I'm still with either all touch line-up for iPods (minus the shuffle and nano) OR the MacFolio. Shutting out competitors either means getting to a developing market first and dominating it, or underpricing all competition in an already established market.
Undeveloped markets: Maybe the MacFolio which would be a WiFi or wireless network computer, super thin and priced so unbelievably low that you couldn't imagine buying another "sub-notebook" or Blackberry for productivity. The problem with this scenario... you also cannibalize your existing portable computers. If a so-called MacFolio were more akin to a WiFi/wireless enabled 'personal planner' (aka e-book) it would not directly compete with the regular portable computer line and would instead own the niche currently being carved out by Amazon and Sony. How big is the market for this kind of 'planner'? Just look at the size of the paper planner and refills market. It's huge, folks. Really huge. And if this new planner worked on WiFi/WiMax/cellular networks, this kind of connectivity would be an enormous gain over paper planners. At a subsidized price from Apple, it's even more compelling, and with access to iTunes and App Store, it's a total category killer.
Even more exciting than whatever is eventually released is the creative suggestions on this thread. Great ideas popping up here.
a key "product transition" that cuts back on its profit margins to help shut out rivals.
drop Apple's gross margins from 34.8 percent , ultimately settling at about 30 percent during Apple's fiscal 2009.
Oppenheimer explains that cost will be a driving factor.
The new, unnamed product will continue to have "technologies and features that others can't match," according to the CFO.
The article describes the unnamed product as "new", but the quotes clearly refer to price drops for an existing product. Would a 4.8% margin cut be designed to stymie rival entrance against an existing dominant product, or to create gains in a lower market share product area? What are the initial margins expected in order to float a new product?
I read that the Japanese are hot for the iPhone despite availabilty of more fully featured phones in that market, because of form factor. Does this mean even cheaper iPhones?
There are still alot of shuffle like alternatives to iPods at very low prices on the market. Could it mean mean $10 iPods at the shuffle end of the scale?
The statement sounds like lower prices for one of those two, but not like some of the exciting products mentioned in this thread (tablets, mba, docks, etc.), but I don't really know.
The posts of Solsun and others arguing that Apple's touch technology is going to be built into multiple devices seems the strongest candidate in this horse race (although there some of the dark horse candidates have things going for them as well). In particular, this would differentiate them from clone makers.
One additional consideration in favor of a move in this direction is that Microsoft's Surface Computer has been getting good reviews, and that one MS executive stated that there was a $10 billion market for the device. (E.g., as ordering devices in restaurants, as gaming devices in retail spaces and airlines, as informational kiosks everywhere, etc.) Apple mightn't want to let MS establish too great a lead in buyers' mindspace in such a rich market.
Microsoft's $10,000 bath-tub smoke and mirrors machine is hardly in a "rich market."
What makes more sense in a restaurant?: an overpriced Microsoft table that people are going to be eating off of and touching, or normal tables and waiters taking orders on the much cooler and affordable iPod touch using a simple custom app?
If Apple starts adopting the traditional model for cell phones and video game systems (subsidized hardware) to drive software sales, yes, we could be looking at $99 dollar iPod touches. It's too soon to drop the iPhone price yet again. Way too soon. With sell-out product globally, it would be insane to undercut their own product at this stage.
Microsoft's $10,000 bath-tub smoke and mirrors machine is hardly in a "rich market." What makes more sense in a restaurant? An overpriced Microsoft table that people are going to be eating off of and touching, or normal tables and waiters taking orders on the much cooler and affordable iPod touch using a simple custom app?
I agree that Apple focusing on making touches (along with the iPhone) absolutely ubiquitous is likely a top priority right now. App Store and iTunes sales are the hits that drive the hardware.
His words are something like Apple doesn't want to leave a margin so high that it creates an "umbrella" for competitors to rest under in terms of price.
So, this is NOT A MAC. No matter how Apple prices Mac, the above statement doesn't apply. Look elsewhere.
I don't agree, and it's why I asked the original question.
not wanting to have high margins that creates an "umbrella" for competitors to rest under definitely can apply to Macs, "shutting out competition" doesn't realistically refer to Macs. If Oppenheimer actually said the former and not the latter, it gives me more hope that he was talking about Macs not iPods.
Whether people like it or not, PCs are competition to Macs. 50% of retail Mac purchases are to brand-new customers - i.e. they had a PC before and when it came time to replace their current machine, you can bet that they compared PC to Mac and decided Mac. So how many are comparing PC to Mac and choosing PC? The answer (IHMO) is easily the same number of people again, and possibly up to 3 - 4 times as many people.
By not having a DVD burner in the bottom-end MacBook, by having 2.1 GHz as the lowest-clocked processor option (lower clocked processors are much cheaper and offer the possibility of more attractive storage/RAM options*), by tying screen size to overall computing power, Apple has definitely "created an umbrella" under which competitors can rest.
* i.e., given the choice between 1.8 GHz machine with 250 GB HDD, 2GB RAM, DVD burner at $899 and a 2.1 GHz machine with 120 GB HDD, 1 GB RAM and a DVD/CD-RW combo drive at $1099, many will think the slower machine has a better balance of features.
Roll on next Tuesday says I! The suspense is killing me!
we're all going to be suprised. My guess is something along the lines of Tablet PC. He said "technologies and features that can't be matched," so the mystery isn't a MB/MBP revision. Besides, we know that's coming anyway.
Wow, there's a lot of replies to this article when the answer seems so obvious. I know Apple can never be predicted with 100% certainty, but lets get real.
