[clb5]

I went to the Apple Store yesterday to see about purchasing another iSight for my in-laws (I bought two late last month). I wanted to check the sys-reqs since they have an older iMac. But the Apple website would not connect to the iSight page. Even using the Hardware tab at the website doesn't work. The apple.com/isght link forwards you to an accessories page at the store. Pretty damn annoying. So I ask a clerk what's going on. He goes to the website the way I do. He tries searcing the website (I did that already to no avail). Then I wonder if they've discontinued the product so I Google "iSight discontinued" and sure enough there are rumours that it has been off the webstore (no mention of the hardware page) since mid-month.
The clerk says they've been selling them and goes to the back to check. I try searching for Mac/Apple sites to see what's up. There is no announcement by Apple. Just dead links on their site.
So, Apple doesn't tell their customers and doesn't tell their own employees what's going on. I get stuck in the store waiting for an Apple clerk to check on someting Apple apparently isn't selling and hasn't bothered to tell anybody it isn't selling.
Which should I conclude:

Apple is so incompetent they can't run their own website properly to inform visitors of product changes
Apple is so incompetent they can't inform their employees about their product line weeks after changes
Apple just doesn't give a damn about their customers' or their employees' time that it sends them on snipe hunts

[/list]
I'm ready for an upgrade, but I think I'm going to "Switch Back." Why pay more for lousy service.

[macnuke]

oh well
speaking of incompetence....
it's been public knowledge, on many websites including this one, most all of the Mac magazines and probably half the blogs that the iSight has been discontinued.

[Typhoon14]

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I'm ready for an upgrade, but I think I'm going to "Switch Back." Why pay more for lousy service.

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Heh, a company stops making a camera you like so you ditch the entire platform. How perfectly logical. Oh well it's your time and money.

[griffman]

More than likely, it has been discontinued. I would expect that something will take its place at Macworld Expo in a few weeks -- but perhaps not a standalone camera (i.e. cameras integrated into new monitors).
As to whether the non-announcement was intentional or not, only Apple knows. If I had to bet, I'd guess it's intentional, and that we'll see something like "Apple's new displays include built-in iSight; iSight standalone discontinued' as a press release during Expo week. But that's a total guess.
Apple's always been very secretive about product plans -- often to the detriment of its customers. If that's a concern to you, then switching back might be the best advice, as it's quite likely to happen again in the future. (Many people here will tell you they bought machine X on day Y, only to find out that machine X+1 was released within a relatively short timeframe. And yes, I'd be one of those people.)
-rob.

[dougster]

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(Many people here will tell you they bought machine X on day Y, only to find out that machine X+1 was released within a relatively short timeframe. And yes, I'd be one of those people.)

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Me too and even waited until after the San Francisco MacWorld Expo in '03.. /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

[clb5]

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(Many people here will tell you they bought machine X on day Y, only to find out that machine X+1 was released within a relatively short timeframe. And yes, I'd be one of those people.)

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I'm willing to take product upgrades in stride, although I'm not happy about it. What I find abhorrent is Apple failing to make clear what's going on to the point that its own employees waste my time looking for something that doesn't exist.
Re macnuke's post, if it was "public knowledge" for some time, why didn't the Apple clerk tell me that rather than going to the back to look for one?

[macnuke]

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Re macnuke's post, if it was "public knowledge" for some time, why didn't the Apple clerk tell me that rather than going to the back to look for one?

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It's not Apple's fault the salesperson didn't do their homework.

[dmod415]

If the purpose of your post was to buy an iSight (following close before midnight 12/27:
Brand New in Box:
http://cgi.ebay.com/...1QQcmdZViewItem
"Like New":
http://cgi.ebay.com/...1QQcmdZViewItem
http://cgi.ebay.com/...1QQcmdZViewItem
http://cgi.ebay.com/...1QQcmdZViewItem
http://cgi.ebay.com/...1QQcmdZViewItem
http://cgi.ebay.com/...1QQcmdZViewItem
Apple does, at times, appear to subscribe to the "if you're the only girl in town, you don't need deodorant" school of public relations. There are no more Mac "Evangelists" and, like dealing with cell phone companies, your choice may sometimes seem between those that make you mad, those that make you really mad, or those that bring you to a state of apoplexy.
Can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em. I would rate my successful transition to OS X right up there with successful chemotherapy, and the death of my warm and fuzzy feeling for Apple an unnecessary side effect.

[MCJ]

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It's not Apple's fault the salesperson didn't do their homework.

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If there had been an official announcement from Apple and THEN the employee was in the dark I would tend to agree with you, but to be fair I think that the onus should be on Apple to provide feedback to its staff and customers if a particular product has been discontinued.
On the other hand employees merely represent the companies they work for so in either case Apple would have to share at least some of the responsibility.

[DarthMac]

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Re macnuke's post, if it was "public knowledge" for some time, why didn't the Apple clerk tell me that rather than going to the back to look for one?

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It's not Apple's fault the salesperson didn't do their homework.

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Or maybe he knew and went into the back to drink his coffee in peace and get a break from an obnoxious customer.

[GmanMac]

Very old news. Why the surprise and indignation?

[clb5]

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If the purpose of your post was to buy an iSight (following close before midnight 12/27:

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Thank you for the leads.

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Very old news. Why the surprise and indignation?

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Like I said in #466497, if it was "very old news" why didn't Apple clerk know about it? If an Apple consumer is supposed to know, I would expect their employee to know. Apple should inform us of news about its products; not rumor sites that Apple likes to sue.
Moreover, Apple has kept a misleading link on its page -- the hardware link takes you to the store accessories page, not the hardware page. How hard is it to say "stay tuned for MacWorld announcement"? If, instead, Apple doesn't want anyone to know its going to change the product, they should have left the hardware data page up.
Apple chooses to send its consumers on snipe hunts on its own page.

[sandbag1]

Get over it Mam.

[trapperjohn4077]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISight
There is a small paragraph about a restriction that they are trying to follow.