“Shipping estimates for new orders of the redesigned Mac Pro have now slipped to April in many of Apple’s stores around the world (via MacGeneration),” Richard Padilla reports for MacRumors.
“This is the second time in two months that the Mac Pro has showed a change in shipping estimates, as Apple’s stores around the world began to show a “March” shipping estimate last month,” Padilla reports. “The new April shipping estimates are in effect for stock and custom configurations throughout Apple’s online stores for Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) and Asia Pacific (APAC) operational regions.”
Padilla reports, “Shipping estimates in the Americas have now also moved to April for all models.”
Read more in the full article here.
The CPU and GPUs will be obsolete before volume shipment.
Epic fail.
Do you have some insight into how many have been ordered and shipped so far?
oh look: epic troll.
We do know Apple is capable of upgrading the CPU and GPU as desired. Let’s see what happens.
Meanwhile: Time to hire some more folks for the US Apple plant! Sales Exceed Expectations.
One of the advantages of using (foreign) production contractor(s) is their ability to scale production (almost unlimited upper end) up and down.
Once you bring that production to the US (and build or buy your own plant and hire & train people to work there) your ability to scale to cover initial demand is severely limited.
Even if Tim Cook had foreseen (and it is likely that he did) the huge inital demand that there would be for the MacPro there would be little he could do in terms of temporary scaling of production.
Fascinating insight, stuff of which I was unaware. Tnx.
Makes sense (I claim no special insight into Apple’s production) if you have a US facility you can’t just buy a second facility (and or a third) and then hire and train staff only to let them go (and sell the plants) when the inital backlog is caught up.
One of the great thing about subcontracting production to the pacific rim (with which I do have some experience) is that they can shift around production in their existing facilities to cover surges in demand.
It’s funny it’s what everyone (and I use this term loosely) said they wanted, now the same people are ready to crucify Apple for the huge demand and resultant backorder.
And… my personal observation; (I work in film post production around LA and NY) is that I am already seeing a surprising amount of the new mac pro’s “in the wild” which for me answers the question “are the backorders a supply or demand issue”
Again: Not a bad problem to have Apple! But sad about the USA not being as fleet on the manufacturing feet as subcontracting to Asia. That’s kind of hard to hate on.
“Time to hire some more folks for the US Apple plant! ”
It’s not a shortage of people, it’s a shortage of robots.
Now now. Our robot overlords have not quite taken over yet. There are a few humans required to build them and maintain them, etc.
I wouldn’t call it epic fail but he’s not far off about the CPU. CPU up-grade is only possible to another Ivy Bridge CPU model. Intel’s Haswell Xeon is due this year and it has a new socket & architecture.
As you may know, people have been whining about the Haswell Xeon not being in the Mac Pro since last summer, like that was even going to be possible.
A new CPU, a new motherboard, another Apple update announcement. That’s how it works. This isn’t a locked architecture. Apple is crafty that way. Technology is crafty that way.
Stay in your AMC Pacer, where you belong… 😛
Yes. Year old components. It’s time for a refresh before the thing shipped. Pathetic. Thanks for keeping real power users waiting. As fast as the machine is, It now has to make up for a years processing time compared to the balls-out iMac I run. That’s a lot of hairs to split.
DOOOOOMED !!!
I’d like to know if this is the case because demand is very high, or production problems are occurring. This is a highly robotized process, and things can go wrong.
Of course, Apple won’t tell.
Actually, the robots have been asking for more money. Not only that, two of them have jumped off the roof of the factory in protest of the low wages.
Oh gawd. Twisted gears and spilled motor oil. Don’t make me look!
This year’s NYT Pulitzer story : “Apple Abuse of Industrial Robots: The Future is Here and it’s Bad”.
and
Mike Daisey’s new play : “What five Apple robots told me”.
this will be followed up by numerous pieces in WSJ, Forbes, CNBC, PBS , Reuters etc quoting the above ‘facts’ and soon analysts will be use those articles to downgrade aapl ‘, all leading to investigations by various government agencies including a Congressional committee and the ex-mayor of San Francisco will ask occupy activists to camp outside Apple’s ‘robot concentration camp’ ….
