Jobs' marketing genius: What this tells us about new Powermacs.
This one's serious.
Many are asking, why the hell is Jobs letting the Powermac line wallow in such mediocre specs for so long? Why is Apple sitting on G5s, or at the very least faster G4s, rather than announce new Powermacs. And I think I've found a reasonable explanation, but keep in mind, please, that it is only speculation.
I think that Apple purposely finessed the release of the G4 iMac to coincide with a lame, long in the tooth Powermac line, for the sole purpose of making the iMac appear better than it actually is. Because as long as the Powermacs top out at 867 MHz, the G4 iMac appears to be a raging beast of a performer. But next to 1.6 GHz G5 Powermacs, well that G4 iMac doesn't look so great any longer.
If this is true, then we may have to wait until all of the iMacs have begun shipping for new Powermacs. It would be in Apple's best interest to keep their desktop product line in it's current state to kick-start iMac sales during the "pre-order" phase. This is an important window for Apple, because of the bandwagon marketing strategy (which M$ has proven to be incredibly effective)--the more iMacs that sell in it's first few months of availability, the more buyers there will be later. Apple will tout the iMac's strong initial sales, and potential buyers will see that and respond, thinking that if it's selling so well, then maybe there's a GOOD reason. I believe that Jobs is enough of a genius to know that it helps Apple in the long term to let the Powermac line suffer for a few months, so that the new iMac launch is as successful as possible.
After the iMac has hit the show floor running, it will be time to update the Powermacs and put the iMac back in it's place. Thus I believe we will see Powermac G5's introduced in March, if not shipping immediately. Isn't there a trade show in March, like Seybold, MW Tokyo, or something? Well, at one of these, I bet the G5 makes its debut. And if the G5 is half as good as I've read, then it's going to sell itself, no RDF needed.
Many are asking, why the hell is Jobs letting the Powermac line wallow in such mediocre specs for so long? Why is Apple sitting on G5s, or at the very least faster G4s, rather than announce new Powermacs. And I think I've found a reasonable explanation, but keep in mind, please, that it is only speculation.
I think that Apple purposely finessed the release of the G4 iMac to coincide with a lame, long in the tooth Powermac line, for the sole purpose of making the iMac appear better than it actually is. Because as long as the Powermacs top out at 867 MHz, the G4 iMac appears to be a raging beast of a performer. But next to 1.6 GHz G5 Powermacs, well that G4 iMac doesn't look so great any longer.
If this is true, then we may have to wait until all of the iMacs have begun shipping for new Powermacs. It would be in Apple's best interest to keep their desktop product line in it's current state to kick-start iMac sales during the "pre-order" phase. This is an important window for Apple, because of the bandwagon marketing strategy (which M$ has proven to be incredibly effective)--the more iMacs that sell in it's first few months of availability, the more buyers there will be later. Apple will tout the iMac's strong initial sales, and potential buyers will see that and respond, thinking that if it's selling so well, then maybe there's a GOOD reason. I believe that Jobs is enough of a genius to know that it helps Apple in the long term to let the Powermac line suffer for a few months, so that the new iMac launch is as successful as possible.
After the iMac has hit the show floor running, it will be time to update the Powermacs and put the iMac back in it's place. Thus I believe we will see Powermac G5's introduced in March, if not shipping immediately. Isn't there a trade show in March, like Seybold, MW Tokyo, or something? Well, at one of these, I bet the G5 makes its debut. And if the G5 is half as good as I've read, then it's going to sell itself, no RDF needed.
Comments
[quote]Quote from PPC8500
....guess sacrificing some powermac sales was worth having the iMac comparible in speeds to the Powermacs at the time of intro help the impact of the product . Now that Apple has a huge number of preorders of people thinking they're getting top of the line speed (which they ALMOST are (L3 cache,133 bus, GF3, expandability blah blah) ) and now at seybold they can roll in the new heavy artillery.
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I think you are spot on. Plus, I think Apple is making it's highest margins on the high end iMac which is what most people will order even if they didn't initially want it because they can get it sooner.
Waiting a month or more for the G5 or whatever, will seem like a mere blip later this year. That's why I also think this temporary speed bump G4 thing is garbage. When the new powermacs come out, I think they will rock. There will be separation from the iMac.
By then, a lot of iMacs will have been sold and preordered.
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Plus, I think Apple is making it's highest margins on the high end iMac which is what most people will order even if they didn't initially want it because they can get it sooner.
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I find that kinda unlikely. The price delta between the combo drive and the super drive alone is probably already more than the $300 that Apple charges more for the high-end model (and it also is 100MHz faster and has a 20GB larger hard drive).
Bye,
RazzFazz
Remember when Jobs said that the iMac high end model would ship first because of demand? Then the following machines would ship in Feb and Marc, paving the road for the new Powermac.
