MacBook Air selling out left and right?

It's hard to tell whether the MacBook Air is selling way beyond Apple's regular expectations or whether they just didn't make that many units (there's a difference, after all), but as Ars Technica points out, a cursory glance to Apple's MBA stock-checker shows the majority of Apple stores are plum out. Of course, the Cube sold pretty well in the early days too, only time will tell whether the machine actually has staying power. Something tells us Steve will have a thing or two to say about the Air's sales later this week, though.

Read - Ars points out the MBAs are oft sold out
Read - MacBook Air retail stock-checke

[mushrooshi @ Mar 3rd 2008 3:16AM]

How many devices do this? As far as I know, I think its rare.

[Carbonize @ Mar 3rd 2008 4:47AM]

Lets think. Nintendo Wii, Xbox 360 Elite, PS3 60GB. All these and more have suffered/are suffering from stock shortages.

[Tony C @ Mar 3rd 2008 8:19AM]

OK, I guess I'm the only one that got mushrooshi's point, so maybe this'll clear it up a little more...

How many *$1800* devices do this?

[Carbonize @ Mar 3rd 2008 8:32AM]

As the story says, how many is Apple producing though? All very well saying it's out of stock but not as impressive if each store only got two machines each.

[letstakeawalk @ Mar 3rd 2008 9:49AM]

@ Tony

I know it's apples and oranges, but Ferrari has a waiting list that's a couple of years long...

It would be nice to know the MB Air production numbers so we could understand the situation better.

[Bender Bending Rodriguez @ Mar 3rd 2008 10:18AM]

Regardless if selling better than X, y or z, it does leave two likely options.

1) Apple is having some production issues and therefore had less than expected to sell. (unlikely)

2) Apple is selling more than it expected, therefore it's a success to Apple (more likely)

[tekdroid @ Mar 3rd 2008 3:31AM]

I dunno if the lack of"

ExpressCard
Cardbus
more than one USB port
optical drive
wired ethernet connection
user-repleaceable battery
user-repleaceable ram

would have me busting out my funds for this item, but more power to those that love it. Apple certainly have advertised it here in Australia.

No doubt it will be an impulse buy for many early-adopters keen on slim.

[TheCow5 @ Mar 3rd 2008 3:32AM]

are you ppl the town cryer for the apple Corporation, my god when steve jobs takes a shit will you let us all know too, I am sure that will be hedline news for you guys.

[Reader @ Mar 3rd 2008 4:04AM]

That could turn out to be more interesting than most Apple posts. Just think of the plot turns...

[Ryan Block @ Mar 3rd 2008 4:31AM]

You're right, there's SO MUCH EXPLOSIVE TECH NEWS at 3:30AM, what are we thinking dredging this stuff up?

[supermeerkat @ Mar 3rd 2008 4:44AM]

Imagine that! Engadget coverage would be a series of posts, headlined thusly

10:30am Steve Jobs seen walking in direction of toilet.
10:33am SJ closes door behind him, loosens belt.
10:35am SJ heard straining, smell emanates.
10:37am SJ leaves toilet, possibility of unwashed hands

AND People would read it...

[JD @ Mar 3rd 2008 5:08AM]

That's actually a good point, Ryan. Do you ever sleep? :p

[Bas @ Mar 3rd 2008 5:25AM]

"You're right, there's SO MUCH EXPLOSIVE TECH NEWS at 3:30AM, what are we thinking dredging this stuff up?"

Here's a thought: you could also choose -not- to post anything when there's no news. Crazy idea, I know.

[Mike10010100 @ Mar 3rd 2008 6:10AM]

@bas

Seriously? Not post anything? The problem with people like you is that you all seem to think that the internet can only hold a certain amount of information....

I have some news for you. It can continue to hold greater and greater amounts of information, as long as hard drive manufacturers keep doing their thing.

Or maybe you believe that your brain can't hold any more information before it bursts. If we hear a pop on the internet, we'll know it's you.

Finally, you think this is just a stupid statement? It is a tracking of consumer trends. If I'm not mistaken, this is what the business journals do all the time. I see nothing wrong.

