Reports: Apple Mac Pro Ship Dates Slide to April

Apple’s (AAPL) Mac Pro, the newly styled, futuristic, high-powered black cylinder the vendor introduced in December, is still mired in back-order quicksand, with reports that supply and demand issues have slipped new order ship dates by two months to April.

According to reports in MacGeneration, a French site, shipment dates for new orders in China, France, Germany, Japan and the United Kingdom have slid to April and, as documented by ComputerWorld, similar delivery estimates now are in place for North America.

While Apple heavily promoted its decision to make the new Mac Pro in Austin, Texas, the ever-lengthening delays point to problems with producing enough machines at the facility—unless, of course, the unlikely event the shortages are by design.

Still, even if Mac sales totals lag owing to supply problems, it doesn’t involve big numbers—Apple sold 4.8 million Macs in its recently completed Q1 2014, up 17 percent—a decent performance in a tough PC environment but a far cry from the 51 million iPhones and 26 million iPads it moved for the period. Overall, the Mac accounts for about 12 percent of Apple’s sales, and, with the initial round of Mac Pro shipments spinning its wheels, Apple won’t be able to record some of the associated revenue in its FQ2.

The high demand and persistently constrained supply appears to have given life to a new round of price gouging for the system, with Geek reporting that sellers on eBay were asking more than $4,000 for an in-box stock configuration, normally list priced at $2,999. And, ComputerWorld said it came across a number of instances on auction sites with asking prices of $6,250 for Mac Pro units Apple sells for $3,999.

At this point, prospective buyers have two options to get the new Mac Pro—wait at least two months or pay an exorbitant premium, neither of which are very palatable choices.