So you have it on good authority that nothing is coming before the second of June, no matter what the order says. If thats the case I can go out on the Friday. Shame I was hoping for it before the bank holiday weekend. I should have opted to queue after all.
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iPad EU News (Abandon all hope, ye who enter here..) ("Are you nuts?!" - Steve)
- Thread starter Yixian
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So you have it on good authority that nothing is coming before the second of June, no matter what the order says. If thats the case I can go out on the Friday. Shame I was hoping for it before the bank holiday weekend. I should have opted to queue after all.
For what it's worth, I can definitely add weight to the argument that Apple ship stuff to Europe through Holland -I've had several items come this way. One item in particular that springs to mind is the original iPod Mini, which was also in short supply/high demand at the time, very much like the iPad situation in the States right now (slipping in ship dates etc).
Well if that is the case then like I said it may be great news for everyone.
Accessories for the iPad coming together in Holland means that the microSIMs should be available the day before or so and so should make the original delivers by date... of course this is just a guess on my part but if O2 (which says micro-sims are available that Friday) are gonna be stocked all over the country (and likewise with the other networks) then a day or so between Holland and shipping to the UK would be enough time.
Of course as for other accessories that are made in China it probably doesn't make much difference... but the proof is in the shipping notices next week... only then we will know for sure!
Accessories for the iPad coming together in Holland means that the microSIMs should be available the day before or so and so should make the original delivers by date... of course this is just a guess on my part but if O2 (which says micro-sims are available that Friday) are gonna be stocked all over the country (and likewise with the other networks) then a day or so between Holland and shipping to the UK would be enough time.
Of course as for other accessories that are made in China it probably doesn't make much difference... but the proof is in the shipping notices next week... only then we will know for sure!
I've also had several Apple products ship to me from the Netherlands. However, my order says "Delivers by 28th May", so I am fully expecting to receive it on the 28th May. Apple have managed to fulfill delivery date on every order I have placed with them.
This is the information 5 people I know have had from Apple and it is from different countries.
Perhaps, Apple are just covering their a***es and we will get it on the 28th.
However, I have experience of Apple not delivering on the day of release. I got Leopard the day after it was supposed to be delivered as it was only shipped on the day of release.
I am also a little suspicious that Apple may not be able to cover the quantity that has been pre-ordered and need an extra week of production to cover it. Afterall, they have not delivered on previous dates they have made end of march, end of april.
My advice would be to ring Apple and pressure them to tell you what is actually on their screen.
Just seen the telefonica deal in Spain for the IPad. They are doing great deals combining the IPhone and Ipad.
There are three contracts for the Iphone in Spain:
1. 15 for Unlimited downloads, (200MB at 3G speed, then the rest at edge speed.)
2. 25 Unlimited downloads, (1GB at 3G speed, then the rest at edge speed.)
3. 39 Unlimited downloads, (3GB at 3G speed, then the rest at edge speed.)
Adding the IPad will cost nothing extra to use if you have the 25 and 39 contracts and will be included in your bill. Telefonica will also provide the sim free as well. If you have the 15 contract, you have to migrate to the other contracts.
This is pretty damn good compared to the prices offered in the UK and by AT&T.
There are three contracts for the Iphone in Spain:
1. 15 for Unlimited downloads, (200MB at 3G speed, then the rest at edge speed.)
2. 25 Unlimited downloads, (1GB at 3G speed, then the rest at edge speed.)
3. 39 Unlimited downloads, (3GB at 3G speed, then the rest at edge speed.)
Adding the IPad will cost nothing extra to use if you have the 25 and 39 contracts and will be included in your bill. Telefonica will also provide the sim free as well. If you have the 15 contract, you have to migrate to the other contracts.
This is pretty damn good compared to the prices offered in the UK and by AT&T.
I have just rung Apple. The chap was very adamant that the early orders will be delivered on 28th May and he had no information to the contrary. When asked exactly what his screen says. He said he was telling me what it says. For any later orders it is 7th June. So at the moment I will go with Apple. Snow Leopard wasn't really the launch of a new major product. I have not pre-ordered before I have always collected on the day. I know the new version of the Nano came late here last year as I hoped to pick one up for holiday and missed it by one day.
