Apple removes estimated shipping times from online store
A day after shipping times slipped for a number of Apple products — most notably the soon-to-be-updated iPhone — the company has removed estimated shipping times from its online store.
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Previously, users were able to see how long it would take for a product to ship. Well-stocked devices would ship within 24 hours, while newly launched in-demand products can sometimes take weeks to arrive.
On Thursday, AppleInsider noted that U.S. iPhone 4 order ship times had slippedto one to three business days, from their previous estimated shipping of within 24 hours. The slower shipping applied not only to all models of the iPhone 4 stateside, but a number of other products in the Apple store.
But on Friday, as noted by AppleBitch, Apple opted to remove estimated shipping times completely from its online store. Now, users are simply able to see whether a product is “in stock,” and no turnaround time is given on any product’s selection page.
Shipping times have been a good indication of Apple’s available inventory of a given device. The company will typically draw down its production of hardware before a new model is introduced; for example, in February shipping times for the MacBook Pro slipped tothree to five days just prior to a refresh of the notebooks.
Via: AppleInsider.com