“I just returned from the Apple Store at the Short Hills Mall in New Jersey. I arrived at the mall at 5.20 AM to wait in line for my chance to buy an iPad 2. I was number 27 in line. I did not get one,” Mark Hosbein blogs for We’re Not In Kansas Anymore. “The line went to 81. My wife had been there for the past two days, and both days she was shut out. She was number 39 yesterday, with no luck.”
“For a revered brand, Apple is risking customer will in the way they are managing the iPad launch,” Hosbein writes. “When you call, the stores cannot tell you when or how many they will get in. Even the night before when you call they cannot tell you what they are getting at the store less than ten hours later. If it’s coming from California, they have to know what is coming at that point, but the company is not telling their stores and their stores are simply telling people they don’t know. Does not sound like the operations of a company that makes sophisticated computer products and runs one of the most trafficked websites online, does it?”
MacDailyNews Take: No, it most certainly does not. Please see: What part of ‘iPad 2 Availability Tracker’ doesn’t Apple understand? – March 14, 2011
Hosbein continues, “By the calculation of someone in our line today, Apple sells 14,000 iPads a day through their stores – at that rate about 3.3 million a year. What they are not counting is the 70 people at each store each day who walk away frustrated. For their 700 stores, that equals 49,000 day. They are frustrating four times as many people as they are delighting. Ouch! If this goes on for a month – and at this rate that is conservative – that will lead to 1.5M frustrated customers.”
Hosbein continues, “This was preventable and manageable if the company thought about the customer experience… The manager this am said to me and the other frustrated customers “that is the policy.” The company that reinvented computing now focusing on policy. Hmmm… We’ll all go buy an iPad. My wife wants to try again on Monday. I am giving up. I will order online. But whether I like the iPad or not when I get it, my feeling toward Apple will never be same. They are big, they follow policy, they are not focused on customers. They make great products, but not happy customers.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: We love our users. We try very hard to surprise and delight them, and work our asses off doing it. But we have a blast doing it. What motivates us is for our users to love our products and connect them with great apps and content. When we fall short, we try harder. And when we succeed our users reward us by staying loyal. That’s what drives us. – Apple CEO Steve Jobs, July 16, 2010
Well, Steve, you’re currently failing to delight roughly 49,000 people per day, but, hey, at least you’re surprising them with your inexplicabe insistence on needlessly wasting their and your employees’ time. Apple is falling short. Time to try harder.
If you can’t satisfy launch demand (and, let’s face it, when you could ever?), at least make the call to tell Tim Cook to wake up and put the availability tracker back up online, so that your potential customers don’t have to get up at 4am to go stand blindly on lines and so that your retail employees don’t have to answer the same iPad 2 question all damn day long when they could instead be helping people buy Macs, iPods, and iPhones. We got our iPad 2s on Day One, but so many haven’t; you could at least give them some clue where the chances will be best for them to invest their time and energy in the hopes of buying your product!
We don’t normally apply the word incompetence to Apple, but, the way the company is managing (if you can call it that) the iPad 2 launch and, especially, the way they are failing to effectively communicate with customers, not to mention the way they are disappointing customers daily, there is no better way to describe it: Apple’s iPad 2 launch smacks of incompetence.
I’m lucky I got in line when I did on launch day, and luckier that I was buying the less popular models (White WiFi and Verizon 3G). People not far behind me were being told they were sold out of the models they wanted as I was leaving the store.
I mistakenly thought that Apple had plenty of inventory before the launch – based on the extended distribution lines they were using (Best Buy, Target, Walmart, AT&T, Verizon). I found early that afternoon that Target & Walmart were getting next to nothing of the inventory, and I hightailed it to an Apple Store.
This has really been a fiasco, and hopefully they learn some lessons from this. This is definitely no way to run a launch. Apple.com is now quoting 4-5 weeks PLUS 5 days transit – WOW!
On the 4th early Morning of standing in Line at my local Apple Store, they finally had a unit for me. Unfortunately, all their stock was Verizon units, and I need an AT&T. They had received Zero AT&T units for several days. What gives? Half the people in line walked away after wasting 2-3 hours before sunrise!
The refurbished base 3G model of the basic iPad is available on the website for only $479.
There is nothing wrong with the existing model; the screen on the new one is no bigger or sharper. The iPodTouch has a camera that will do FaceTime, which is still wi-fi only. The iPad2 cannot be produced in sufficient numbers to satisfy demand. This was true before the tsunami. It is doubtful that March 25 will bring the iPad2 to, e.g. Canada, given the pent-up demand in the U.S. We happy iPad campers shall suffer in silence and await the third coming of the iPad. The best deal now is the existing refurbished) iPad plus a touch.
