“For as long as Microsoft has been setting — and missing — schedules, Apple has been announcing and simultaneously shipping its biggest breakthroughs. Until recently, that is,” Tim Beyers writes for The Motley Fool.
Beyers writes, “Enter the so-called iTV, which was announced at the Worldwide Developer Conference in September, and due to ship this month as the newly dubbed Apple TV. ‘Was’ is the key word here.”
“On Monday, an Apple spokesperson told the Reuters news agency that the company would have to delay shipping of the product — which aims to wirelessly deliver downloaded videos, music, and photos from your computer to your TV — until mid-March,” Beyers writes.
Beyers writes, “Remember this when you next decide to mock Mr. Softy, Mac addicts.”
Full article here.
This has to be an attempt at satire because no one in their right mind would equate Apple’s 2-week shipping delay on a single product to Microsoft’s years of delays on multiple products, right?
Related articles:
Apple TV delay may be due to wait for FCC approval – February 27, 2007
Apple shares slip 1.9-percent in pre-market trading on Apple TV delay – February 27, 2007
Apple delays Apple TV; expects to begin shipments mid-March – February 26, 2007
PC Magazine: Why Apple TV matters – February 23, 2007
Bear Stearns: Apple TV and iPhone have changed the Apple story for the better – February 21, 2007
Deutsche Bank: Apple TV could take 30% of set-top box market within a few years – February 21, 2007
How do Apple TV and Elgato’s EyeTV work together? – February 16, 2007
Apple embraces casual gaming; iPhone, Apple TV to join iPod as gaming devices – February 09, 2007
Former GM of Microsoft’s Xbox Live Arcade: Apple TV to become video game console – February 08, 2007
ZDNet’s Graham: Apple TV hits a number of sweet spots, poised to make a big impact – January 25, 2007
Is Apple out to kill cable television? – January 25, 2007
RUMOR: Apple TV sales blowing away Apple’s internal expectations – January 25, 2007
Steve Jobs: Apple TV is the ‘DVD player for the 21st century’ – January 22, 2007
Apple TV beats out iPod, hits top spot on Apple Store sales chart – January 19, 2007
Report: first batch of 100,000 Apple TVs to ship this month – January 11, 2007
Steve Jobs moves to control the living room with Apple TV – January 10, 2007
Analyst Bajarin: Apple’s iPhone and Apple TV are industry game changers – January 09, 2007
Apple premieres Apple TV: movies, TV shows, music & photos on your big screen TV – January 09, 2007
RUMOR: Apple may enter video game market – December 05, 2006
Could Apple become king of game consoles? – September 26, 2006
Tim Beyers – “Remember this when you next decide to mock Mr. Softy, Mac addicts”
Translation – “Fsck you.”
-c
That article is dumb but did you see this one?
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/16794367.htm
I quote from the opening paragraph:
“What the music industry should discuss, instead, is how to move toward a smarter business model that offers music for rent rather than purchase.”
Words fail me…
DUMBASS MACDAILY NEWS DEFENDING APPLE, WHICH TERSELY SAID IT WILL SHIP IN FEBRUARY. YOU MACDAILY NEWS ASSWIPES, YOU ARE LOSERS
Tim isn’t joking. He is finally showing some true colors, just itching to steam Mac folk and defend the sloth empire which is Redmond.
But MDN you are completely accurate when you state that two weeks does not come close to equating to months upon months or years upon years of delayed product – or worse yet – Promised features that get cut one by one, and when the product is finally released by Mr. Softy, late mind you, the product resembles something akin to a brown Zune in a toilet…
Yo “R”.. take a Xanex.. geesh
R…..
don’t blame us for being abused by your fat sweaty uncle… talk to your shrink.
MacB
@R
Your penis envy is showing, young man. Get back on your lithium and take a long, long, long (dirt) nap, OK?
Thank you.
This dufus is trolling for hits. If people stop going to sites that publish rubbish like this, rubbish like this ceases to exist.
