Stock of the Apple Pencil and Smart Keyboard remains low, but Apple is now allowing customers to use its Personal Pickup feature to order the devices online and arrange to pick them up in a local Apple Store. Enabling Personal Pickup may make it easier for customers hoping to get an Apple Pencil or Smart Keyboard to locate one nearby, as it lists retail stock that's shipped to stores each day.
Both the Apple Pencil and the Smart Keyboard were unavailable on the day the iPad Pro launched, with the earliest November 11 buyers receiving their accessories a week or two later. Those who were not lucky enough to order right at midnight when the iPad Pro launched were stuck with delivery estimates that ranged into late December. Orders placed today list a delivery estimate of mid-January.
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Though it's impossible to get an Apple Pencil or Smart Keyboard online, Apple has been sending small shipments of the accessories to its retail stores each day, allowing some lucky customers to purchase in store. Prior to today, the only way to get an Apple Pencil or Smart Keyboard was to show up shortly after a shipment was received, as there was no way to track supplies online. With Personal Pickup, it's now possible to see exactly which stores have which devices in stock in the United States and other countries.
It appears that the Apple Pencil and the Smart Keyboard are not available in many stores across the country at the current time, with stores in many of the major cities we checked listing it as "Unavailable for Pickup." A couple of MacRumors readers have been able to purchase an Apple Pencil for pickup, so stock levels may just be fluctuating based on the retail shipments received.
The Apple Pencil and the Smart Keyboard are priced at $99 and $169, respectively, and are designed to work solely with the iPad Pro, Apple's most powerful tablet device.
(Thanks, Noire!)
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