The fact that Apple only delayed pre-orders made after the 12th should mean that they actually stocked enough iPad's for those who ordered on the first two days. What concerns me is the quality of Italian courier services, that might well cause a delay. Hopefully they won't wait until the last moment to ship my iPad.
..it's even 5 Gigs at 3G in the big flatrate! and again: another reason why I wish I would live in spain......
(I am at home, wearing a thick woolie and it's end of may. shhh.)
Exactly. Clearly they had a certain amount of iPads available for launch day and when that was crossed the shipping date slipped. The only ones who may be in danger of getting theirs are those who ordered on the 12th. Before then I am certain it will be fine for the majority of customers.
Er, right. So you're saying that some DHL employee attaches all the screens to Apple laptops, rather than that being done in the factory in China? I could believe that the accessories are added to the box, but I can't believe that the actual laptops are assembled by DHL. Plus the fact that the screens are made in China too, so they'd need to send them as well...
It's blatantly not true. The laptops are completely assembled and then sealed into the boxes in China. Lots of the laptops are sent direct from China in the first place, and magically they come in one piece.
Surely there would be some documentation saying that it was partly assembled in the Netherlands, i'm not sure if it is the law, but it sounds like it could be! I can see why they would store the iPads there for tax reasons, but assembled there by DHL? Not for me. My iPad will be Designed by Apple in California, Assembled in China. The only thing I can see DHL doing is boxing them up and shipping 'em off (preferably for the 28th).
To shed some shadow....
I've had 2 phone calls with apple. First one with a German customer support, because in my confirmation mail it said delivered by 28th but in the order status window it says ships by 28th. Well at least she was honest and admitted to having no clue and asked me to call next week.
The second was with a Dutch guy from apple (with a different phone number I took of the confirmation mail). He told me that the ipad's will indeed be shipped from the Netherlands and apple would split shimpents if accessories weren't available so that we should get the iPad on the 28th.
(for me personally it's not that bad, as I am typing this post on my wifi iPad, I ordered a 64 wifi +3G.
To all the others still waiting: hang on it's well worth the wait)
I've had 2 phone calls with apple. First one with a German customer support, because in my confirmation mail it said delivered by 28th but in the order status window it says ships by 28th. Well at least she was honest and admitted to having no clue and asked me to call next week.
The second was with a Dutch guy from apple (with a different phone number I took of the confirmation mail). He told me that the ipad's will indeed be shipped from the Netherlands and apple would split shimpents if accessories weren't available so that we should get the iPad on the 28th.
(for me personally it's not that bad, as I am typing this post on my wifi iPad, I ordered a 64 wifi +3G.
To all the others still waiting: hang on it's well worth the wait
)Snow Leopard WAS a major launch - Apple set the worldwide launch date (Friday 28 August 2009) and AppleStores had 'lauch events' with much fanfare etc. Those of us that pre-ordered on the online store did feel let down - my pre-order arrived in the 2nd class post on Tuesday 1st September! I'm hoping Apple learned a lesson from that, and that they will get our iPad pre-orders delivered on the 28th May.
i just called apple to …*the lady said :
- as far as she knows the ipad should be delivered on may 28th
- it will ship from within europe (and not china)
- orders are fulified via first come first serve basis
- if the ipad gets delayed (due to something they dont know yet like production problems) apple will mail all customers
- apple will send a mail as soon as it shiped
- delivery within europe will take arround 2-3 days
so i asked: "that means if iam going to get in on may 28th i should have a mail by tuesday/wednesday next week?"
- she confirmed this
but then she said something i didnt like she said "so your ipad will be delivered or shipped on may 28th"
i said: "uhh shipped?"
she said yes … **** that more peoble should call them and ask about it
- as far as she knows the ipad should be delivered on may 28th
- it will ship from within europe (and not china)
- orders are fulified via first come first serve basis
- if the ipad gets delayed (due to something they dont know yet like production problems) apple will mail all customers
- apple will send a mail as soon as it shiped
- delivery within europe will take arround 2-3 days
so i asked: "that means if iam going to get in on may 28th i should have a mail by tuesday/wednesday next week?"
