“I want to order the new Apple Quad-Core Mac Pro for my photography/videography business,” Alcaraz Research writes for Seeking Alpha. “Unfortunately, Apple Philippines said it is not yet available. The Apple Store sales representative also informed me that even though their website shows 5 to 6 weeks of estimated delivery time, it may take longer due to shortage of Mac Pro units.”
“The short-supply of Mac Pro is worldwide, even U.S. customers have to wait 5-6 weeks delivery,” Alcaraz Research writes. “This is just bad for Apple’s image of efficiency. If Steve Jobs was still alive, he would be throwing a tantrum. As a graphic artist, I’m disappointed that, not only the Quad-Core Mac Pro $460 more expensive here in my country, I also have to wait more than 6 weeks for it.”
“Apple’s Tim Cook deserves a reprimand for this shortage of the Mac Pro. The creative industry, which buys most of high-end Apple desktops and notebooks for the last 30 years, deserves better treatment from the company,” Alcaraz Research writes. “The shift to U.S. manufacturing for the new Mac Pro should have improved delivery time, not cause a 6-week waiting time.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: As Apple ramps production, those shipping times could shrink.
Apple may also be judging that a lot of this demand is pent up from the lack of previous updates. They may be reluctant to add capacity (at a cost) that may not be needed in the long term. If demand remains at high levels in the longer term they will no doubt have to rectify the delays. The efficiencies of Apple when Steve Jobs was alive were basically a result of the work Tim Cook did. I imagine the situation is more nuanced than just not having Steve Jobs around to throw a tantrum.
here’s the key point – seems to me, anyway
“The efficiencies of Apple when Steve Jobs was alive were basically a result of the work Tim Cook did”
well, that doesn’t seem to be the way things work, much, anymore. i guess because cook has other fish to fry, so to speak.
this is a pattern that keeps repeating itself, along with promises of awesome products to come that are awfully slow in arriving. (the key to success is under-promise and over deliver, not by signalling great stuff to come and then being slow on clearing the holster)
i am not a “fire tim cook” kinda person, but he is not impressing me much.
there is no denying that the e- world has shifted post steve jobs. in a relatively short run mr. apple produced a remarkable run of highly innovative and desirable products that left everyone else in the industry struggling to catch up.
well the worm has turned, they catch up quick now (mostly by copying or *ahem* emulating ( mr. apples copyrighting practices which they hoped would be a bulwark against outright copying and theft of intellectual property have not worked out so well, at least yet and have not stemmed the tide) and even get ahead briefly from time to time.
so, tim better get his act in gear and show us he is up to the job.
he might do well to heed the old dictum of professional writers “show, don’t tell”
There are obviously differences, but at the same time, Apple are still growing, they are having to produce ever increasing numbers of all their products. There were delays with products when Jobs was alive, who is to say that with the growth they’ve experienced and the new products they’re making that the same things wouldn’t have occurred had Jobs still been around.
As superior as I think Apple still are, the competition from Android has no doubt increased in the last couple of years, the market is very different to when Jobs was around. I’m pretty sure that Jobs also made vague promises of new or great things to come AND he didn’t have to deal with the constant moaning about a lack of innovation.
In my opinion most of these articles don’t really go any more in depth than just saying it wouldn’t happen with Jobs around, as if everything Apple ever did turned to gold and was 100% perfect back then.
The problem is more the fact that it took so long in development that the pent up demand was more than ‘pentad up’. It would have taken an unsustainable production run to feed that need over too short a time so this was inevitable as a result though likely even bigger than expected. One wonders if Apple ever really planned to replace the Pro Macs as a range, if so that decision would have been under SJ’s leadership and this late production is a result of that original hesitation. The change over hardly looks like it was a long term plan does it. The only other excuse is a massive change of direction mid stream.
FIRE Tim Cook!
he doesn’t need to be fired, he simply is not a visionary for the CEO position. He needs to be replaced and returned to his old job.
Thats a load of self serving crock, and you know it. There were plenty of shortages through the years with Steve Jobs.
Cook’s efforts are self-evident, “shortages” are secondary, innovation is primary.
told ya’.
How many Mac Pro’s have actually shipped? Demand is one thing, low production is another.
Ive had my 8 core for over a month now. If these idiots wanted one they should have ordered sooner. period. I did and I have mine.
Best comment yet. According to the post he “wants” to order one. Poop or get off the pot and when Apple doesn’t meet the delivery date then you can snivel all you want.
When I sold computers, knowing when you would get yours was NEVER the problem. Even if it was months down the line. NOT having it communicated to you when it was to be available to you, is.
If he wants a Mac Pro, order the thing. If he wants to save a few bucks there are ways but the price in the Philippines is the price in the Philippines.
What the hell is wrong with people?
A few have shipped, to recipients who largely are now newly productive, joyful and shamefully laggard in the snivelling department.
