Apple resellers say the new 21.5-inch and 27-inch Apple iMacs will be a no show for Black Friday with no ability to even take orders for the new systems.
"Apple is not even giving resellers the wholesale pricing yet," said a top sales executive for an East Coast Apple VAR, who did not want to be identified. "That means nobody is putting in orders and nobody is going to have them by this Friday. Right now there is basically no way to put an order in for them."
Black Friday, one of the biggest shopping days of the year for new technology products, takes place after Thanksgiving on Nov. 23.
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"I have customers waiting to order a dozen or so, and I can't even give them price quotes for a custom configuration," said the sales executive. "I can't place an order yet, but they are going to be a hot ticket when they are available."
Apple CEO Tim Cook told investors on the company's most recent earnings call that the new iMacs would be constrained in the fourth quarter with the 21.5-inch model shipping in November and the 27-inch model being made available in December.
The sales manager said he is not surprised that the new 21.5-inch iMac is not yet available. "If they say November, they mean the end of November," he said.
Michael Oh, the CEO of Tech Superpowers, an Apple retailer with offices in Massachusetts and London, said he was disappointed that he was not going to have the new iMacs for Black Friday.
"We haven't seen them," he said of the new iMacs. "No one is going to have any for Black Friday. I don't think that makes any sense. That seems very strange. I have a customer that is opening an office in Luxembourg in December and would like to get them."
Not having the new iMacs is a missed opportunity, given that Microsoft's Windows 8 is sparking more businesses to look at moving Macs onto the desktop, said Oh. "We are seeing more and more companies adding the Mac," he said. "Moving to a Mac is as big a shift as the move to Windows 8. Windows 8 opens up a whole new conversation for Macs."
Oh said he believes Microsoft, by focusing on consumers rather than the corporate market with Windows 8, has made a strategic miscalculation that is benefiting Apple. "I don't think consumers are going to get Windows 8," he said.
Raul De Arriz, the government sales manager for Small Dog Electronics, one of top Apple specialists in the nation headquartered in Waitsfield, Vt., said not having the new iMacs for Black Friday is not a problem.
"We expect units to be arriving during the holiday season and certainly before Christmas," he said. "That is the important thing. We are very excited about the product. We have a lot of client interest. We are taking names. We look forward to having very strong sales when the machines arrive. Customer interest is very high."
The new 21.5-inch iMac with a 2.7GHz quad-core Intel Core i5, 8-GB memory, 1-Tbyte hard drive and an Nvidia GeForce GT 64OM with 512 MB has a suggested retail price starting at $1,299.
The new 27-inch iMac with a 2.9GHz quad-core Intel Core i5, 8-GB memory, 1-Tbyte hard drive and an Nvidia GeForce GTX 660M with 512 MB has a suggested retail price starting at $1,799.
PUBLISHED NOV. 19, 2012