Just say “nope”.
Look guys, you can’t counter blind, fanatical hatred, which the writers of The Motley Fool have always reserved for Apple. If it’s Monday, hate Apple. If it’s Tuesday, hate Apple. If the stock market goes down, it’s Apple’s fault. You get the idea.
This kind of kindergarten thinking really doesn’t deserve any response. These people live in a horrible reality that requires them to lash out at better products to feel justified. They need to leave their abusive relationship behind, but until they do, they’ll continue to dribble out these tiresome and childish fulminations.
Two weeks… two years… clearly the same type of problem both companies are having.
Let’s see…Duke Nukem Forever was delayed, Longhorn / XP2VistaSP3 was delayed…TV was delayed.
THEY MUST ALL BE THE SAME!
BRILLIANT!
=)
What a fool…like, literally.
Look guys, you can’t counter blind, fanatical love, which the writers of Mac Daily News have always reserved for Apple. If it’s Monday, love Apple. If it’s Tuesday, love Apple. If the stock market goes up, it’s Apple’s fault. You get the idea.
This kind of kindergarten thinking really doesn’t deserve any response. These people live in a horrible reality that requires them to lash out at inferior products to feel justified. They need to leave their imaginary relationship behind, but until they do, they’ll continue to dribble out these tiresome and childish adulations.
Copland.
Now everybody can shut the hell up.
There is another article saying it was probably an FCC delay, not really Apple.
Tim puts the Fool back in Motley.
@R….did you have to look up the word TERSELY? Since it is spelled right, I assume you did.
@One Word…
If you’re going to slam MDN posters, dumbass, at least learn to spell! Apple’s operating system was “Copeland,” not “Copland.” (How old ARE you?)
As my friend Bugs used to say, “What a maroon.”
Tim Beyer is a really poor analyst.
Just look at his track record re AAPL.
This is just another data point on what a joke Motely Fool is.
Stay cool…anyone with half a brain realizes that a 2 week delay does not equate to MSFT’s track record….years on Vista, years on Zune, dropped functionality, etc…
Two weeks doesn’t make 5 YEARS PC FOOLS!!!! If you don’t like the content here than go away. Just remember when you are running your 5 year old Vista that Apple’s Leopard will be the latest and greatest totally new operating system which to date is still the most secure operating system in the world.
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Just more “foolishness” from the Fool. And they want me to buy a one year subscription to their newsletter for $150. To be fair, they have said a few good things about Apple over the last two years… but…
@b
MDN is spot on. A 2 week delay in the introduction of a revolutionary new product is neither here nor there. Microsoft, on the other hand, are years late with Vista, and its not even the Longhorn product that was previously announced.
The writer of the article attempts to equate a 2 week product delay with the Vista scandal.
There is a great deal of misinformation peddled about Apple – and MDN are, rightly, quick to point out such errors.
It is a shame you used such emotional and derogatory language in your post. If you had a point at all it is certain to have been lost…
Obviously they’re not at the MS delay level, but Apple has been plagued with product on-timeness problems for as long as I can remember. Not new.
The more troubling thing for me is the very fact of participating in the vaporware game at all.. announcing a product that doesn’t exist (Apple TV at WWDC in September? To what purpose? Because they didn’t have anything better to show off? That’s not even a product for which developers were invited to develop.), announcing it again, with practically no change, naming a release date, and THEN delaying it. The whole thing smells, and I don’t care for it one bit. No sir.
“Enter the so-called iTV, which was announced at the Worldwide Developer Conference in September”
Wasn’t the iTV announced at a special media event not WWDC?
If you’re gonna start poking fun at the article at least don’t look like idiots in the process by missing details like this.
“That article is dumb but did you see this one?
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/16794367.htm
I quote from the opening paragraph:
“What the music industry should discuss, instead, is how to move toward a smarter business model that offers music for rent rather than purchase.”
Words fail me…””
Words don’t fail me.
Can you say another lamebrained, pseudo-socialist paradise.
