Apple to release a Sub-$500 Mac at Macworld Expo
Dec 29, 04 12:03 AM PDT
The rumor (from thinksecret) is spreading that they will launch a sub-$500 iMac during the MacWorld Expo held on January 11th. The codename for the new computer is Q88. The machine would be *very* (hear book-sized computer). It could be put under a monitor or stay on its side, like a book. Of course for this price you won't have an integrated screen. If this is true, it would confirm that Apple wants to capitalize on the "halo" effect that the iPod has on the brand. For the first time in years, people are considering buying a mac as a first computer because Apple has the image of being consumer (or user) friendly (This is the subject of an endless debate …). Continued in the full post… |
Did Apple get bitten by the low-price bug?
If they can pull it off, they will enter into a new market for them: a mass-market of first-time users. They might actually do better at it than many PC manufacturers. Apple controls everything that is in the computer, from hardware to software. They will probably make it impossible to upgrade, hence, reducing the chances that the consumer will break something or add an incompatible hardware, a problem that plagues many PC vendors.
I would even argue that these low-cost PCs would be nothing else then a way to get on their iTunes stores, allowing Apple to sell even more (high margins) iPod, accessories and songs. In one word, this new sub-$500 is nothing but an "enabler". In the PC world, it would be like intel selling "chipsets" (the chip that controls the PC main board - motherboard) to boost the sales of their microprocessors.
The time when Apple was living of a niche market made of designers, artists and scientists will soon be gone, and Apple knows it. In tomorrow's computer world, the consumer rules and the companies that cannot attract the consumer will be in big troubles.
If true, this would be a very smart move from Apple. They have to capitalize *now* while they have the iPod "halo" effect. Good move.
Specs
• 256MB of RAM
• USB 2.0
• FireWire 400
• 10/100 BASE-T Ethernet
• 56K V.92 modem
• AirPort Extreme support
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