[Bas @ Mar 3rd 2008 6:51AM]

"Seriously? Not post anything? The problem with people like you is that you all seem to think that the internet can only hold a certain amount of information...."

Really? Where did I state that they should stop posting to conserve disk space? That's right, I didn't. You made up that little straw-man all by yourself.

[fred @ Mar 3rd 2008 7:57AM]

"You're right, there's SO MUCH EXPLOSIVE TECH NEWS at 3:30AM, what are we thinking dredging this stuff up?"

You're kidding, right?

Are you telling me that out of the universe of tech news that happens 24/7, the only thing that you could find was another speculative/PR spin posting about how the MBA was selling?

I wont embarrass you by posting the titles of stories that could have easily been more interesting. I'm sure you are well aware of them.

But you know what? It's not even about that. I think that if you guys did come clean and admit that you do give Apple preferential treatment and coverage, a lot of the criticism will go away. Many of those people will ditch this blog, but at least Apple threads wont be choked with criticisms of you alleged (I think naked) bias.

[Derek @ Mar 3rd 2008 8:43AM]

I hope you people know how stupid you look arguing over a post on a blog...

[Popstand @ Mar 3rd 2008 9:26AM]

"I wont embarrass you by posting the titles of stories that could have easily been more interesting. I'm sure you are well aware of them."

In other words..."I don't actually have any examples, but maybe this will convince people that I secretly do..."

[fred @ Mar 3rd 2008 9:42AM]

"In other words..."I don't actually have any examples, but maybe this will convince people that I secretly do..."

So you are saying with a straight face that nothing else was going on?

Go to google news and the the tech/science section and then repeat block's comments in your head as you read through all of the stories that were just not important.

[Dustin Frazier @ Mar 3rd 2008 3:33AM]

People are tightening their wallets nowadays as evidenced in the last consumer spending report released this week. It shows no growth other than inflation. This leads me to believe that hordes of people aren't gonna plop down that much change for a luxury item at this time. On the other hand, Apple's products are profitable because they buy in bulk and produce en mass. This lowers the cost per unit thus increasing the margin. Ummmmmmmmmmmmm crap my joint went out.

[kevinm @ Mar 3rd 2008 3:34AM]

Could it be that each store gets a small inventory of them? I don't think it's the iPhone like sellout. Me thinks they Apple isn't making them at full capacity yet.

[aendschl @ Mar 3rd 2008 3:41AM]

you said it about the cube, but till today the cube is one of the coolest gadgets compared to those crap barebone pcs that are simply ugly and loud.

Maybe this time the people will buy the original...

[doobiebros22 @ Mar 3rd 2008 3:48AM]

My apple store according to the counter is sold out, I went in and they had them in stock however they were all of the SSD variety with 1.8 ghz...I wanted the 80gb HD with 1.8 ghz...so i went online for it...but besides the point....I believe they are only counting the 80 gb at the moment...SSD it appears isn't quite taking off while the other 80 gb brother is...hmm...wonder why...$$$$

[belor @ Mar 3rd 2008 3:48AM]

Since the Air has been showing up as the top seller at the Apple online store for weeks it leads me to believe they are selling a lot of them online and in stores.

[Chris @ Mar 3rd 2008 3:50AM]

Coming from someone that's gotten some one on one time with the MBA.

I'm not impressed.

[jake @ Mar 3rd 2008 3:50AM]

I feel it might be a stock thing too. Then there's the online sales too, which probably made up a sizable part of the sales. We'll hear more about this later on, I guess, as this doesn't really say anything about the sales of the Air without more info.

[Down @ Mar 3rd 2008 3:53AM]

You would have to be an idiot to buy the MacBook Air. Seriously.

[Broadside @ Mar 3rd 2008 5:46AM]

believe it or not, there are people out there who travel a lot and pay a premium for a well designed, light computer that meets their particular needs. Ultra light computers aren't all about about performance per $. I know it is hard to imagine because it doesn't meet your particular need. Twit.

I haven't bought one yet but I can see it meets a niche in the market.

[tyler @ Mar 3rd 2008 9:39AM]

Yeah.. the 'look at me and look what i bought' niche market..