I say “pseudo-socialist” because that is how this tool envisions the financial rewards being distributed, however…his scenario is one that is capitalisticly operated. He still envisions the labels being relevent (even though they would be totally unnecessary) in this particular music business utopia.
Not to mention ignoring the almost total consumer rejection of the music subscription business model.
What a joke… Apple has often missed shipped dates, especially with new machines after MacWorld… remember those dual processor machines (the ones with AC Delco glycol cooling) took a long time to hit the delivery spot. Actually Apple often enhances them when thye ship late.. like everyone gets free overnight shipping… and is the very reason why I never order overnight shipping on “hot of the press” orders.
Motley fool is aptly named…
Now if Apple delayed shipping, then said sorry no HDMI, then delayed again and said no wireless streaming… then they could legitimately be called “Microsoft like”.
Apple did not delay shipping and take features out as far as I know.
@Randian
OH MY GOD! I simply point out Apple’s greatest blunder, (which has a lot of striking similarities to Vista (although that did eventually ship), and this is your response:
@One Word…
If you’re going to slam MDN posters, dumbass, at least learn to spell! Apple’s operating system was “Copeland,” not “Copland.” (How old ARE you?)
As my friend Bugs used to say, “What a maroon.”
You are the perfect example of why Mac users continually get treated so poorly in the media. I’m so glad you’re good at spelling, you sound like you should be able to graduate high school within the next few years.
iPhone, bitch!
@PC Apologist
There are many reasons why Apple may have felt it necessary to pre-announce Apple TV. The most compelling reason that i can think of has to do with content. Apple are continuing their negotiations with the movie studios and I imagine that they wanted to be able to talk about their plans for this product.
Why assume there is something untoward here when there are many legitimate reasons for adopting this strategy?
Your comment “Because they didn’t have anything better to show off?” is undeserved. Apple have released a swag of product these past 12 months, with more to come.
Slow news day. Fools troll, MDN bites, readers agree. That it’s a slow news day. I’ve got a plane to catch in a few hours, and here I am sitting and reading this shit in my pjs. Fugg am I doing here!? C’mon! I need some laughs, guys!
There you go! An insight at least from SS. Score 5. Perceptive.
I’m inclined to agree. Apple under Jobs has not preannounced products like they are doing now. Usually the delays were about a month between announcement and delivery, with most products being available that day. Now over the past few months, they have done nothing with their computer line, nothing with the iPod and have delivered nothing but vaporware in terms of Leopard, iPhone and Apple TV (Of which, I am still trying to find a use). This pisses me off because I am in the market for a new cell phone, contract is up with Cingular, would love to get an iPhone. Would love to replace my old 20 gig iPod, again the iPhone would be perfect here. Would love to upgrade my 5-year-old G4 iMac. It would have been great if I could have gotten a new iMac with Leopard and the iPhone. Alas, here we are 2 months after Macworld and no new products to speak of.
Reality: The iPhone will need FCC approval too!
If they want iPhone out by June they better wrap up the R&D and get in queue at the FCC. That calendar software that ain’t ready…better get ready…Leopard which is “needed” to finish iPhone better get its ass out of the cage…or no iPhone in June.
Just my $0.02
Actually, Copland was spelt Copland as it was named after Aaron Copland, just as Gershwin was named after George Gershwin.
Anyone who claims to be an Appleoid and doesn’t know this is a fscking idiot.
SydneyStephen,
You say “it is a shame you used such emotional and derogatory language in your post.” You need to read 3 posts above my post.
Let’s face it, kids. Announcing a product with an estimated date of release is one thing. Announcing a product for availability on a specific date and taking pre-orders for it is another. In the former case, if the product fails to materialize around the target date, it’s no big deal. On the latter case, though, if the product fails to materialize, there will be a lot of unhappy customers who placed orders for the product upon its announcement.
Apple is trying to save face BEFORE the date passes, with only a more or less palatable two weeks’ worth of delay. No biggie. Now, if it delays it again, wow… then the pundits would really be on to something.
