Quote:
Originally Posted by vinea;
Apple does not "sacrifice" its margins on the Mac Pro. Dell simply cannot be profitable without having some high margin items in its lineup. It has high margin items in its workstation and servers. Apple competes with Dell only in these areas. Not where the margins are thin. Why? Because it fits their corporate strategy and strenghts.
How is this hard to understand? Apple targets 28% margins across the entire lineup, higher ASPs and smaller volume. Dell shoots for higher volume, low ASPs and margins that range from razor thin in the $300 PC market all the way beyond Apple levels at the high end.
It is highly unlikely that Apple (or anyone) can get 28% margins in the $1000 tower market and it sure as hell is true that Dell ISN'T getting 28% margins in their $1000 towers. Yet most if not every proponent of the xMac INSISTS that Apple can magically make $1000 towers at 28% margins and gain share.
You will have to prove to me that Apple gets 28% on each computer they sell. That's just silly, stop making stuff up.
Dell's margins on their workstation are higher than Apple's
For what possible reason would Apple not target those higher margins? The obvious answer is to promote sales. Your conjecture that Apple is doing it to maintain some mythical 28% margin across each product is wrong. You want evidence, explain the just announced quarters 35% margins.
Yes, I understand. Occam's razor and all.
Your arguments is another example of the shear unbelievable lengths to which the anti xMac posters have to go to in order to justify their rationalizations.
Quote:
Originally Posted by vinea;
It has been documented that Intel has stated they make no discounts except on volume to avoid any more legal entanglements.
Intel can add. That's the entire point. They can see that 2M units of mobile parts is larger than 1.5M units of mobile parts. They don't CARE if Apple uses them for notebooks or AIOs. All they care about is volume.
Dell and HP make more notebooks than Apple. Their notebook growths are also no anemic. The 500K notebooks/qtr only helps level the field and delay the inevitable.
You keep mentioning quantity price breaks that manufacturers get.
QUOTE THEM FOR CLARITY
Apple's laptops are quite competitvely priced, yet I do believe other manufacturer's volumes are higher. Wouldn't that mean that Apple again is sacrificing margins for sales?
Or would you have us believe that other manufacturer's margins are higher than Apple's for comparable laptops, but even then this would mean that Apple is sacrificying margins for sales.
Quote:
Originally Posted by vinea;
Sony has had an AIO in their line up for a long time. Thier AIO is far less capable than the iMac and more expensive. That's hardly "willing to do so at lower margins".
The article does not speak to the AIO but rather the towers they had and their media centric strategy.
The point is that only the AIO remains and not the towers...not even the Sony faithful purchased Sony towers and they were actually pretty nice.
Sony had mid-priced VAIO towers. Just look at reviews for them in the 2000-2004 timeframe.
Vinea
OK, I believe you, Sony has had AIO for awhile. SO WHAT, it doesn't sell, it won't sell, the vast majority of consumers don't want it and in the Window's world there are plenty of options. This proves nothing.
Why they dropped towers is beyond me. Here's my pet theory. They are trying to more closely integrate their computer line-ups wtih there other product lines, camcorders, dvd players, stereo systems, TV's creating a natural synergy. So what, tens of millions of people are buying mid range towers that have more than acceptable margins.
Quote:
Originally Posted by vinea;
PS Don't like being "milked"? Don't buy. Let the market decide. Somehow though, it seems Apple is doing awesome with its current strategy.
I own a Powerbook and iMac, I like OS X, I know OS X, I like Final Cut Express. I accept Apple's pathological resistence to providing hardware that is consumer friendly.
What the anti xMac crowd does not seem to grasp is THAT MOST PEOPLE DON'T ACCEPT IT, and when trying to capture market share, WHICH APPLE HAS STATED THEY WANT TO DO, they must conjole, attract, appeal to CURRENT WINDOWS USERS, that have not been limited to niche market AIO, ultra small Mac minis. By and large they have rejected them en mass.
Yes, Apple is doing awesome, I agree. They were also doing awesome with mind boggling margins in the 25 - 35% range, when they lost the computer and OS wars. In board meetings they laughed about the low margins of their competitors back then and I'm sure they are now.
