Today I took a friend to the Apple Store pick up an AirPort card and basestation for his new iBook. Surprise! They didn’t have any – they said they sold out right away. We’re “blessed” to have two Apple Stores here in Northern Virginia – but the other one didn’t have any, either. MicroCenter was out. CompUSA had none. (When I called CompUSA to check on availability, I had to got through 3 levels of auto attendant, then when I got to a real person, the first thing he asked was “What is your ZIP Code?” When I asked why he needed such information when I just wanted to find out about a product, he hung up.)
So, we ended up ordering them from the Apple website. They’re expected in about 10 days.
If Apple is having so much trouble keeping these things on their own store shelves, why do the pundits always claim that Apple is about to go out of business and that no one uses Apple products?
Of course, if a customer can’t BUY the product, well… Microcenter had a SMC Barricade 802.11b router for only $50 after rebate. Compare this to a not-in-stock Apple AirPort for $199 and one must wonder why we didn’t pick up the Barricade. Well, I guess that’s brand loyalty for you.
