCESSOR ONLY update, and FIVE since the design was last changed. This is reminding me of the delay and production issues for the original PCI PowerMac 7500 back in the fall of 1995. (And that was an entirely new architecture with software needing retooled) The fact that I can make that comparison now is a sign that things are changing in Cupertino. In fact, if it does end up being 2013 before these imacs are released, that would be the longest delay in Modern-day Apple for any formally announced product. Utterly ridiculous, from Mr. product flow Cook himself. A proud moment in Macintosh history when they enter a Christmas season with no consumer desktop model available. Who needs “trucks” when we have lots of cars to choose from…
Its funny cause in October they showed the new imac in the apple meeting now they say they cant do it….. WTF