In the past, however, Apple has been exceptionally good at estimating actual shipping dates. More often than not, Apple actually underpromises and overdelivers.
Time will tell what’s the case with Apple TV. It may not even be product related, but either marketing or iTunes Store related. Remember, Apple TV does 720p source material. So it won’t be your older brother’s iTunes Store anymore.
More delays could be foreseen over the tooling of Apple TV’s supporting infrastructure than Apple TV, the appliance, itself.
My 2¢ worth…
Come on boys, leave the retards alone.
@AP
Leopard is hardly vapourware. As soon as Leopard is released Apple will start working on its replacement – as you would expect, and wish. This process required the involvement of the entire developer community so it cannot be done “in secret”.
iPhone is a complex product requiring a great deal of infrastructure support. Again, the product has been demonstrated, albeit in pre-release form. Vapourware is a term generally reserved for products which only exist on paper – not products in the final stages of a lengthy release process.
As for wanting Leopard and iPhone now, a whole 2months after Macworld… I suggest that pouting, stamping your feet, wiggling your bottom or holding your breath until you go blue will have zero material effect on a company which is brilliantly executing strategy across several markets simultaneously.
Anyone who would compare a two week delay to M$ delays and vaporware, while missing Steve Job’s promise of a 3GHZ G5 that never happened, is clearly missing a brick.
brau:
There is one crucial difference Job’s remark about a 3GHz box and some of these other so-called “missed” dates attributed to Apple-Apple didn’t make the processor-IBM did. IBM is the one that blow it.
Motley Fool, twit, dork, ass, dumbo, dumbdumb, chowderhead, fat head,
ninny, etc.
Your in the iWorld Bill, and I am a god here.
Good point One Word.
However, when Copland finally did emerge (as OSX) it was and is a “killer OS”.
Vista most likely will never enjoy that moniker.
Randian,
It was spelled Copland and pronounced Copeland.
Please don’t make me defend M$-turbators ever again. I just ate and it doesn’t sit well.
I think this is what you meant to write –
Microsoft’s delays of years on multiple products, right?
That does it, I’m selling all my Apple stock becuase they are two weeks late releasing a product….. Grow up people! I’m sure there is either a media tie in or Leopard tie that has caused the delay.
@b
ok. missed it…
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Fanatic Realist…….
“Actually, Copland was spelt Copland”
“spelt” !!! ???
WTF!
And an FCC delay at that? What a freakin joke. They choose to delay it for something like that, or because they want more studios lined up for the launch, and all of a sudden Apple = MS?
Obviously Satire.
The day that Apple announced Apple TV was also the day that they announced the new Airport Extreme base station.
My base station reached me two weeks ahead of the promised date, the original order had a shipping date of tomorrow.
So one product gets shipped two weeks early, while another gets delayed two weeks. On balance they’re doing OK and the sky isn’t really falling in.
“Fool” is quite appropriate for this guy’s publisher. But to be fair, the Motley Fool is not ALWAYS anti-Apple.
seems the trolls are out in force today…
One Word
You are the perfect example of why Mac users continually get treated so poorly in the media.
HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HAAAAAAAAAAA…. *snort*… Heee. Whooo.
HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA! Oh Jeez.
Thanks for the laugh.
Kit-N
However, when Copland finally did emerge (as OSX) it was and is a “killer OS”.
Actually, Copland was Apple’s only notable foray into the realm of vapourware. Copland did not exist as an OS. Many of the advanced technologies targeted for Copland did eventually see the light of day, the most important being Quicktime.
But Copland as an operating system never actually existed, and never shipped.
Apple may finally be learning from their mistakes. People may forget, but over the last 5 years Apple has a long and storied history of UNDERESTIMATING demand for their hottest products- think of all the ones that have been back-ordered for weeks and even months upon their release. The experience they have gained from selling iPods- going from a niche player to the market leader- has taught them a lot about manufacturing and selling mass quantities.