- she confirmed this
but then she said something i didnt like she said "so your ipad will be delivered or shipped on may 28th"
i said: "uhh shipped?"
she said yes … **** that more peoble should call them and ask about it
Actually do you ever watch the shipping of a laptop? The Laptop is shipped to the UK usually via Amsterdam or Frankfurt (near German Border). This is because the transportation companies have chosen these hubs because of tax benefits to their clients. They never come directly from China. This is typical because the importation for parts, unfininished goods and part-finished goods into the EU is significantly less than a finished good particularly from China which has qutoas in what it can import into the EU. Once here moving the good around Europe has no extra importation tax. Holland and Belgium have particular attractive tax rates for doing some final assembly in their countries in comparison to othe EU countries.
Also countries like Poland have become more attractive to electronics companies. My work PC is assembled in Poland, but does not mean the parts are made in Poland or that no sub-assembly is done in China, etc. It used to be the way DELL did it in their factories in Ireland
So for a company to minimize its costs it will import the laptop or whatever else and do some final assembly in a warehouse/factory in Holland (or Belgium). This may include the addition of screens, batteries, cables, etc. they are done in factories within or near the shipping hub and they are done by companies such as TNT or DHL.
For an IPad or Iphone it would be difficult/impossible to do any assembly, but adding it to a box and adding the cables would not be so difficult and maybe classed as assembly.
Apple state that a standard Laptop is shipped within 24 hours. Ask the question why does a standard Laptop take 3 to 5 days to reach you after it has shipped from China? A courier could get it to you within 24 hours easily particularly with the China being ahead in time. It is nothing to do with cost as usually there are set flights each day from China to Europe.
It usually means that when it arrives in Europe something is done to personalize it, i.e. box, cable, etc. Do you think that these Chinese factories are really capable of organizing that this laptop is for the UK, the next one for the US, the next one for Spain, the next one for Germany, etc. These factories are churning out thousands of PC's/laptops everyday and they are not so organised to do personalization. They are bulk producers. Personalization is done elsewhere.
Your laptop will be given a shipping number and put in some form of packaging. It will be sent to a factory in Holland where the necessary personalization is done, i.e plug, box, manual, keyboard type for imacs, mouse etc are added. The final shipping onto you as a finished good will take place with the same shipping number.
The factory in Holland will know your specifications and will make any adjustments to the finished product. These places may also be where changes to the RAM and Hard drives are done and other things, examples include installing the correct keyboard, installation of the selected screen is made, installing the correct software, adding sim cards, software etc.
Why do you think Apple charges so much more than market value for personalizing a computer? Because to personalize it is costly in the way they manufacture, and they will not be doing it on an assembly line in China that is working to make thousands of standard laptops. They won't stop the line which is automated to make a machine with 8GB of RAM rather than 2GB. It is just not possible to track every single laptop for every single user. Too many mistakes would be made.Personalization of these laptops will be done elsewhere and this is the reason that these things are done elsewhere.
Harvard and other major Business scholls have written Buisness School case studies about this fact.
My God. They will arrive. I ordered two and they were at my door on the date Apple said. Second, it does not matter where they come from as they are probably sitting in the post delivery facilities waiting for the day to arrive.
Not long to go now (hopefully).
I was just looking at the Apple Care plan for the iPad, and it only covers defects in the device and the battery losing 50% of its capacity. And the plan kicks in after your ordinary warranty. So after a whole year of an ordinary warranty, you would already know if the device had a defect. Doesn't seem like a great deal to me.
If the device does get damaged (e.g. screen breaks), what is the process for getting it fixed/replaced? I imagine it will be cheaper just buying a new device.
I was just looking at the Apple Care plan for the iPad, and it only covers defects in the device and the battery losing 50% of its capacity. And the plan kicks in after your ordinary warranty. So after a whole year of an ordinary warranty, you would already know if the device had a defect. Doesn't seem like a great deal to me.
If the device does get damaged (e.g. screen breaks), what is the process for getting it fixed/replaced? I imagine it will be cheaper just buying a new device.