Oh. I had to wait 4 months for my S5 Audi. Fire the CEO.
Jeepers folks. 5-6 weeks wait is nothing for what is a high performance custom made product !
Your Audi is orders of magnitude more complex than a mass-produced $3k computer. Moreover, your S5 likely spent at least a month on lorries and boats to be delivered to your dealership. More to the point, Audi told you accurate delivery times for your auto before you bought it. Apple issued vague promises that the Mac Pro would be available in 2013, and has struggled to deliver ever since. Meanwhile, HP or Dell can have a workstation with similar specs available to you in 72 hours or less. Whatever the hold-up is, Apple needs to get it solved.
Also, Apple needs to roll out updated Thunderbolt monitors. Could Cook at least give prospective buyers an advance peek to let us know that a new display will someday arrive? His extended periods of silence do not engender confidence in his limp leadership.
If people want Dell, they can buy Dell. Apparently, they are not. t would appear that the demand is stronger than the supply and it doesn’t seem to be letting up. I think, as a shareholder, this is a much better than the alternative.
Why should Mr Cook give advance peeks to anyone and give his copiers something to copy?
Anyone like Dell can fabricate a cheap pop riveted box and make them fast. The mac pro is in a totally different class than anything Dull or HP can make. They are not even in the same class.
Shame, shame on you Tim.
There Alcaraz, now you can put this behind you and move on.
What’s a supposed type doing writing for a cesspool like seeking alpha?
The times have been shrinking. I am note sure if it would be a good business practice to ramp it up only to have it then sit at much lower volumes for the continuation. Obviously the lack of an update for such a long time and such a built up demand put Apple put pressure on Apple and increased frustration. We ordered ours as soon as possible and watched the ship times jump 8 weeks in just a few minutes.
However now that the factory is built to make Mac Pros there should be no reason not to update more often.
Unlike the Dell assembly slaves, this is mostly robotic production. Hard to increase production if not enough robots were in place for the demand.
Seems a heap of people think great leaders get things done by pitching a fit, aka, tantrum. M.B. Ballmer was a great fit pitcher.
This is US based production. Does Apple have the supporting infrastructure to ramp up production here, say compared to Taiwan? This may be part of Jobs’ meaning when he said “Those jobs aren’t coming back”.
With the resources Apple has, there is no excuse to not meet demand in a relatively timely manner. Production planning is Apple’s job, no matter where the location of assembly is. I wish people would stop making excuses for Cook’s repeated slow / poor product releases.
I just love how folks such as “Mike” – who has never managed any process involving supply chains and factory assembly – know that there is “no excuse.” The reality is that Apple is in the middle of a very high degree of difficulty move with the Mac Pro. Returning production to the US, redesigning the logistics chain and building a very complex product mostly with robots IS EXTREMELY HARD. The factory in Austin is NOT just a manufacturing plant, it is a laboratory for how Apple might make products in the future. Consequently, not everything is going to go perfectly and the ramp-up is taking time. I believe Apple deliberately chose to go with the Mac Pro for this challenge because it was both complicated and low volume. As somebody who does manage a global supply chain and spends a fair amount of time on factory floors in China, I am very impressed with what Tim Cook is doing here.
Side note: No one talks about this much, but I think the new Mac Pro owes most of its existence to Tim Cook (and to a lesser extent, Phil Schiller and Jony Ive). Towards the end, Steve Jobs’ focus was on the consumer and mobile markets, and he didn’t even pay lip service to the pros. I am nearly certain that it was Cook that green-lighted the new Pro, not Jobs, and he deserves some credit for that.
No, X-Files, I just happen to know what I am talking about because I am in the business. You, on the other hand, are in your mother’s basement.
You can’t hire trained workers in any location if the education system has failed to make the required skills available. Throwing money and warm bodies at a situation is seldom the reasoned response Cook is known for. Building excess capacity for a short term shortage would be foolish.
There could also be some component shortages. These machines use the latest and fastest chips and supply may be an issue.
The good thing is that the demand is there and that proves to Apple that the Pro market does need more consideration in the future.
Have any of you complainers ever worked in manufacturing?
You don’t build in extra capacity to handle the pent-up demand. You build it to handle the demand after the initial peak (with some growth factor). You build inventory to address the pent-up demand which means you must delay release date (here come the complainers) or you must lengthen lead times for delivery (the other group of complainers).
Remember, this product is built in the USA and most probably a highly automated process. This is not like setting up another assembly line in Shenzhen.
All these folks bitching and moaning about the delay in Mac Pro shipping dates obviously never took a business class. So here is a lesson from Business 101.
When a company introduces a totally new product they don’t have a good idea of the potential demand for the product. Thus, two things can happen after the product release. The company can overestimate demand and end up with a bunch of unused product they cannot sell. This causes consumers to believe the product sucks because no one seems to want to buy one. Sounds like MS with Zune and Surface, doesn’t it. This hurts the company’s reputation for a long time.
