Calling Apple Enthusiasts - A History Lesson Please

[JulianL]

I'm in the UK and the soon-to-be-(UK)released iPad will be my first Apple product so I haven't avidly followed Apple in the past. I wonder if some kind Apple fans could help me with some history.

When Apple put products on pre-order prior to release (e.g. the iPad in the US last month) do they tend to open the pre-ordering on a particular day (e.g. they always tend to go live with pre-orders on a Monday) or is it random?

All the rumours around the UK iPad availability date seem to be based on Apple staff being told not to take a certain Saturday off (24th). Do Apple tend to choose Saturdays for big new launches or is it more random?

Do Apple follow the same pre-order mechanism in all countries? In particular, has the UK tended to get a pre-order option on any product that was launched with a pre-order phase in the US?

Do all new Apple products always have a pre-order phase prior to availability?

That's a lot of questions I know but Apple do have some very enthusiastic followers so I'm hoping that some Apple fans might have the answers to some or all of the above in their heads (or an approximation, I'm not going to go off and pick out the exceptions to a fairly strong overall pattern).

Thanks.

- Julian

 

[MisterMe]

The iPad went on sale in the US on Saturday. The iPhone went on sale in the US on Friday. The iPad became available for pre-order in the US on Friday. Apple usually makes major announcements on Tuesday. Pick you day; pick your Apple event.

Pre-orders for Apple products are relatively rare. In fact, I don't recall pre-orders for the original iPhone, the iPhone 3G, or the iPhone 3GS. After work on the day it went on sale, I found an AT&T store with the original iPhone still in stock and bought it. In the past, pre-orders were usually reserved for products that were delayed for whatever reason.

In this and in many other regards, the iPad is special.

 

[JulianL]

Thanks MisterMe, that's extremely helpful. If I'm honest, it is what I was sort of expecting. The essential message that I take away from this is that there are no historical patterns. In particular your statement "Pre-orders for Apple products are relatively rare" just adds the final flourish to all the uncertainty.

Most of the reporting here (in the UK) that I've seen regarding the UK iPad launch seems to take the approach of trying to guess the release date and then work backwards to try and guess a date for pre-orders but it would seem that we're in somewhat uncharted territory and, just because the US had a pre-order phase for the iPad, it doesn't mean that this will be replicated everywhere. The UK might go straight to availability day with no pre-orders offered (or it might not).

I was of couse hoping that someone would give me a predictable pattern (the announcement of new iPhones certainly seems to be developing a predicatable pattern, namely announcement at the WWDC) but I'm not surprised to hear that none exists for pre-orders and product releases.

Oh well, the (UK) anticipation continues.

- Julian