MDN, this is one of the few times you just don’t get it. Most Apple stores are getting small amounts of iPads to sell 4 or 5 days a week. The availability is there in small amounts MOST days. That’s WHY people are lining up. They disappear shortly after the store opens. If online tracking would show they are available at SPECIFIC stores, EVEN more people would gather in line EVEN earlier hoping to get one. It wouldn’t solve the problem. It would only make it worse.
EXPERTS are predicting that Apple will sell more than 40 million iPads this year. I’m guessing you would agree (as long as supply chains hold up.) If ONLY 17% of those people wanted one on opening weekend that would mean 7 million people were looking to buy an iPad “right away.”
That’s as many as they sold the last three months of LAST YEAR (and one of those months had Christmas sales!)
Apple had no way of delivering 3 months worth of iPads in one weekend. It meant, from the very beginning, that millions were going to leave disappointed no matter how hard Apple tried doing the right thing.
Even if Apple produced 4 million a month for the next month or two, Apple will still be disappointing those who wanted one right away.
Worse yet, even MORE people want one now than before the launch. And Apple still has to set at least some aside for their faithful overseas followers.
Apple is making them and selling them as fast as they can. I haven’t heard one person who has come up with a better way of launching this product. Stockpiling more before launch would have seemed “better” except where do you store 3 months of inventory on a product like this? People would have been just as angry if “the stockpiling” had occurred. In fact if that was the case, NO ONE would be getting one for at least a month yet.
My wife and I both want one. We are as frustrated as anybody that we don’t have them yet and won’t be receiving them for at least a month. But it’s not Apple’s fault. They said they are making them as fast as they can. They are distributing regularly (several days a week) to all of their stores. Tracking is only useful if a product is not in demand. If it is in demand, you have two choices. 1) Get in line early every day. 2) Order one online and wait for it.
People always look at things from their own limited, selfish perspective. This is just one more person with that perspective. Don’t encourage idiots like this. Point out the facts and change your mind on this one. That’s what you usually do.
A very good outlook on the situation. Apple was damned no matter how they ran the iPad 2 debut. The good thing is, there is no competition anywhere near close enough to the iPad 2 to take up some of the disgruntled iPad shoppers.
MDN’s take is out to lunch.
I can’t believe the whining done by so many. Would you rather Apple hold back launch until they have millions of the iPad? Get a life and develop some patience, order online and be happy.
I am not sure that Apple would risk selling 49,000 iPad2 per day to advance some sort of publicity. I think that their supply for initial iPad2 was minimal but they wanted to get it out the door immediately.
I ordered 2 online and will get them by April 6. Anyone who wants to wait on lines for hours shouldn’t complain when they could order online. If they ordered online they would at least know that they would be getting one sometime in April. As of right now, anyone ordering online might have to wait until May.
It certainly doesn’t seem like Apple can please everybody. If they had waited until they had enough supply in April then someone would have complained about not getting on earlier. Apple can’t win either way.
The demand for the iPad2 is greater than the supply but the business model is to have demand greater than supply otherwise the warehouse is full devices that no one is buying (probably those android tablets).
I have to disagree that this has anything to do with incompetence. It does not make reasonable sense that Tim Cook is one of the best operations guys in the world, but somehow mangled the logistics of the iPad2 launch. This has to be a decision Apple made to not tell the stores how many they are receiving and perhaps to tell the stores not to divulge the information. They should be telling the stores, but it is not because Apple logistics is “incompetent”. Apple decided to play it this way. Certainly frustrating for consumers.
Second, even if stores knew how many iPads they were receiving or if there were a tracker, that information is necessary, but not sufficient to make the best decision about whether of not to go to a particular store. For example, let us say they have 80 iPads and there are 100 people in line. Should numbers 81-100 leave? Not necessarily, because you also need to know how many of each model are available (maybe this is on the tracker?), number of people that are there for a particular model, number of people that will only settle for that model, number of people willing to buy any model available and where those people are in line, etc. So, if you want the 64G, 3G model and only 10 people in line want that, you should stay in line. However, the overall numbers might persuade some to leave. If you are Apple, why run the risk of someone not getting in line based on incomplete data that seems complete?
Last, this whole 49,000 customers per day thing is a red herring. If all of those customers end up with an iPad 2 over the next two weeks, will those frustrations really result in enmity for Apple? The new iPad 2 will wash away those feelings. Seriously, how many unsuccessful waits in line will persuade you to buy a Xoom?
I can’t believe that three short years ago this is what I went through trying to get a Wii. On a rumour I had to go to some out of the way mall at 8AM to stand in line for two hours to get the last one of the day. BTW nobody has touched the Wii since we got the iPad at Xmas. LOL
700 stores? Wikipedia says there are 323 apple stores, which is more in line with everything I’ve always heard.