To paraphrase Yogi Berra: “Nobody buys Mac Pros anymore, they can’t make them fast enough.”
Indeed. Does anyone here have any insight into the number of actual sales of the new Mac Pro? I mean, just because there are shipping delays doesn’t mean anything about how many they are actually producing and selling. Are we all just assuming the numbers are high because the numbers are always high and we’d all like to have one? The lack of supply is inexcusable, again.
So who is getting fired for this true fiasco?
With it’s initial availability for order of 19 December 2013 and within a few hours going to February ship dates followed by March ship dates in January and now April ship dates in the second (full) week of February, this has become a major fiasco.
At this rate Apple will catch up with demand in … well, NEVER! Apple has had an almost constant 6-8 week ship lead time since day one! It’s not getting better.
Anyone who thinks Apple is not losing sales over this is either a fool or just plain delusional. The same goes for anyone who thinks the industry pundits and media in general are not going to take this as “yet one more sign that Apple cannot ship great products anymore”
Someone needs to get fired over this — maybe several people.
How do you fire robots?
In a kiln, which will brick them
Hand me my welding torch. I’ve got some firing to do…
Actually, this is a reasonably good problem to have folks: Higher demand than supply. It beats the hell out of the opposite.
FIRST time in action for this plant. A bold move to build it at all — bringing manufacturing back to the U.S., striking out with new leadership despite the risks and foreseeable costs and setbacks.
Bolder still for Apple to persist in its course of self-determination, despite the petulance of the tech press and too-long-suffering pros: deserting one by one at the fringes of General Washington’s ragtag army, shoeless and freezing in their encampment at the Delaware River, losing heart in the face of insurmountable British forces under Cornwallis.
hope it works out, I don’t see why any company would invest anything in this country considering the political climate.
I hear that. — But I’ve thought all along that this was a straightforward business decision on Apple’s part, not a patriotic ploy or a craven knuckling under to Congress.
First, owning and operating domestic manufacturing facilities keeps moles, spies, and saboteurs away, and preserves Apple’s first-mover advantage — along with the element of surprise* that once dazzled us all. That’s responsible for much of Apple’s success. Top line.
Second, robots: no human rights violations leading to bad press, and eventually, lower production costs, higher yields, economies of supply and distribution. Bottom line.
* They “leaked” the Mac Pro themselves, in a developer preview. Why? Partly because the natives were getting restless, but mainly because some scoundrel was sure to do the same.
Yep then the French came to the rescue. Not sure how that applies here mind.
So the product isn’t great because it’s too in demand. Yep love that logic, you were doing so well too.
40% of the guitars I sell have a lead time of 4-6 months and 10% of over a year.
For he finest PC in the world, you won’t wait a little? Let’s face it, folks have been building demand for a new Pro for 5 years.
Guitars last forever with unchanging form. Computer components are obsolete in six months. What’s the sense of apple making their own product a joke? And yes. Production and sales are very important if you own Aapl. Grow up. This has become a joke.
I respectfully disagree.
1. Macs are valid tools for years.
2. It’s a matter of supply/demand.
3. I do own AAPL. In fact the stock allowed me to retire at 55. I watch it closely, and it is not a joke to me.
4. You’ll notice, perhaps, that I did not insult you even though I disagree with you.
Fiasco?
More like demand exceeding expectations, thanks to a hurricane of positive reviews.
Apple will doubtless ramp up production – meantime, us early adopters will just have to quietly gnaw at our fingernails.
Haven’t remotely felt like a tower for years, but this one will look just great on my glass-top desk.
exactly!
An early adaptor would be a buyer who got their machine last August. Sorry to say but the processor within is so 2013.
