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icruise · Jul 19, 2003, 07:23 AM

This may or may not be news to people, but I just came back from the local electronics store, and they had a big sign saying that the Tibook ("The only powerbook to boot into OS 9") has been discontinued. They were selling their current stock at a discount. I don't know what exactly this means in terms of a new model, but I don't think these stores make their decisions based on rumor.

flanders · Jul 19, 2003, 09:48 AM

well this is certainly interesting, and I agree about making decisions on rumor. I think it'll carry more weight if we see this again somewhere else too. This is the only case I'd heard of this to date. Any others notice this? BTW--what kind of discount did you see? Lower than the $1999 and $2599 current apple prices on the ti?

DigitalEl · Jul 19, 2003, 10:02 AM

Not that such a move isn't inevitable, but it sounds to me like that store's just trying to move product. Some retailer in Japan (or even in San Francisco) isn't gonna know when a model is discontinued until the rest of us do.

icruise · 11:33 AM

Originally posted by DigitalEl:
Not that such a move isn't inevitable, but it sounds to me like that store's just trying to move product. Some retailer in Japan (or even in San Francisco) isn't gonna know when a model is discontinued until the rest of us do.

Then why is it that places like CompUSA are able to mark products "End-Of-Life" before we've heard anything about it? That has tipped people off to new product introductions in the past.

spotze23 · Jul 19, 2003, 10:44 AM

gravis in germany is very close to apple. since more than three weeks there are no more powerbooks on stock. before they had all models on stock.

DigitalEl · Jul 19, 2003, 10:51 AM

I can admit when I'm wrong. I probably am here. Good points.

BrunoBruin · Jul 19, 2003, 11:25 AM

As a side note, resellers often get new SKUs for their databases before the products actually ship. Even if they don't have specifics, they know something is coming.

PowerTower Fan · Jul 19, 2003, 12:21 PM

Originally posted by Icruise:
Then why is it that places like CompUSA are able to mark products "End-Of-Life" before we've heard anything about it? That has tipped people off to new product introductions in the past.

The way resellers can tell that new products are coming is generally when they place an order with Apple for a product and what previously had a 1-3 day shipping time jumps back to 2 -3 weeks. Apple though doesn't generally tell resellers about what, even if, new products are coming.

All these price drops that Apple did is dropping the prices for individuals down to the same level as Institutional purchases. I wouldn't take these as signs of new models being introduced.

NeXTLoop · Jul 19, 2003, 12:59 PM

I called my local Apple authorized reseller and they're currently out of the TiBooks. They said that Apple's shipping has been delayed on them lately for some reason. However, they said that Apple still has one warehouse that has them, so they can get them in 5 days with normal shipping, next day if you're willing to pay more.

These guys are pretty reliable. A couple of years ago, they were rated by Apple as the best Apple authorized reseller store in the entire North Midwest region of the U.S. They're also a service center authorized to work on PowerBooks while, according to them, not every service center is authorized to do that.

neutrino23 · Jul 19, 2003, 03:19 PM

Originally posted by Icruise:
This may or may not be news to people, but I just came back from the local electronics store, and they had a big sign saying that the Tibook ("The only powerbook to boot into OS 9") has been discontinued. ...

Which store? Yodobashi Camera? Llaox? Bic?
Which location?

lunaticbunny · Jul 19, 2003, 03:41 PM

i have some intresting tid bit as well. i originally planned to buy a dual 1.25 until i came to the conclusion that i really didn't need two desktops and decided to get a 1ghz TiBook. Well, I made a few calls to all the local resellers here in van, bc. everyone was out of stock and aren't expecting new shippments anytime soon, one reseller even went as far by saying they're no longer carrying it and are expecting a new model anytime. even said they're expecting to hear something from apple next week. i'm really hoping it's true. but i'm really hoping they will be avaliable immediately!!

icruise · Jul 19, 2003, 09:28 PM

Originally posted by neutrino23:
Which store? Yodobashi Camera? Llaox? Bic?
Which location?

Nomura Denki in Shizuoka. I haven't checked any others recently. Just happened to be there and saw it. Other may or may not be doing the same thing.

beachmark · Jul 20, 2003, 12:21 AM

Could the fact that the individual pricing for students has come down be an indication as well that something is about to happen?

By the way still I am wondering if 90 per cent of the (potential) buyers and respectively) users need a faster computer than it already is as this moment. If not, than there are some intersting bargains coming up as curretnly is already happening for students.

neutrino23 · Jul 21, 2003, 12:03 AM

This is really interesting. Nomura Denki is not one of the main sellers of Apple in Japan. Nevertheless, to announce that the TiBook is discontinued is rather a definite pronouncement. Not like they are just out of stock.

icruise · Jul 21, 2003, 12:59 AM

Yes, Japanese companies tend to be very conservative. They generally won't do or say anything that could possibly be misinterpreted or be the cause of some kind of problem. They tend not to follow the Best Buy/CompUSA policy of "say whatever BS you need to make a sale." So I tend to put more stock in this than I might with some other companies.

forcelite · Jul 21, 2003, 01:05 AM

I can say that apple resellers almost never know when a new item will be released, they can only speculate like we do, by shipping times and such.

BUT, I can say that the apple store has a lower stock than usual, quite lower, and unless new ones come in on tuesday (that is when the big shipments come in) then this is a big sign of something to come