Xserve disappears from Apple's Education stores
Posted Feb 21st 2008 6:00PM by Christina Warren
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Enterprise, Hardware, Retail, Education, XServe
Tuesday's launch of
Xsan 2 coincided with the
discontinuation of Apple's Xserve RAID Enterprise storage system. For shopper's at the Apple Store for Education, it appears that the Xserve in general has been completely removed as well. Although refurbished Xserve servers still come up under a search (as do Xserve parts and accessories), the product page for Xserve is conspicuously missing.
Take a look at these screen shots, one is from the regular Apple Store, the other is from Apple Store for Education:
Where art thou, Xserve?
We're not sure if this was just a simple oversight or a sign of trends to come. It's possible Apple wasn't seeing the sales for the Xserve product at the Education store to warrant whatever hardware discount they might have offered. I also think it's possible that schools interested in getting an Xserve setup from Apple could probably do better the direct sales route, as opposed to using the web-based one-stop shop.
Whatever the reason, it is a bizarre exclusion -- and the first time I can recall an entire product being removed from one of Apple's pre-labeled storefronts.
Thanks to everyone who sent this in!
Tags: apple store, apple store for education, AppleStore, AppleStoreForEducation, weirdness, xserve
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
2-21-2008 @ 6:20PM
Pismodude said...
Oh, NO!
Reply
2-21-2008 @ 6:21PM
Dave said...
Considering that Apple just refreshed the XServe about two weeks ago, I think this is an error, and not an ominous predication of things to come.
Reply
2-21-2008 @ 6:34PM
dylan said...
As an admin responsible for purchasing, I can say the product had a pretty poor bang-for-buck ratio and the mac pro's are better value for money for running OSX server etc. Would be nice if they offered an entry-level rackmount server that tried to address the pricing divide.
Reply
2-21-2008 @ 6:44PM
Pete said...
I agree with you here. Especially considering the Mac mini is a great option as well. For six months, I've been running two Mac minis with Macminicolo. (http://www.macminicolo.net) They have been running OS X Server without a problem.
I think that chips are so advanced now so the Intel C2D in the mini and the capability of using 3GB of RAM perform great. (With this combo, they perform better than the G5 XServes that we were all completely happy with just a couple years ago.)
2-22-2008 @ 5:21PM
SubGenius said...
I couldn't agree more. Although storage has become a commodity business and since the enterprise space isn't Apple's forté. I think Apple should develop the iServe and iRAID and target them at the soho server and storage market. I think a Mac mini with a 32 GB SSD hard drive would make an excellent micro server. Hook up an iRAID(something like the Drobo) for your terabytes of MP3s/videos and you're set.
2-21-2008 @ 6:38PM
Chris said...
Are you looking at the individual or institution stores? I see Xserve just fine in the institution store...
Reply
2-21-2008 @ 6:49PM
Christina Warren said...
That's interesting - I just checked the institutional store, and while Xserve is listed, if I click on it, I'm just taken to a pre-configured iMac set-up and not shown the Xserve at all. It could just be my institution, but it's very odd.
2-21-2008 @ 7:32PM
Chris Saribay said...
That's strange- in an uncustomized institution store, I'm seeing not just seeing Xserve in the navigation, but it clicks through with the discounted price ($2699 vs $2999).
2-22-2008 @ 8:52AM
Matt Stocum said...
It's gone from the nav, but I still have a discounted price on it too.
2-21-2008 @ 6:46PM
Michael said...
Chris is right. I see it in the Institutional Purchase store, but not the Personal Purchase store.
Reply
2-21-2008 @ 6:47PM
Nate said...
Yeah, I've never seen "Xserve" show up in the individual education store. I've always had to go to Institution to spec out Xserve's. I never made a point to keep track, but I know it's been missing before.
Reply
2-21-2008 @ 6:51PM
shaun said...
If they were stopping the discount on Xserve it wouldn't be removed from the store, it would just be present minus the discount.
iPods, iPhone and Apple TV don't have discounts (dammit! I need an iPhone for erm...study) and they're still on the store
Reply
2-21-2008 @ 7:38PM
Bill Eccles said...
On the other hand, OSX Server has been missing from the EduStore for several years now, so it wouldn't be much of a surprise to me at all to see that they're missing. I presume you can still purchase OSXS if you're one of the designated purchasers for your institution.
Reply
2-21-2008 @ 8:11PM
Tallman610 said...
Searching xServe at the education institution store yields the same old xServe page with all configurations and showing 1-3 days delivery. We have been running G4 and a G5 xServes 24/7 for years and I have hopes of budgeting at least 2 more for the coming year. I hope that we have a refresh coming instead of being pushed into a Mac Pro.
Reply
2-21-2008 @ 9:32PM
macman2539 said...
Yeah, I went to my school's store, and Xserve is there, and it has never been on the personal store, as far as I have known.
Reply
2-21-2008 @ 11:19PM
williamlane said...
http://www.macworld.com/article/132164/2008/02/raid.html
Where it says....
"Apple on Tuesday quietly discontinued its Xserve RAID enterprise storage product line. It disappeared from the online Apple Store shortly after the company introduced Xsan 2 this morning. Industry analysts don’t believe the discontinuation will have a negative impact on the company’s enterprise market."
Might this have anything to do with it?
Reply
2-21-2008 @ 11:29PM
kikuchiyo ali said...
Where for art though, doesn't mean where, as in location, it means why. Read a book for God's sake.
Reply
2-21-2008 @ 11:57PM
Michael Rose said...
kikuchiyo -- the caption says "Where art thou," not "wherefore art thou." Read the post, for God's sake, before you betray your own ignor... oh, too late.
:-)
(Having been bit by the wherefore/where error myself, I was not about to let Christina fall victim. http://www.tuaw.com/2007/09/28/wherefore-art-thou-final-cut-server/ )
2-22-2008 @ 12:04AM
Michael Rose said...
And, by the way... "where for art though" doesn't appear anywhere in the post, nor in all of Shakespeare. If you're going to take the time to criticize other people's education (or lack thereof), well, you stand a better chance of gaining the literary high ground if you get the spelling right.
Ah, that feels better. Thanks for letting me work out some of the day's frustrations on you. Much appreciated!
2-22-2008 @ 12:23AM
Jason in FL said...
Why does Apple expect good sales of Xserves or Xserve Raids when the haven't done jack to support it. Enterprise is like the bastard stepchild of Apple. OSX Server is awesome when I demo it for clients, but they get turned off by the support and follow thorough of the division. Get serious about enterprise or just get out of the game Apple.
Reply