Shadowself,
Maybe Apple is losing sales, but I, for one, have been waiting many years for a machine such as this. I will wait another one or two months. The delay in shipping will not influence my decision to not buy the Mac Pro.
I hope that the delay, however, is more due to increased demand rather than production difficulties.
It does not matter.
Apple’s production problems over the last 18 months makes me think of a scene in the movie “Patton”. If I recall correctly (I last saw it over 40 years ago!) there is a scene where Patton is chewing out an officer for not taking some hill or other. Patton says, in effect, “I told you to take that hill. You didn’t. You’re fired!” Then Patton turns to that officers next in command and tells him he’s now in charge and he must take that hill (or whatever). Finally, Patton yells something to the new guy in charge to the effect that “If you don’t take that hill, I’ll fire you!” The hill (or whatever) got taken.
While Steve Jobs could be a major ass, he knew when to push people to make things happen. Sometimes things MUST happen. Tim Cook is supposedly a supply chain genius. But maybe, just maybe, he showed his supply chain brilliance when Steve Jobs demanded it of him. Tim Cook must now DEMAND the same kind of response for those in charge of getting the new Mac Pro (and other Apple products) out the door. “We’re doing the best we can.” is no longer good enough.
There is an issue with production in Apple. It does not matter whether its the iPhone 5 (in 2012), the iMac (in 2012/2013), the iPhone 5s (in 2013), the Mac Pro (in 2012/2013). This is not a one time thing. It is not even a once in a while thing. This is a recurring theme over the last 18 months.
This inability to produce MUST stop.
…made in America.
Made In America.
Well, if it gets pushed forward one more month, it will be “May’d in America” 🙂
I’m sure there was a lot of pent up demand.
Then you had people going, “I can’t work with that, no expansion.”
Next you had people going, “Yes you can.”
Now you have people going “Wow, this is slick!” 😉
Good thing it is the MacPro with the shipping problems. Because it is what everyone on this site referred to as an esoteric non-mainstream computer. Looks like the fanboys on this site were right; nobody wants to buy one.
Good thing it is the MacPro with the shipping problems. Because it is what everyone on this site referred to as an esoteric non-mainstream computer. Looks like the fanboys on this site were right; nobody wants to buy one.
/S
I would love to know how much of this delay is due to the somewhat ridiculous design and build of this machine and the process to build it. Yes its sleek, beautiful, elegant, cool looking and all but all of that has absolute zero impact on the performance of the product.
If Apple had designed the Pro’s chassis and system layout similar to a Mac Mini form factor or a small tower, allowing for room for GPUs & cooling etc.. how much easier would it be to build and would they have such delays ?
Keyword: “cooling”
This format revolutionizes cooling with one fan. (9 fans in the old MacPro).
Dell does next-hour shipping and will even bribe you to buy one and they’re still not getting many takers.
Apples supplier code of conduct precludes discrimination against unionised robots
Shipments haven’t slipped, they just are just staying at 2 months.
One one hand it shows that demand is still high on a great design.
On the other hand, Apple needs to do something to increase production. If there isn’t a graveyard shift or an offer for overtime at the plant, there should be.
There are two factors we can speculate on for shipping dates slipping.. The first is that there was more demand for the Mac Pro than expected and production was not adequate. (Seems most popular to those here) The second is that all materials, tools, manpower for production WOULD normally be adequate but problems cropped up in one or more of the above resulting in lower production and shipping dates to slip. Given the price of the device in question I feel it is more likely the latter than the former though I am not ruling out the possibility of a combination of the two.
The squeaky wheel gets the grease. Mac sales are 15% of total Apple income. Of that 15%, how much is the Mac Pro? 1-1.5% … Maybe. Unfortunately, the people working the logistics and supply issues on the Mac Pro are probably the coops and interns. The hots shots are working the big money makers. That’s business.
Understood. Of course, maybe sales would increase, if the product was available!