MacBook Air selling out left and right?
By Ryan Block 
posted March 3rd 2008 3:14AM
posted March 3rd 2008 3:14AM
Read - Ars points out the MBAs are oft sold out
Read - MacBook Air retail stock-checke
posted March 3rd 2008 3:14AM
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Only the Ninendo Wii actually sold out. The other two out-of-stocks were made up.
This is the most transparent of your Apple PR hypes.
You have no idea how many units have been sold, yet still run a misleading story suggesting that it's a huge seller, "selling out left and right."
For all you know, those stores could have only received a few units each, so the real story (if there is one) would have read, "Apple fails to provide sufficient stocks as handful of machines sell out."
I've no idea id it's Apple paying you to constantly and relentless keep their name on your front page or if it's some kind of advanced, out of control fanboydom, but it's ruining this blog.
I'm still here because Engadget is still one of the best tech blogs around but this your ridiculous obsession is getting beyond a joke now.
Apple news is a big deal to a lot of people, and not just rabid Mac fanatics, for the sole reason that they're constantly pushing technology ahead harder and faster than anyone else. They are always early innovators with every product in their catalog, leaving everyone else 5 years behind in the race.
Now.... go ahead and low rank me.
you've been high ranked, my mac and I completely agree...
Well, I think it's an EXCELLENT thing to post - remember post Macworld?
"omg the air sucks" "I love it!" ect.
Good to know who was right in the end eh?
"they're constantly pushing technology ahead harder and faster than anyone else"
That is complete and utter BS. They may be pushing candy coated design, but certainly not technology. Have you seen the MBA specs? And on the hype, that 0.16-inches sounds good, but it's at the expense of a large, and IMO, ugly screen bezel. Sure, you could build a laptop with a razor sharp knife edge and say it's 10 microns thick, include 1/3 of the standard functionality and suddenly, you have a winner!
yeah, cause, you know, you NEVER see any other posts about Microsoft or RIM or Dell or Sony or HP... it's so obviously all Apple all the time.
Here's an idea. Use these things called eyes which are attached to something called a brain and do something called skipping over the posts that aren't interesting to you. Unless of course you're one of those people whose brain can't filter out things. Then I can see how it would be a problem. If that's the case, then you have a very valid point.
@ thesb
If I recall Apple worked with Intel to reduce the size of their chip so that they could fit it in the Air. If thats not pushing new tech then I don't know what is. People on Engadget that hate on Apple all day long are like what I call late comers. Sooner rather then later they will realize and buy an Apple product, then that's when they are going to feel really stupid.
"yeah, cause, you know, you NEVER see any other posts about Microsoft or RIM or Dell or Sony or HP... it's so obviously all Apple all the time."
I rarely see a story about Microsoft, unless it is negative.
And if you compare the number of Dell Sony and HP stories to the number of "Oh gee wiz look at this thingy about Apple" posts, at best they would combined would almost equal the number of fluff stories about something related to Apple.
The new Lenovo Thinkpad was one of the few computers that actually got more than the alloted "one post and get out of the way for Apple fluff news" treatment only because they used it as a way to blab on and on about the MBA.
Fred:
I'm not sure what your talking about. Taking a quick look at the 2 most recent pages of Engadget posts, I counted about 6 out of a total of 30 posts that related to Apple products. And only a couple were directly about Apple, the rest about stuff like an ipod projector.
Actually, there seemed to be a lot of posts about Asus. 6, in fact. The same as Apple.
And Samsung. In fact, it seems like there are lots of Samsung posts in general... about phones, monitors, tvs... where's the hate on Samsung?
Where's your hate on Asus? Those damn eeepc are getting a whole lot of attention.
Seems your perception is a little different from reality. Apparently, you must have your filters set to highlight Apple so you can bitch about it, rather than just ignoring it.
But hey, it's your axe, grind away.
On Amazon's laptop bestseller list at the moment, the Macbook Pro is #1, white and black Macbooks are #3 and #4, and the Macbook Air is only #20.
Under ALL Electronics it's #21. Under Notebooks it's #17. That is pretty impressive for a niche machine costing $1,800.
The only othe machine ahead of it that costs more is a MBP. 6 of those other slots are occupied by Asus Eee PCs costing under $500 and there are 2 Nokia MID for $300 that is somehow considered a notebook. There are also 2 HP notebooks that being sold at very aggressive prices (under $1k with 250GB HDD, 3GB RAM, C2D CPU). The rest are Macs.
I'd say the MBA is doing quite well.
(Disclaimer: I don't know if the Amazon uses unit sales or gross profit to determine their metrics. The former seems more logical, but if the latter can spark sales of items with higher margins they my go that route too.)