People really do just make sh!t up when writing articles about apple, don’t they? It took me all of 25 seconds to find out how many apple stores there are. Sigh.
MDN is correct on this. The tracker would be a great idea not to frustrate people. The real question would be why did Apple have a tracker before, and specifically decide not to have one now. There can be only one reason – at this time they are only able to produce a limited number of iPad 2s.
If this is the case, the tracker would reveal how few they are actually able to manufacture. If they were producing a lot of iPads and selling them, why have we not heard Apple say “1 million iPads sold” or any sales figures like they did last year. The lack of a tracker points at some production issues with the iPad 2s.
Or the other possible reason is that due to many of the factors cited above, the tracker caused more trouble than it was worth. I can imagine that customers would complain more loudly if the tracker told them there would be stock, only to show up early at the store and get none.
If the stock sells out in minutes, then the tracker is useless.
Getting a little tired of the ME, NOW, I CAN’T WAIT crowd. I would like one, too, but my life is not going to be that much different if I have to wait a month or two or three. Got along without you before I met you and all that.
With all of the things going on in the world today, whining about not getting the latest toy from Apple seems a little silly.
Sounds like MacDailyNews should email sjobs@apple.com🙂
Good things comes to those who wait. This what going happen to me this week as I line up at my Apple Store for sale of the IPad 2 on May 25. Even if I show really early, about two days early, I still figure I have about a 50 % chance of getting one. If I do not get one it will be the end of the world and no I will not be upset at Apple.
Looking at all problems in the world earthquake, tsunami, nuclear melt down, wars, and ecomonic crisis and the most important thing to me this week is getting an iPad 2 . This show me how shallow and materialistic I am. I know it not Apple fault they make great produce, but this what should be some what upsetting most Apple customers.
I called this mess for what it was the day they launched, thank you.
“My wife had been there for the past two days, and both days she was shut out.”
“What they are not counting is the 70 people at each store each day who walk away frustrated. For their 700 stores, that equals 49,000 day.”
Uh, no. Many of those people waiting on line were the same people the day before and the day before that, just like Mark Hosbein’s wife.
I think a tracker would help, but only to a very limited extent. Let’s say the tracker shows 80 units at a store. You still need to go down and count whether there are 80 people in line. If you are No. 81, well, what difference has the tracker made, except to save you maybe some time not lining up. But then, what if there are 70 people in line. Does that mean you will get a unit – or is it that 20 people have already bought their units and left, and you are lining up fruitlessly? I think Apple must have made every effort to cater to huge demand – it’s just that the demand is way huger than they thought it would be. Still, MDN has a point in that this sort of bad experience could create some damage among customers.
Let’s do the math. 49,000 pissed off customers a day. 700 outlets selling iPads. That’s 70 customers turned away every day. So 70 people went to the local Walmart looking for an iPad this morning. 70 people went to the Verison outlet at the mall looking for an iPad this morning.
What total bullshit.
Big demand, low supply, welcome to just another Apple product debut.
Not sure I 100% agree with the author, but I ordered @ 3:45am EDT, and it took 1.5 weeks to get it, and I can live with that, but it also sat in prepared for shipment for many days, and then in HK at the airport for many days. The ride from HK to my house only took 1.5 of the days. On this end I calc that 6-8 days were wasted just sitting there. Even then, communication is everything, Apple needed to do better setting expectations. What’s weird to is that my Wife’s same size, carrier, iPad arrived 5 days after we order it and it moved thru FedEx the usual way. Some is very wrong this time around… orders are just sitting on docks in Shenzen for days and # airports in HK… very un-apple like.
MDN FYI:
Apple is handing out numbers daily to people online who will be able to get iPad 2s that day. If you are not handed a number – go home and order online.
Apple does care about customers…when i camped out behind the apple store for 23 hours to get the iphone 4, they brought us many many pies of pizza, and not just shitty domino’s pizza, they brought us pizza from the best (and most expen$ive –$$$) pizzeria in salt lake city and then brought us starbucks and doughnuts in the AM
Oh, not to bother you and your rants but there’s far more important happenings in the world than the iPad2. Ever heard of the earthquake/tsunami/nuclear disaster in Japan?
If you’ve already donated in some way that’s great. If not then shut up and get your priorities in order.
Life trumps iPad2. And any other Apple product. And just about everything else for that matter.
I own 3 Macs, 2 iPhones (which I waited for but not in a line), and 1 iPod and used to work in an Apple store. I don’t hate or love Apple. I just like and use their products.
No doubt. Every one of these whining losers… just shut up and get. a. life.™
Yes, the situation in Japan is awful… beyond the means of mere words to express.