That is my guess as of now, I hope I am right.
The Powermacs are not even that bad of a deal right now, IMHO. I think Apple realizes that if a true mac user Pro customer needs a new machine, the PM DP 800 is still the best computer they can buy.
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I think that Apple purposely finessed the release of the G4 iMac to coincide with a lame, long in the tooth Powermac line, for the sole purpose of making the iMac appear better than it actually is. Because as long as the Powermacs top out at 867 MHz, the G4 iMac appears to be a raging beast of a performer. But next to 1.6 GHz G5 Powermacs, well that G4 iMac doesn't look so great any longer. </strong><hr></blockquote>
Sorry about that. If it annoyed you please see in "Suggestions".
More seriously: I thought the same for a long while. But if the "Apple make 3 times the profit per unit on the pro line than on the consumer" we hear a lot is true they would be shooting themselves in the foot. Then they would be losing money on those who bought the new iMac instead of the low end PM. Of course it would look good to the wintel user that the iMac was on pair with the PM but they would have to convert 3 times more wintel users by this tactic than the number of Mac users that desided to buy the new iMac instead of the PM.
And Apple can´t even keep up with the demand on iMacs right now. It would be better for them to spread the sales out on more models. That would give them more sales.
I don´t say you aren´t right but if you were they should get those new PMs out right now. The iMac have done its job now and right now they are losing overall from not having a proper PM.
<strong>I find this scenario very smart if Apple is indeed doing something along these lines.
Remember when Jobs said that the iMac high end model would ship first because of demand? Then the following machines would ship in Feb and Marc, paving the road for the new Powermac.
That is my guess as of now, I hope I am right.
The Powermacs are not even that bad of a deal right now, IMHO. I think Apple realizes that if a true mac user Pro customer needs a new machine, the PM DP 800 is still the best computer they can buy.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Read this^
Maybe a slight loss is worth it because of the ever important future success?
[ 01-26-2002: Message edited by: Macintosh ]</p>
<strong>I totally agree. I mean does it honestly make sense that they haven't yet released a Powermac sporting slightly faster G4s on the same mobo? I would hope not. I think the iMac is a fantastic machine, but I still don't think a 800 MHz G4 is something to sing about. Yes it's pretty fast, but you have to realize the G4 isn't all it's cracked up to be. I hope for my sake G5s are coming soon, because the Wintel world is dark and scary.</strong><hr></blockquote>
I can only pray for you. I would home that a Mac fanatic like you would know that MHz doesnt matter at all. Do you have an unusually small penis?
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I can only pray for you. I would home that a Mac fanatic like you would know that MHz doesnt matter at all. Do you have an unusually small penis?</strong><hr></blockquote>
You're right that MHz doesn't matter totally, but to a certain extent it does. Intel is so far ahead now. Just face it Macintosh, they're chips are faster than the G4s right now,
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You're right that MHz doesn't matter totally, but to a certain extent it does. Intel is so far ahead now. Just face it Macintosh, they're chips are faster than the G4s right now,</strong><hr></blockquote>
I dont have to admit what is not true in all cases. The G4 kicks the shit out of many most P4 systems. Sorry, but the G4 is still the best on the block.
TW99, "Oh man, I need a 2.4 Ghz computer because my neighbor has a P4 2.2 Ghz and that makes mine seem slow and my penis small."
In 2 out of 10 Altivec-enhanced Photoshop filters. I don't need Steve Jobs to think for me Macintosh.
Comparing the dual systems to single chip systems isn't quite legit either, because both Athlons and P4 can be dual too.
MHz myth is true as long as the IPS count (Instructions per second) can make up the MHz difference. That is no longer true with a 1.4GHz gap, unfortunately.
Face it Macintosh, Macs are slower now, but that doesn't make them bad.
G-News
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I dont have to admit what is not true in all cases. The G4 kicks the shit out of many most P4 systems. Sorry, but the G4 is still the best on the block.
TW99, "Oh man, I need a 2.4 Ghz computer because my neighbor has a P4 2.2 Ghz and that makes mine seem slow and my penis small."</strong><hr></blockquote>
Yeah, the G4 does kick the shit out of most P4 systems, but not all. I'd like to see the Dual 800 go against a 2GHz P4. I'm sorry but Apple's Pro line is pretty sad right now.
And maybe Tiger wants a faster G4 or G5 because he wants something good for the future. It seems like he doesn't get a new computer very often since he's still on a Beige G3 so maybe that's why, but I don't know.
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^
Sorry about that. If it annoyed you please see in "Suggestions".</strong><hr></blockquote>
See, your second post was the better and more mature response. But I think you at least understand what I'm saying now