Under ALL Electronics it's #21. Under Notebooks it's #17. That is pretty impressive for a niche machine costing $1,800.
The only othe machine ahead of it that costs more is a MBP. 6 of those other slots are occupied by Asus Eee PCs costing under $500 and there are 2 Nokia MID for $300 that is somehow considered a notebook. There are also 2 HP notebooks that being sold at very aggressive prices (under $1k with 250GB HDD, 3GB RAM, C2D CPU). The rest are Macs.
I'd say the MBA is doing quite well.
(Disclaimer: I don't know if the Amazon uses unit sales or gross profit to determine their metrics. The former seems more logical, but if the latter can spark sales of items with higher margins they my go that route too.)
The Air is not yet shipping from Amazon, so it does not surprise me it is not a top seller from them since anyone who wants one is not going to a retailer that can not ship them one for several weeks.
Really, it's getting tedious - EVERY time an Apple post gets put up all the Anti Apple folks come out with their pitch forks.
Have a bath and wash the smell of disinfectant and urine off yourselves, then at least try to get laid you sad f*cks.
Dude, my wife bitches about the Apple posts here. Sometimes you can even make it out mid-fellatio.
http://www.maconair.com claims, that it's sold bad.
The emerging criticisms of its drawbacks (short-battery life, the inability to swap out the battery, lack of ports, the internal SuperDrive, the cost) are dampening demand. Analysts are already lowering sales estimates for MacBook Air. About 60% of Apple resellers said the Air is attracting noticeably less buyers than the original MacBook. The research firm had previously projected that MacBook Air would account for 16% of Mac sales this year, but that appears too optimistic for now.
And I think it sounds like truth...
My apologies, I have no idea how that reply got where it got.
If you read the linked story it is completely un-sourced. The "investment" site it is posted on is a complete non player in the investing community and the article does not have a source for any of its claims.
I would be shocked if the Air was outselling the Macbook, it will never happen. A niche more expensive product is not going to outsell their mass market laptop and no analyst ever expected it to.
Pillarie
@ Mar 3rd 2008 7:04AM sez:
"The emerging criticisms of its drawbacks (short-battery life..."
-------
I'm surprised nobody responded on this.
The Air has 5 hour battery life with wireless on, if Apple's website is to be believed.
http://www.apple.com/macbookair/specs.html
That is *more* than their Macbooks (listed as 4.5 hours wireless productivity).
http://www.apple.com/macbook/specs.html
I would say the Air has great battery life, if nothing else.
I dunno.
Find me a BMW dealership that will be able to get you a 135 within the first four months they're available.
How many $35,000 devices do that?
Find me a Nissan dealership that will be able to get you a GT-R within the first for months they're available.
How many $70,000 devices do that?
Find me a Lamborghini dealership able to get you a Reventon. Period.
How many $1.3 million devices do that?
I'm sure the MBA would have limited appeal since it is a subnotebook with subnotebook specs. Nothing unusual about that. No way Apple could sell more MBA's than MacBooks or MacBook Pros.
I was down on the MacBook Air at first, and then one day I woke up and decided I was fed up with carrying my 17" Pro everywhere. I evaluated what I used my pro away from home for.....turns out....office products, email, and web surfing was the only thing I needed.
I went to the Apple store, played with the new Air, went BACK home and thought about it for several more days....long story short, I picked one up and haven't looked back. It's SOOOOOO much easier to carry this thing around...I barely even know it's on my shoulder. I have a flight tomorrow and I'm looking forward to some Air in the air...not to mention having a load free experience as I run walk through the airport.
First thing I'm thinking is.. How many did they produce and ship? Did they plan for a niche market and then sell that out, most likely. This is all apple propaganda until you see real numbers.
you blokes are lucky to get a 135 for that kind of money, we will have to shell out nearly double that in Oz.
the stock checker is down, maybe it was just malfunctioning
It tells me to come back after 9PM to check stock haha
Always "malfunctioning".
I think what Engadget needs is not to fire the Apple lovers, but to hire a everything-Microsoft-fanboy.
That'd be me. For the most part.
Engadget, I'll be sending you my resume soon. I'm in my early 20's, from the Washington D.C. region, and I'd like a full-time salary plus benefits. What you'll get? Demilitarization of the anti-Apple-blog forces.
On a real whim, I went to buy an Air yesterday, only to find the local Apple Store was sold out. I called 2 more relatively close stores (I live in the Northern California Bay Area) and finally found one and was able to put their last baseline Air on hold... So definitely looks like a sellout to me.
"Well at my Best Buy, I know we've only sold one Macbook Air since we got them in. I'm sure though we see a way different crowd then what the Apple Store sees."
Yeah, no self-respecting Machead is going to be seen purchasing their MBA from the ghetto.