Australian stores run out of new iMac - News - Business

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This story was printed from ZDNet Australia.
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Australian stores run out of new iMac

By James Pearce, ZDNet Australia
March 07, 2002
URL: http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/business/soa/Australian-stores-run-out-of-new-iMac/0,139023166,120263890,00.htm

Australian demand for the new iMac is outstripping supply, and orders keep coming in.

Two major Apple Distributors, MacSense and KH Distribution, report that sales of the new flat-screen iMac have been so good that supplies have been unable to keep up, creating a backlog that they expect to last until the end of March.

The rumoured cause of the delay is that Apple ordered 100,000 panels for its new computers, and sold 150,000 iMacs in the first three weeks.

The shortage of 15-inch LCD (liquid-crystal-display) flat panels is exacerbated by Apple using panels with slightly higher technical specifications, according to a report in CNET.

-We're selling everything we can get," Bruce MacBryde of MacSense told ZDNet Australia. -Delays are pretty extensive, there's probably a three week waiting list." Macsense doesn't expect to fill the backlog for a month, claiming orders were still coming is as fast as they were when the product was announced.

KH Distribution reports a similar scenario. -iMac sales are fantastic," Miranda Parkin said. -Demand has exceeded all expectations. It's exceeded supply at the moment." She said that Apple have orders of a thousand on backlog.

-Production simply can't keep up with demand, but machines are starting to come through from the States now," Parkin said. According to Parkin, the backlog would probably be cleared by the end of March, and new orders would take a couple of weeks to come through.

Reports from the US show dealers placing new orders may have to wait over two months to get their machines.