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What to Expect from Macworld Tomorrow
Steve writes "The Mac fellows at iThings.de have posted an entertaining read about what could happen on Tuesday at Macworld in San Francisco."
That's pretty good. Also at the top of the reading list for such Apple rumor satire is Crazy Apple Rumors.
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Apple's releasing a secretly developed video-enabled color-changing 19" Bluetooth/802.11g iPod-style Firewire 2 Web Address Book PVR/web browser
Something like a quad-G4 machine with support for three 23" cinema displays and a case that floats 4" above your desk.
Otherwise it will be more interesting hardware and clever software that I cannot afford.
Yeah, I'm sure Apple would make tons of profit if they went after that "people with no money" market.
The difference with Apple and consoles is huge. Consoles have huge cash reserves from previous successes. Also, the money they lose in selling boxes is quickly recouped in the income from license fees on titles. Apple doesn't get $10 when you buy Photoshop.
Additionally, if you start selling at lower prices, get a bigger market share while making a loss (or a very slim profit) and then raise prices when you have market share, you become everything that Wal*Mart is.
For my last point, you should also take note that Apple's hardware sales support not only production, but the OS and all the iApps you could ever hope for. Think about where the $1,799 goes for the 15" flat panel iMac with SuperDrive:
15" LCD screen
800 Mhz G4
60 gig HD
GeForce 2
Ethernet, modem
DVD-R (RW, though not well advertised)
Mac OS X
AppleWorks
iMovie
iDVD
iPhoto
iTunes
iCal
iSync
Sherlock
Mail
Plenty More...
That what was all this school was for... to teach us how to solve our own problems. -- janeowit
seems to be working for Dell...
Dell computers are not particularly less expensive than Apple computers. You'll spend between $700 and $5000 on a computer from either company. Sure, you can build a pretty good PC for around $400, but you can't get a full machine with monitor from dell for that cheap. They advertise a $449 machine on their site under "Hot deals" but by the time you get it into your cart it's basically stripped down and doesn't include any support or labor warranty. It also doesn't include a monitor.
Apple should dispense with the huge profit margin
Why? Aren't profits more important than market share? Who cares if you've only got 15% of the market as long as you're making money?
I think it's nice to have a company like Apple around. They're willing to take design risks and charge the high prices that allown them to take design risks simply because they only target a small portion of the market. If it makes you upset that you can't afford a mac, you can always pick up a used on for a fairly reasonable price.