{“, when I suggested that Apple’s claim that the new iPods would be available “immediately” was a little optimistic, I had no idea how right I was.
As it turns out, “immediately” means something more along the lines of, “Well sure, we could have waited a couple of weeks so we had enough to go around, but spots on the cover of “,” don’t grow on trees.”
Although some new iPods have made their way to the retail Apple Stores, some people who ordered their iPods as early as the morning of the announcement through the online Apple Store are receiving messages like these:
“,”
UPDATED BIT: A customer who received this message contacted Apple and asked them to cancel the engraving he added to his order, thinking that this might speed up his shipment. The customer agent reported that his iPod was due to ship today — just one day late — despite the notice he received.
I ordered a 40GB iPod on Monday afternoon and was promised a ship date on or before 7/23/04 (today). Sure enough, I just received notification that my iPod had shipped.
Given this information, it appears delays are not as bad as I thought — at least on orders placed on Monday. I’d be interested to hear how those who ordered their iPods later in the week fare.
On the “kudos to Apple for doing the right thing” front, if you ordered a new 40GB iPod last Monday morning from the online Apple Store, Apple will make good on its offer of a bundled remote control and case. The new 40GB iPods do not ship with these accessories but Apple’s website was not updated to reflect that fact until later in the day on Monday. If your online order was made before the site was updated, give Apple a call and ask them to include the promised accessories.”}