I have been trying most every apple store around London since Tuesday 12 June calling at opening times and in the afternoon. I am contacting around 3 or 4 stores around London and greater UK and each with no stock and initially many without display models until the end of last week. In the week every conversation with a retail employee, business team, anyone spoken to at the apple store has not been able to give a date when the shipment will arrive, and simply to try again tomorrow as they hope to have them soon.

A few staff have sent me to the business team where I have registered interest and am told I will receive a call as soon as they are in stock but again the same non answer of having no idea when they will arrive. I have also been told by various staff that the Apple Store App will soon allow for reservation and collection in store when they arrive. In speaking to one store employee on Monday morning they claimed that either this evening at 9pm Monday June 18 or Tuesday the Apple Store App would allow for reservations of the macbook pro with an estimated collection date from the Apple Store.

John Lewis claim they have a stock which their distribution channel will be releasing on Friday. You can purchase now and upon release on Friday there is a guaranteed stock will available.Other resellers have had no stock and Stormfront have been the most helpful with an employee checking the incoming deliveries for the entire UK saying there are no deliveries coming Monday or Tuesday. I have also heard of online orders placed just after the apple online store came back online after the keynote announcement on Monday that have been arriving today if they were ordered right after the store came back online (when the dispatch window was at the shortest I think 3 to 5 days or 5 to 7)

My best guess at this stage is apple retail may receive them Wednesday earliest but likely before friday to give consumers visiting the apple store and business customers (already given an advantage over consumers by having a waiting list and supposedly being allowed to set aside part of the incoming stores stock just for business customers who have reserved which at this point consumers have not been able to do) an advantage over John Lewis if the Friday date is to be believed. I did research the Friday date online after John Lewis mentioned it to me on the telephone today and found similar reports from other people being told the same story about a Friday release. This is something Apple really messed up on, not having a consistent message to consumers that all staff members could tell consumers looking to purchase the new mac from their retail store. How Apple managed to miss this I just don't understand and it has created a real mess in the UK and a real frustration by consumers who are not getting a straight answer out of any Apple Retail employee. It's frustrating enough not being lucky enough to be able to get the product you are so excited about and want so bad, yet alone having to wait weeks for it, but add into the mix tales of some stores having it, some not, some people getting it here, some there, different answers from everyone you talk to, websites all saying different things.

All that people want to know is a set date that either all stores or a specific store will have stock and a fair orderly way to purchase the product from that store. If that means people queue all night and get the product then more power to them, or if it means that apple wants to start a reservation list on a first come first serve basis, that's fine as well, as long as it's standard for everyone and everyone knows the process and is told what the process is. I don't understand how this was missed in the UK and handled so badly.

Overall a very badly managed product launch in the UK made more frustrating by growing dispatch lengths on the online store and tales of consumers in other countries walking into stores and picking them up as the stores are getting regular daily deliveries. Very disappointed to be still waiting with no response or straight answer from anyone at apple or any admission that the UK's launch has not gone to plan but is being corrected, etc. Please make this right apple, divert some extra stock here, set a proper launch date, and fix this mess!

Well I live in Florida and the three Apple stores near me don't have any in stock. So you're full of it.