New iMac will make Apple lose education market
Don't get me wrong. The new style is cool and the price isn't that bad for consumer
But the price is going to be disasterous to education market. Schools don't have buget to buy the new iMac. Those schools don't care about the form factor. All they care is price.
I am kind of shocked to see they even ditch out the old iMac.
If they keep on selling the CRT based iMac at $799 that would be great to schools. But actually Apple kills it all together.
I think this is a stupid mistake.
But the price is going to be disasterous to education market. Schools don't have buget to buy the new iMac. Those schools don't care about the form factor. All they care is price.
I am kind of shocked to see they even ditch out the old iMac.
If they keep on selling the CRT based iMac at $799 that would be great to schools. But actually Apple kills it all together.
I think this is a stupid mistake.
Comments
<strong>I'm glad they kept the CRT model for schools, but couldn't the schools afford $1299? They did it with the original iMac.</strong><hr></blockquote>
I know what you mean. But now the price of the PC is plumpletting.
If you are a non-computer savvy or "don't care the OS" person like those people work in school board. When you see a $700 computer and a $1299 computer. Which one you will go for? They will go to the cheaper one without second thought. Cause all they care is price
[ 01-07-2002: Message edited by: Leonis ]</p>
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If you are a non-computer savvy or "don't care the OS" person like those people work in school board. When you see a $700 computer and a $1299 computer. Which one you will go for? They will go to the cheaper one without second thought. Cause all they care is price
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Good point. I didn't think of that.
I said the low end WILL be $1300, I didn't say the low end IS $1300. Future tense instead of present tense. Do you think Apple intends to continue selling CRT iMacs? I have read many reports of low supplies. It would appear they are being phased out as the new iMacs are being phased in. By March when the low-end flat panel iMac is available I would suspect it will be near impossible to find a CRT iMac new. I think they would be smart to continue to sell the CRT iMac, but they'll need to up the spec a bit and I seriously doubt they'll do that.
Even if they DID stop selling them on the Apple store, it wouldn't surprise me at all if they had a "special" education model -- $700 or so, indigo, 15" CRT, G3 CPU -- that they continued to sell until the entry-level LCD iMac was below $1000 retail.
<strong>Apple claims to want in on the 95% of the market they don't posess, but they don't seem to be doing anything to try and win it. With the new iMac their entry level system will run $1300. That's just WAY too much to win any converts.</strong><hr></blockquote>
How so? The best-selling iMac models have always been that price or higher. The old bottom-of-the-line iMac was basically just a tease. Apple hardly sold any of them. Now, after getting burned by cheap, low-quality hardware consumers are looking for something that will actually justify their investment.
The PC box makers are boasting about low prices because that's the only advantage they can boast, not because consumers care so much about price. People will pay more for a better product.
The hangups on price and CPU power are missing the big picture. I've read of Linux users ditching their handmade, fire-breathing Athlon towers for iBooks, because the pragmatic advantages of the iBook's design (no cords, quiet, pleasing design) blew away the towers' advantage in raw power. Among the non-technical people I know, most of them want a computer that does what they want it to do with no fuss. They'll buy one if it does.
The new iMac is delightfully pragmatic. The idea that I could plunk down $1800 and get a compact, powerful workstation that can handle everything from email to games to hacking perl to authoring DVDs - all right out of the box, with factory installed software - takes my breath away. And that's not even considering all the design touches, like that ingenious adjustable screen.
If Apple gets the word out, you can bet there will be conversions. They cost what most people have been willing to pay for iMacs: $1300 and up. And they offer a lot for that price.
The 'tease' model is extremely important. Most consumer electronics manufacturers have a 'tease' model that gets folks in the door and allows a salesperson to upsell to a unit with a fatter margin.
The old iMac pricepoints ranged from $799 to $1299 (how much was SE?). Now they go from $1299 to $1899. That's a huge jump and I can't imagine it won't be a problem.
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The 'tease' model is extremely important. Most consumer electronics manufacturers have a 'tease' model that gets folks in the door and allows a salesperson to upsell to a unit with a fatter margin.
The old iMac pricepoints ranged from $799 to $1299 (how much was SE?). Now they go from $1299 to $1899. That's a huge jump and I can't imagine it won't be a problem.</strong><hr></blockquote>
A lot of place didn't even sell the low end because the profit on it was so small. A local mac reseller only sold the $1000+ where they could make some profit.
Apple is fine, they will sell more of these then they sold the original iMac and they still have the cheap one for schools.
Apple is STILL selling the G4/533 at the Educational Apple store, you know.
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The 'tease' model is extremely important. Most consumer electronics manufacturers have a 'tease' model that gets folks in the door and allows a salesperson to upsell to a unit with a fatter margin.
The old iMac pricepoints ranged from $799 to $1299 (how much was SE?). Now they go from $1299 to $1899. That's a huge jump and I can't imagine it won't be a problem.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Yes but over time they will get lower and you need to look at what you get for the price. The iMac is great in the highend for sure. I expect by rev 2 the lowend will be about $1,000
It wouldn't last, it's way too much money for their budget, and there is no apparant way to lock it down without drilling holes.
At least they kept the CRT imacs
<strong>this iMac will never be found in a NYC Public School.
It wouldn't last, it's way too much money for their budget, and there is no apparant way to lock it down without drilling holes.
At least they kept the CRT imacs</strong><hr></blockquote>
Have a closer look <a href="http://apple.com/imac/specs.html"; target="_blank">here</a>. All the way on the left of the ports, there is a hole for a lock.
But still, that blows. Glad I don't live in NYC.