New iMacs Now Available…Or Are They? (AAPL)

On Apple's AAPL website, the company boasts about the new iMac, which features “all quad core processors, up to 2x faster graphics, and high-speed Thunderbolt.” “Test-drive one today at your Apple Retail Store,” it says. But after checking with a few locations across the country, it appears that Apple may have jumped the gun. While Apple stores in New York and Massachusetts already received their iMac shipments, Apple stores in Orlando and San Francisco did not. “We should have them in the next couple of days,” an employee from the Orlando outlet said. “We might have them later today,” a clerk at the San Francisco location remarked. While the employee at the New York location could not tell us how many units had been sold or if there was even a line, the employee at the Apple Store in Massachusetts said that there hadn't been much of a rush for people to buy the upgraded iMac. This is to be expected, of course. New computers rarely receive the same publicity and consumer support as a new iPhone or new iPad. Regardless, analysts are impressed with the new iMac. “It is [a] solid upgrade,” said Trip Chowdhry, Managing Director of Equity Research at Global Equities Research. “And [it] distances itself from [the] competition.” “The new iMacs have done well in targeting the high-end of the computer market,” said Edward Zabitsky, Principal and CEO of ACI Research. “They did not skimp on any components.” “The more interesting discussion will surround the interplay of heavy and light computing,” Zabitsky added.