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Friday, January 25, 2013, 06:28 pm
iPad mini shipment times improve to 3-5 days from Online Apple Store
Despite severe constraints throughout the holiday quarter, supply of Apple's iPad mini is finally catching up with demand as the Online Apple Store is now quoting ship-by dates of 3-5 business days.
The change comes one week after Apple kicked off sales of cellular-enabled versions of the iPad mini in China, a market thought to be a major player in the company's future growth. At the time of launch, availability stood at two weeks for the Chinese market and one week for the U.S.
Supply of the hot-selling 7.9-inch tablet has been constrained since the device went on sale in October, with brisk sales amounting to quick stockouts on Apple's online store. The company announced that the iPad mini sold three million units over its first weekend on sale.
In early December, iPad mini availability improved as quoted Online Apple Store shipment estimates fell to one week for the first time since launch.
Apple CEO Tim Cook said in the company's quarterly earnings conference call in October that he thought the smaller iPad, along with the fourth-gen iPad and iPad 2, would be "extremely attractive" stand-ins for PCs. During Apple's most recent conference call for the first fiscal quarter of 2013, Cook said suppliers were having difficulty meeting high demand, but a balance could be reached by the end of the upcoming quarter.
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Previous Comments View All
I bought my 64GB white AT&T mini a few days ago. The local Apple Store was the only one that had any in stock.
Or you could just go to bestbuy.com, where they are all in stock and shipping immediately.
What is up with the Apple Store lately? 3rd party suppliers are doing a better job keeping things in stock than they are.
Best Buy's iPad factories are more productive than Apple's¡
Apple is sending more to 3rd party retailers than they can sell in comparison to the demand they are facing in their own online and B&M stores.
Or you could just go to bestbuy.com, where they are all in stock and shipping immediately.
What is up with the Apple Store lately? 3rd party suppliers are doing a better job keeping things in stock than they are.
More and more people are buying at the Applestore ONLY, especially around the world. Intermediates only get on the way and never facilitate anything (especially outside the US).
besides that they have special deals like laser engraving etc, people love that.
Oh, NO. Demand is down and Apple's backlog is declining. Apple is doomed.
Don't worry, if the lead time goes back up, I'll simply use the alternate response:
Oh, NO. Apple can't keep up with demand. Apple is doomed.
And if lead time doesn't change, Apple is doomed because they're not improving.
Eww. Best Buy is the last place I'd go to buy Apple stuff. Even if it's in stock. Avoid at ALL costs.
Availability is still "two weeks" on the UK Apple store and availability is extremely patchy on the high street.
What is up with the Apple Store lately? 3rd party suppliers are doing a better job keeping things in stock than they are.
Could have been because of the recent earnings call.
Usually Apple likes to keep their own stores stocked first.
However, when they want to boost sales numbers for publicity, Apple is known to divert limited stock to retailers instead. (I read about this a couple of years ago in an analyst's report, explaining this type of situation.)
This is because shipments to retailers are counted as sales right away, even if the units haven't arrived there yet, whereas shipments to Apple's own stores are not counted as sales until an end user buys it.
Just a possibility.
Could have been because of the recent earnings call.
Usually Apple likes to keep their own stores stocked first.
However, when they need to boost sales numbers for publicity, Apple is known to divert limited stock to retailers instead. (I read about this a couple of years ago in an analyst's report, explaining this type of situation.)
This is because shipments to retailers are counted as sales right away, whereas shipments to their own stores are not counted as sales until an end user buys it.
1) Good point. Selling to 3rd party retailers would help buoy sales.
2) In Apple's case this seems to be the case since there is no recent history of Apple having to stuff a channel to make numbers look good and, most importantly, Apple's popularity, mindshare and market dominance means they likely don't have to make deals that lesser vendors often do. Bottom line, Apple can say we have x-many units to sell you and the large retailers will likely buy them outright because they know they can move them.
Bottom line, Apple can say we have x-many units to sell you and the large retailers will likely buy them outright because they know they can move them.
Yep, that's true.
Btw, analysts have noticed this phenomenon about once a year, but usually it's done the quarter before a new model comes out... when sales are really slow. Apple diverts all the oldest model phones to retailers to get the sales numbers up, and to keep from having a glut of them at their own stores when the new model hits.
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| Model | White | Black | |
|---|---|---|---|
| iPad mini (WiFi only) | |||
| 16GB WiFi |  |
$329.00 | $329.00 |
| 32GB WiFi | |
$429.00 | $429.00 |
| 64GB WiFi | |
$529.00 | $529.00 |
| iPad mini (WiFi + 4G) | |||
 |
 |
 |
|
| 16GB 4G White | $459.00 | $459.00 | $459.00 |
| 32GB 4G White | $559.00 | $539.99 | $559.00 |
| 64GB 4G White | $659.00 | $659.00 | $629.99 |
| 16GB 4G Black | $459.00 | $459.00 | $459.00 |
| 32GB 4G Black | $559.00 | $539.99 | $539.99 |
| 64GB 4G Black | $659.00 | $659.00 | $629.99 |
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Or you could just go to bestbuy.com, where they are all in stock and shipping immediately.
What is up with the Apple Store lately? 3rd party suppliers are doing a better job keeping things in stock than they are.