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Comment by mikestew | Hacker News Reader

I remember the good old days when Apple made an announcement and you could head to the local Apple store that day and buy one. AirPods were worth the wait, I hope this thing is.

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I prefer the Apple that is willing to forgo a holiday shopping season to make sure the product meets their standard of quality.

I agree, but I think Apple should have waited on announcing this product until it was ready to ship

If they have no existing product on the market to Osborne then pre-announcing the product is fine and probably good if it depresses sales to competitors.

Oh, I'd prefer that, too. But there was a time when quality and availability would converge at the time of announcement. Not always, as with the iPhone and iPod Touch. But with the iPhone/iPod I imagine that was due to FCC filing than getting it right. The HomePod probably needs an FCC cert, too, but that wouldn't explain the long time to availability, with another delay on top.

So, yeah, take your time, Apple, and get it right. But that doesn't mean I can't be disappointed.

They announced the iPhone months in advance of its availability. Even the iPod was announced three weeks in advance of its availability date.

I would guess they were trying to gauge interest so they would know how much to ramp up manufacturing.

> In the end, Apple decided to reveal the iPhone several months ahead of its official June launch because it could not keep the secret any more. Apple has to file with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for the permits needed to operate the iPhone, and once those public filings are made, Apple has no control over the release of that information. So, Jobs said, he made the decision to have Apple tell the world about its new phone, rather than the FCC.

Source: http://archive.fortune.com/2007/01/10/commentary/lewis_fortu...

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