Scoop of what, exactly?
I don't see how anything I posted is dumb, maybe a little too dramatic, sure. Anything Kormac has talked about has not come to pass and never will. My analysis is at least as in tune with reality as his.
That price increase is just plain contemptuous of loyal Apple customers. Before, Apple was falling behind by moving slowly on spec and standing pat on price, now they're falling further behind by standing pat on spec while raising prices.
I sure hope this is temporary. I think that it is, but it's bad press nonetheless. In an industry that isn't exactly fair to Apple they're going to get lambasted for this price increase. Margins are certainly important, but you simply cannot compete without lower priced models. Those don't have to be low margin models, but they need to get affordable to larger audience if they are truly serious about market share. Anyone with a long term business investment in a platform needs to be concerned about market share too. Timely updates of software, third party support, peripheral availibility, etc depends on that.
Why isn't there a 500 USD computer in the Apple line-up? Many people simply WILL NOT buy a computer above that price point. If they can't build the CRT iMac down to that price, then they need to re-engineer it so that they can. Consumers, education buyers, and businesses who vote with their pocketbooks, have been voting against Apple's rigid product structures. IF you need to strip down a computers spec a bit to get a cheaper option, then do it. This isn't like selling a high-end car, or a watch. When some-one buys a computer, they begin making a software investment in that platform. Eventually, the prospect of switching just becomes too expensive/inconvenient, even when people would really like to switch. A sale lost today isn't neccessarily a sale you can get back on the next upgrade cycle. It is even more important to bring people into a platform on the entry level.
Apple's software answer has been brilliant. And it's professional hardware answer adequate. But it has no complete consumer hardware answer. Recent moves only take Apple further out of the low-end market, which incidentally is the only market that can grow your market-share. While it isn't catastrophic to raise prices, it is pretty bad. Tied into a recent trend of sloth like hardware advancement, it just looks that much worse.
People don't really mind paying more, but they want to get more when they do. Take the iPod and HD display. No problem with those. They're clearly high-end products, with high, but very competitive prices. iMac is supposed to be a consumer machine, and as such it is approaching the wrong end of the consumer price range. They need to do better.
I don't see how anything I posted is dumb, maybe a little too dramatic, sure. Anything Kormac has talked about has not come to pass and never will. My analysis is at least as in tune with reality as his.
That price increase is just plain contemptuous of loyal Apple customers. Before, Apple was falling behind by moving slowly on spec and standing pat on price, now they're falling further behind by standing pat on spec while raising prices.
I sure hope this is temporary. I think that it is, but it's bad press nonetheless. In an industry that isn't exactly fair to Apple they're going to get lambasted for this price increase. Margins are certainly important, but you simply cannot compete without lower priced models. Those don't have to be low margin models, but they need to get affordable to larger audience if they are truly serious about market share. Anyone with a long term business investment in a platform needs to be concerned about market share too. Timely updates of software, third party support, peripheral availibility, etc depends on that.
Why isn't there a 500 USD computer in the Apple line-up? Many people simply WILL NOT buy a computer above that price point. If they can't build the CRT iMac down to that price, then they need to re-engineer it so that they can. Consumers, education buyers, and businesses who vote with their pocketbooks, have been voting against Apple's rigid product structures. IF you need to strip down a computers spec a bit to get a cheaper option, then do it. This isn't like selling a high-end car, or a watch. When some-one buys a computer, they begin making a software investment in that platform. Eventually, the prospect of switching just becomes too expensive/inconvenient, even when people would really like to switch. A sale lost today isn't neccessarily a sale you can get back on the next upgrade cycle. It is even more important to bring people into a platform on the entry level.
Apple's software answer has been brilliant. And it's professional hardware answer adequate. But it has no complete consumer hardware answer. Recent moves only take Apple further out of the low-end market, which incidentally is the only market that can grow your market-share. While it isn't catastrophic to raise prices, it is pretty bad. Tied into a recent trend of sloth like hardware advancement, it just looks that much worse.
People don't really mind paying more, but they want to get more when they do. Take the iPod and HD display. No problem with those. They're clearly high-end products, with high, but very competitive prices. iMac is supposed to be a consumer machine, and as such it is approaching the wrong end of the consumer price range. They need to do better.
IBL!
IBL!
