While it may be difficult for Apple Store employees to keep their cool while rabid iPad fans are camped outside waiting for the latest shipment of the next-generation tablet, the Cupertino, Calif. company is telling their retail locations to keep calm and hold onto the new shipments for a day.
The request is part of a new tactic Apple reportedly has undertaken after assessing the first weekend of iPad 2 sales where the new product quickly flew off the shelf. The goal is to provide Apple Stores a chance to “calmly and accurately” handle new supplies – even if it requires telling customers a “little white lie.”
Although talk of new iPad 2 shipments are making their way to consumers, “a person familiar” with Apple’s retail plans says the tech giant believes its retail staff can tell a “little white lie.” Instead of informing customers about the day-previous shipment, retailers are given the okay to say the iPad 2s are instead fresh off today’s delivery truck, one Apple news site is reporting Wednesday.
Additionally, Apple is considering changing its online inventory reporting to prevent news items suggesting the company is four to five weeks behind on iPad 2 shipments.
The new strategy comes amid numerous reports of lengthy online waits for the tablet, as well as concern by some analysts Apple may have difficulty meeting demand.
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.