[snitch @ Mar 3rd 2008 10:07AM]

why cause the lack of ports???? Dude mac users hardly use them, they do almost everything wireless. Only thing I think should have there is a Ethernet port

[Dave @ Mar 3rd 2008 10:05AM]

@Broadside...

Calling the macbook air "well designed" when it only has one USB port is hilllllllaaaaaarrrrriousss

[Scott @ Mar 3rd 2008 3:56AM]

This just proves you don't actually need to be able to build a quality product, just market it effectively. X300 dual booting Ubuntu FTW!

[rip @ Mar 3rd 2008 6:30AM]

So true.

But some better examples: Xbox 360 and Windows.

[Carbonize @ Mar 3rd 2008 7:35AM]

Other examples - PS3, Blu Ray, iPod, iPhone, Blogsmith commenting system, George Bush ......

[rip @ Mar 3rd 2008 8:13AM]

@ carbonize:

I don't know, the PS3, iPod and iPhone all seem pretty rock solid to me. Pretty much zero problems with them, so I'd say they are quality products. And no where near the 20% failure rate of the 360.

However, I'm with you on the other things...

[Abuzar @ Mar 3rd 2008 9:28AM]

Maybe not good BUILD quality, but it makes up in features.

The iPhone has pretty good build quality, but not enough features. The iPod doesn't have good build quality OR that many features.

The PS3 is pretty well rounded with good build qualiy and plenty of features. I have both the 360 and PS3, and while I use the 360 more it's not like the PS3 is totally ignored...

[Broadside @ Mar 3rd 2008 10:26AM]

@ Dave

when I travel I don't use more than one USB port. If you need more than one USB port you don't buy the thing. It's not rocket surgery.

[Abuzar @ Mar 3rd 2008 5:16PM]

Rocket Surgery? That's like two difficult professions in one!

[JD @ Mar 3rd 2008 3:58AM]

Yeah man, Apple is making a TON of Airs, and man, would you believe it, they are all selling out. With that extra reasonable $1800 entry point, why not? The deal of the century! Ya know, i just have to put some of my car side in here.

PT Cruisers sold out at first too- the air and the PT have more in common than you'd think. They're both over-hyped (at launch), underpowered, and people who have them think that they are automatically cool because they own one. Now, that said, I will readily admit that the Air looks a lot better, but that doesn't say much now, is it?

[Reader @ Mar 3rd 2008 4:05AM]

Does the MBA also get absolutely terrible gas mileage for a 4-cylinder?

[JD @ Mar 3rd 2008 4:24AM]

Actually, Reader, the Air does indeed get really poor gas mileage for a 4 cylinder, despite its vastly superior drag coefficient. :p And you're right, I'd never really looked at the mileage a PT gets- 19 mpg in the city? That's awful!

[TMF @ Mar 3rd 2008 4:16AM]

Let me just say...

BULLSHOT!

[Kizorblade @ Mar 3rd 2008 4:56AM]

Bullshot: When bullshit and headshot mate.

[zzz @ Mar 3rd 2008 6:44AM]

When I was a bartender in Long Island they had a drink called bullshot. Basically, it was made with beef broth, absolutely awful stuff.

[Bernhard @ Mar 3rd 2008 4:25AM]

It's the simplicity of the computer and style which make it an attractive buy. The iPod has done the same using its simple clickwheel mechanism while doing away with unnecessary options.

[Joel @ Mar 3rd 2008 4:27AM]

Doesn't this happen with the release of every Apple product? Apple fans are rabid.

[linuxamp @ Mar 3rd 2008 4:33AM]

Actually, all the MBAs got damaged during shipping due to the lack of padding in document envelopes.

[w00t @ Mar 3rd 2008 5:36AM]

You kid, but I bought a MacBook Pro on eBay once and it turned up in a jiffy bag!

[Steffen Jobbs @ Mar 3rd 2008 8:20AM]

Wow! Steve is really efficient. He doesn't waste any time. Thanks for your concise reporting.

[Steffen Jobbs @ Mar 3rd 2008 8:27AM]

Only the Ninendo Wii actually sold out. The other two out-of-stocks were made up.