The second possibility is that the company underestimates demand. The result is long wait times for the product. This leads consumers to believe that the product is really hot shit because it is in such high demand that you cannot even purchase one.
Apple typically takes the second path and underestimates demand while MS follows the first path. So all you Apple fan-boys quit bitching. Apple did the right thing.
The THIRD path is what Steve Jobs implemented after he was returned to CEO status:
Just In Time (JIT)
An explanation and example:
http://businesscasestudies.co.uk/exel/managing-the-supply-chain-for-globally-integrated-products/just-in-time-and-lean-production.html
Apple fell behind JIT in 2012 with the fall/winter iMac. Now they’re doing it again with the new Mac Pro. That equates to a trend, aka problem.
~ ~ ~
Oh and looky here haters of Apple fanboy-ism. We’re criticizing Apple! We ALWAYS criticize when Apple screws up. You simply don’t care to notice, you’re so self-absorbed in your self-loathing turned outward. IOW: Here’s great example of why you should STFU. 😛
About that last, it’s the Apple faithful, more than iHaters, that are the more merciless when their deity falters in any way, as you rightly point out.
The difference between dyed-in-the-wool critics and TROLLS is that critics make strong arguments with clarity and substance regarding the tech and its design, whilst TROLLS disparage everything: — Apple’s fans and leadership are delusional, perverted, devoid of logic, of basic humanity. The products are derivative, unexceptional, overpriced, toys.
Trolls don’t know when to stop and don’t care as long as they engineer a spectacle for their infantile amusement.
Notice from Tim Cook to employees: Please don’t bother me, I’m too busy racing with snails.
A ranch hand huh, you must really be used to slinging crap.
Anytime I hear someone say, “If Steve Jobs was alive…”, I stop reading.
I say we reanimate Steve Jobs and let him loose on all the dickweed analcysts who keep musing about ‘if Steve was alive.’ I bet their brains taste scanky.
[Just kidding Steve. Please continue to RIP.]
Took almost 3 months to get two F450 Ford trucks and 2+ Months for custom ordered F150 …..
Could of got a Chevy or Dodge off the lot but wanted the best, so we waited!
I feel your pain, it took me just over sixty-two years to get my Escalade.
All the people saying no one would buy
Wondering if these are the same people now complaining not enough product
If you want the best sometimes you have to wait
An excellent point!
But Apple has had a few months to catch up, so I’m worried about what’s going on.
Gee, maybe Apple should start manufacturing these things in China. /s
They make a good point. They definitely should have made long-suffering Mac Pro users wait another 6 months before even telling them about the Mac Pro. Then, they could be ordering them now and waiting exactly the same amount of time.
See, much worse for them this way.
Remember when a certain someone at Apple finished his product introductions with an availability date, and with a few exceptions all those products were actually available on that date? Now Apple gives vague promises about what year the “pipeline” will deliver a new product — and it will arrive extremely late (iMac, Mac Pro), crippled (FCP, iWork), or in such shoddy quality that it should be labeled beta (Maps, iOS7) … or not at all (4K displays, Haswell-based Mac mini, Aperture 4, etc)…
The excuses for such slow/low performance have run out. Apple’s phenomenal iPhone 5S is the one clear winner of the last 4 years, but a company this size and awash with this much money ought to be able to manage to do more than one thing well at any given time. This is Cook’s show now, and it’s disappointing. Supply chain genius, my ass.
After waiting so long for a significant update to the MacPro line, there really is no excuse for the lack of product availability. This has to be somebody’s fault, doesn’t it? Unfortunately, it IS a recurring theme.
As I stated around here months ago, this is a far more preferable problem to have than being stuck with a stockpile of product no one wants. (That was the direct cause of Apple’s 1997 $1 billion loss).
BUT: At this point in time Apple should have caught up. There’s a real problem going on here. What’s holding up the ramp up of production? I want details. Where’s the in-depth analysis?
It isn’t credible that demand is so voracious that it outstripped Apple’s forecasts by such a wide margin. And we haven’t had any indications of supply constraints or reports of construction complexity, as was the case with the iMac delay.
I think it has to be internal constraints at the new plant, limiting final assembly to a few units per day. Any single one of the fabrication processes could be a natural bottleneck. As usual, no one is talking much, but this is a special case where they could throw pro users a bone without giving away the store — Phil or Tim could say just about anything to settle down the crowd. Suggestion: “Our supervising engineer has been locked out of production control by the plant itself, which has become self-aware and decided to operate only on Thursdays.”
‘Our robots when union!’ 😆
What is the difference between good cars and great cars – even though both would be amazing ?
Heart and soul . Great cars have a heart and soul you can feel .
I haven’t felt a heart & soul in Apple since SJ started not feeling well.
This is very palpable.
and when it arrives, I bet the IMAP email app STILL won’t work in Mavericks.