This does not mean that we are not allowed to think about/discuss other things. While I agree that the sentiment expressed in this article is petty, your argument here borders on the ridiculous.
Seriously!? There are atrocities, tragedies, and people suffering every day that make complaining about iPad 2 stock or any other first-world problem seem trivial. Unless you forgo every luxury (which from your list of Apple products, you do not) then drop your arrogant superiority. Just because you didn’t hear about it on the news this morning doesn’t mean there isn’t another cause that needs your time and money. I assure you, there are enough legitimate causes for you to spend your entire life and income devoted to helping them. Please keep your holier-than-thou sermon to yourself.
That was intended as a reply to No Name.
Well said Chanson.
May I add to my perspective to your well phrased entry?
Thirty years ago I began by tech career in the then thriving Midwest. In the ensuing years I have come to one conclusion, “Most press commentators do not understand technology, only magic.” The hard sciences and interactions that define manufacturing, logistics, engineering, shipping or real “project management” are beyond them. Even so, they are willing to expound on how they “feel” about “those who are producing” the products they seek or how that value was created.
The iconic “Pointy Haired Boss” has been replaced by “High Priest of Media Authority,” who are above our daily existence. Their efforts to climb over each other to comment on things they have no control over, or connect to would be entertaining if it were not so pervasive. This abundance of production has populated the “Newz as Entertainment” markets with . A virtual abundance of “Creative Repetitive Abundant Pundits” (CRAP.) This sustainable market gives them a place for their callus, self centered, stories about the world between their ears. This is the magic of advertising financed markets, and as we all know, “ad dollars” are a form of magic.
The magic of advertising transforms “sponsored promotion” into “free entertainment with product placement,” and if that is not magic, what is. Even despots of the twentieth century couldn’t accomplish the alchemy of transforming propaganda something this palatable. And it must be good because, “people ask for it by name!” Magic on this order is up there with “compound interest,” “free markets,” “ponzi scams,” and “cronyism.” You know “White MAGIC.” The magic that turns a “physically fit” but sub servant scullery maid into a princess. Magic that is black when employed against your interests, but good when it’s employed in your interest.
So in this modern world of “MAGIC” we need media priest to identify the righteous and the profane. That is why we have media types showing their love for a favorite product through their ability to criticize it’s outstanding performance. After all, how can you motivate continued performance if you don’t keep the producers in their place? And we all have to believe in the MAGIC in the or bad things will happen.
Don’t take my disbelief, I know that MAGIC is very potent. After all, it is the magic that transformed the “Steel Belt” into the “Rust Belt.” Today you may know those realms as the mythical land of “tax sucking trolls” and “tea sipping overlords” who are barely able to contain them. But at one time, those realms were spoken of in revered and Olympian terms like the realms of Detroit Iron, Pennsylvania Steel, Milwaukee Famous, etc.
The tech industry grew out of the post war aerospace industry, and much of what those industries has accomplished may look like magic. Given the well financed efforts aimed at preventing or usurping that innovation, it is amazing what has been accomplished.
Forty years ago, the responsibility for innovation was handed off to well established centers of innovation in Ohio, Texas, Maryland, Massachusetts, and Florida with the declaration of the end of the “Manned Space Program.” Little did the president of that time know how long it would actually take to end that “dream” or how difficult it is to anoint innovation.
Apple, like most of the “Silicone Valley” successes have come into it’s own through hard work and innovation, what we use to call “American Ingenuity.” They have created gold from the raw materials of engineering, programming, manufacturing and production. That is the alchemy of innovation, “the ability to apply knowledge to “stuff” in such a manner as to produce something of value.” And isn’t that the only “objects of value” humans produce?
Call the creation of newz sensations, the “Democratization of Defamation” or the more modern term “Hit Whoring,” but it’s smell is eternally familiar.
Fortunately in our country, the usefulness of a product is not determined by the rectums that target it. If that were true it is unlikely you would be reading this post on our “Bell Corp” controlled “Video Text” terminals.
Well, somebody woke up this morning and just dropped out of Magic La-La Land, didn’t they?
This sounds as if it were written by someone in a coma.
These numbers are completely unsubstantiated. They are based on nothing more than speculation and anecdotal observation. Funny MDN, how you typically skewer those who use such data in their ‘reports’, but have no problem with it if helps prop up your flimsy argument which in itself is based on ignorance of the situation at hand.
You really have no idea why such a tracker does not exist, especially when historical precedent indicates that it should. With said precedent as a guide, has it not occurred to you that if Apple has not deployed a tracker, there is likely a very good reason?
C’mon Steve Jack, you’re starting to come off as a grumpy, old curmudgeon.
Being disappointed customer hasn’t stopped you wanting the product any less. Pretty sure you’re not the only customer who feels that way, but will still buy one. Net effect?