Guys, stop calling those poor people at Apple's customer support! I'm sure they hate the iPad's guts by now
Yes, I watched the tracking on my MacBook Pro back at the end of 2008. It left Shanghai in China, had an electronic customs update in Cologne, and arrived direct in to the UK receiving centre, then out to me. there was no stop off in the EU for some mythical assembly. Hell, there wasn't even time for such assembly to be done - it took three days to get to me from China, and one and a bit of those was spent with UPS in the UK. It was also a customised machine.
Now, I'm not doubting this in many ways. Apple do in fact do exactly what you're saying for their Mac Pros - they are sub-assembled in China, and then shipped to Cork in Ireland for final assembly. Critically, they then have the CK serial number starting code, unlike the W8 etc. of the Shanghai plants that all the rest of Apple's machines ship with. Logically, if Apple were doing this sub-assembly of their laptops in the EU they'd be using their existing production plant in Cork, and all the notebooks would have serial numbers starting in CK.
They don't. They start W8, meaning full assembly in Shanghai.
No, Apple have their own facility in Cork for this, not DHL or TNT. The big EU distribution centre is simply for unloading the Kuhne & Nagel pallets that arrive from China en-masse and allocating the contents to where they need to go. The machines spend very little time at this hub, and certainly not enough time to assemble them in the method you're describing.
Now, fitting minor changes, such as a RAM upgrade or a HDD (to an MBP), then yes. But not a full screen or similar. They can also do the drop-in upgrades for items such as keyboards - as they're in a separate, country specific box. I would also place a significant bet that this takes place in the country of destination's distribution centre, not the main EU one. That means that the UK centre only needs to have UK keyboards, rather than the EU centre trying to stock everything.
Again, these ship out as a single unit from China. They're the same world-wide, and engraving is done locally.
Because Apple's distribution doesn't use a single carrier from door to door. They have K&N who ship in large volume from China to the EU distribution centre, it then gets customs paperwork done electronically, and is then sent out to the destination country via another courier, depending who Apple use for that country (TNT, DHL, UPS). Once in that country it can then change courier again at yet another local distribution centre for delivery to the customer (ie: UPS in the UK). That is why it takes so long - there's usually two distribution centres in the process, and at each the item has to wait for the pickup at set times. There's only time at the big centres for very minor BTO work.
Apple do personalisation in China for most machines, except Mac Pros. They roll off the production line and are then taken to a different line if they need options. Look at the USA notebooks - they ship direct from China to the customer, via FedEx, and trackable at every step of the way with no stops for your fabled local assembly. Apple's distribution is remarkably complex and very competent - they know exactly what machine is yours, where it is going, and which pallet it needs to be on at each stage of its journey.
Apple's other trick is to offer limited options. This means they can have lines churning out certain specifications - ie: an iMac with CPU A, and HDD A, and another churning out CPU A with HDD B. This means they can ship in volume the machines, and only leave the very easy to swap items (such as RAM) as local installs. Take the 27" iMac as an example - they'll produce four models in China, the i5 with 1TB HD, the i5 with 2TB HD, the i7 with 1TB HD and the i7 with 2TB HD. All come with 4GB of RAM. Magically, that's suddenly accounted for all the possible BTO choices of the HD, because Apple don't let you pick anything else, such as 1.5TB.
Apple basically cheat. They don't let you customise up the wazoo, which means 90% of customisation can be done on their lines en-masse. You may think you're unique buying one certain combination of config options, but rest assured, there's enough people out there buying exactly the same to allow Apple to produce batches of identical machines.
Well done, you've magically just moved away from your previous statements of "screens" and laptop keyboards to the items that are easy drop-in changes that are external to the actual computer itself.
Yes RAM and HD on laptops, but not on iMacs as you need to take the whole thing apart. No to laptop screens as again, you have to take the whole thing apart.
Apple charge more because they always have done, and because people still pay for it, and it keeps their profit margins high. They still do a lot of customisation in China (I had a 27" iMac ship direct to me from China, fully BTO'd on a single flight thanks to Executive Relations, and it took 2 days - it couldn't have been BTO'd anywhere else but China).
So? What you're saying is a perfectly valid mechanism of producing laptops, but it isn't how Apple works.
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