Analyst: iMac Delays Due To Overwhelming Demand, Not Defects

Ed Sutherland ()

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Apple’s delays shipping its newest iMacs increasingly point to the Cupertino, Calif. company having trouble pushing the desktop machines out the door fast enough to meet demand. “I can’t imagine in their wildest dreams they would have thought they would sell like this,” one report quoted NPD analyst Stephen Baker.

Debate over why Apple called Monday for a two-week waiting period centered on a rash of reports of buyers experiencing defective iMac displays, ranging from yellow-tinged screens to cracked hardware. In a statement, the Cupertino, Calif. firm apologized for delays due to the iMac being “a huge hit.” The company’s announcement was devoid of any specifics, however.

Interest in the new 27-inch iMacs may be spearheading a 74 percent jump in Mac desktop sales for October and November, compared the same period in 2008, according to the retail analysis firm.

In a similar vein, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster said Monday he expects Apple will have sold 2.9 million to 3 million Macs during October and November. Sales of desktop Macs, such as the iMac and Mac mini, were up 74 percent during that period.

“While it remains early, it appears the new iMacs are driving sales in the Dec. quarter,” Munster told investors. Around 50 percent of all Mac sales occur in December, he said.

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[Via CNET and AppleInsider]

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About the author

Ed Sutherland

Ed Sutherland is a veteran technology journalist who first heard of Apple when they grew on trees, Yahoo was run out of a Stanford dorm and Google was an unknown upstart. Since then, Sutherland has covered the whole technology landscape, concentrating on tracking the trends and figuring out the finances of large (and small) technology companies.

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  • katiepea

    lol, yeah right, theres 2 scenarios here, either thats true, and people are going to get a massive amount of defective computers, or apple has finally fully morphed into microsoft and stopped caring about their customers. these imac problems are rampant and need to be addressed. apple has made the switch from quality to quantity, and frankly, after the dust settles and apples numbers even out when the honeymoon is over,and people realize their iphones aren’t THAT great, and that theres more drawbacks to that product, as well as imacs, where will they be then? apple is something i’ve been loyal to for 2 decades, and i just made the switch away from them, it’s not the same company anymore.

  • Esa

    BS