I think these days Apple is a lot more careful to ramp up production and build up supplies IN ADVANCE of a product’s release. It may help them to gauge true demand for a product by pre-announcing it by a month or 3, so that they can flood the market and satisfy that pent-up demand when the time comes.
When did Apple become Osborne Computer? It’s getting pathetic with Apple’s pre-announcements. Once upon a time Apple couldn’t meet demand or had too much inventory, but they shipped products on the day or week or two within announcement. Now they’re announcing things months in advance, then slipping, then issuing a pathetic appology. Ludicrous! Come on Steve, SHIP PRODUCT!!
1) Delayed to coincide with vista
2) Contains some of the top secret Leopard features
3) Coming out with Apple TV early and then adding new features requires Apple to charge customers for the addons. (ie Apple Express Wireless N)
4) FCC approval
I don’t care about Apple TV, I’m not even going to buy it. All you need is a DVI Cord and your apple can hook up to your tv for less than the 300$ apple is asking for. I would rather buy an WII then an Apple TV.
@This may actually be a good thing…
At last, a sensible comment.
@His Shadow
I thought One Word had a valid point. Apple have had their o/s disasters and pre OS/X Macs were reknowned for being unstable.
I am only a recent macophile. I always used to say that people who used macs in business were taking a risk – i didnt know any mac experts who actually wore shoes.
Thankfully things have changed.
But Apple was a much smaller business then too – Microsoft really has no excuse for the Vista debacle…
Without reading the entire article, which would be a waste of time, all I can say is: either it’s a spoof or this guy is really, really desperate for something to write about.
hey guys apple tv comes 7th march 07,see ya…
@SydneyStephen;
I don’t know about that.
Copland was the only ‘OS disaster” that I know of at Apple.
The pre OS X system that was renowned (if that’s the right word) as being unstable was system 7, and by 7.2 was much better. System 8 had its issues, but system 9.2.2 (the last pre-X system) was rock solid.
I have been an Apple user, and technician, since 1987 (I also do Windows!) and I do, believe it or not, really wear shoes! (Ok, western boots mostly, but I digress…)
Your characterization is very common among those unfamiliar with Apple and its community pre-OS X, so I had to step in here and correct your impressions.
This is really old news.
Apple has often announced products and has had delays of as much as a month or even two before an actual ship date. They have been slammed repeatedly by the faithful (and those with extended ship dates) for, as noted above, underestimating demand – their most common reason for those delays.
The real reason this is news is because, for the first time, they have released information about a new product months before the actual release date. I’ll bet that the reaction to this will make Steve think twice about pre-announcements in the future! He’s gotta hate being compared to M$ like this!
since when did apple anounce iTV at their Worldwide Developer Conference? poor writing. not even the basic facts are right. its a shame. and they get money for this. its so sad.
“Fool contributor Tim Beyers is hoping for an iPhone to go with his MacBook Pro. Tim didn’t own shares in any of the companies mentioned in this article at the time of publication. Microsoft is an Inside Value pick.“
Motley Fool has been a well-respected source of somewhat “revisionist” financial news for many years. It has not needed to pursue “hits” by rankling small groups of hyper-sensitive fanatics. In an earlier “Apple-centric” article quoted by TMO:
The Motley Fool’s Tim Beyers surmises in his latest column that Apple is really going after Dell with its recent announcement that it will switch to Intel chips. He writes: “The Intel deal aims to lure those buying computers from Dell — or Gateway, or Acer, or even iPod partner Hewlett-Packard — into trying a Mac. Everything else is a distraction.”
That was mid-2005. How short are memories, around here? If you want to foam at the mouth about “fools” with naught but evil to foretell about Apple, check their breeding before you display your own.
DLMeyer – the Voice of G.L.Horton’s Stage Page
FLAAAARK! Crouchin’ fliger, eatin’ dragoon! Sicko taco inko-binko! Florade ina nyorkinut. Sheez, looize.