1) New Montevena chips released
2) Dozens of competing notebooks flood the market
3) MB/MBP due for redesign
4) Microsoft about to launch a $300mil ad campaign going after Mac
Comments
Undeveloped markets: Maybe the MacFolio which would be a WiFi or wireless network computer, super thin and priced so unbelievably low that you couldn't imagine buying another "sub-notebook" or Blackberry for productivity. The problem with this scenario... you also cannibalize your existing portable computers. If a so-called MacFolio were more akin to a WiFi/wireless enabled 'personal planner' (aka e-book) it would not directly compete with the regular portable computer line and would instead own the niche currently being carved out by Amazon and Sony. How big is the market for this kind of 'planner'? Just look at the size of the paper planner and refills market. It's huge, folks. Really huge. And if this new planner worked on WiFi/WiMax/cellular networks, this kind of connectivity would be an enormous gain over paper planners. At a subsidized price from Apple, it's even more compelling, and with access to iTunes and App Store, it's a total category killer.
Even more exciting than whatever is eventually released is the creative suggestions on this thread. Great ideas popping up here.
i personally believe it is Laptop line - MacBook & Pro getting a complete make over and price reduction
Is that really a transition?
C.
a key "product transition" that cuts back on its profit margins to help shut out rivals.
drop Apple's gross margins from 34.8 percent , ultimately settling at about 30 percent during Apple's fiscal 2009.
Oppenheimer explains that cost will be a driving factor.
The new, unnamed product will continue to have "technologies and features that others can't match," according to the CFO.
The article describes the unnamed product as "new", but the quotes clearly refer to price drops for an existing product. Would a 4.8% margin cut be designed to stymie rival entrance against an existing dominant product, or to create gains in a lower market share product area? What are the initial margins expected in order to float a new product?
I read that the Japanese are hot for the iPhone despite availabilty of more fully featured phones in that market, because of form factor. Does this mean even cheaper iPhones?
There are still alot of shuffle like alternatives to iPods at very low prices on the market. Could it mean mean $10 iPods at the shuffle end of the scale?
The statement sounds like lower prices for one of those two, but not like some of the exciting products mentioned in this thread (tablets, mba, docks, etc.), but I don't really know.
The posts of Solsun and others arguing that Apple's touch technology is going to be built into multiple devices seems the strongest candidate in this horse race (although there some of the dark horse candidates have things going for them as well). In particular, this would differentiate them from clone makers.
One additional consideration in favor of a move in this direction is that Microsoft's Surface Computer has been getting good reviews, and that one MS executive stated that there was a $10 billion market for the device. (E.g., as ordering devices in restaurants, as gaming devices in retail spaces and airlines, as informational kiosks everywhere, etc.) Apple mightn't want to let MS establish too great a lead in buyers' mindspace in such a rich market.
Microsoft's $10,000 bath-tub smoke and mirrors machine is hardly in a "rich market."
What makes more sense in a restaurant?: an overpriced Microsoft table that people are going to be eating off of and touching, or normal tables and waiters taking orders on the much cooler and affordable iPod touch using a simple custom app?
Microsoft's $10,000 bath-tub smoke and mirrors machine is hardly in a "rich market." What makes more sense in a restaurant? An overpriced Microsoft table that people are going to be eating off of and touching, or normal tables and waiters taking orders on the much cooler and affordable iPod touch using a simple custom app?
I agree that Apple focusing on making touches (along with the iPhone) absolutely ubiquitous is likely a top priority right now. App Store and iTunes sales are the hits that drive the hardware.
-or-
iPod Touch w/GPS and video camera.
-or-
Way out there: Multitouch displays.
Is that really a transition?
C.
Yes, if we have
13" 15" 17" MacBook and MacBook Pro and with all the goodies like Blu Ray, New CPUs, Larger HDD and option like SSD, LED Display
Heck, it is better to let go "Pro" moniker and have MacBooks in different configuration and prices
Sony PS3 is really wreaking havoc.
It's certainly wreaking havoc with Sony's profits.
C.
His words are something like Apple doesn't want to leave a margin so high that it creates an "umbrella" for competitors to rest under in terms of price.
So, this is NOT A MAC. No matter how Apple prices Mac, the above statement doesn't apply. Look elsewhere.
I don't agree, and it's why I asked the original question.
not wanting to have high margins that creates an "umbrella" for competitors to rest under definitely can apply to Macs, "shutting out competition" doesn't realistically refer to Macs. If Oppenheimer actually said the former and not the latter, it gives me more hope that he was talking about Macs not iPods.
Whether people like it or not, PCs are competition to Macs. 50% of retail Mac purchases are to brand-new customers - i.e. they had a PC before and when it came time to replace their current machine, you can bet that they compared PC to Mac and decided Mac. So how many are comparing PC to Mac and choosing PC? The answer (IHMO) is easily the same number of people again, and possibly up to 3 - 4 times as many people.
By not having a DVD burner in the bottom-end MacBook, by having 2.1 GHz as the lowest-clocked processor option (lower clocked processors are much cheaper and offer the possibility of more attractive storage/RAM options*), by tying screen size to overall computing power, Apple has definitely "created an umbrella" under which competitors can rest.
* i.e., given the choice between 1.8 GHz machine with 250 GB HDD, 2GB RAM, DVD burner at $899 and a 2.1 GHz machine with 120 GB HDD, 1 GB RAM and a DVD/CD-RW combo drive at $1099, many will think the slower machine has a better balance of features.
Roll on next Tuesday says I! The suspense is killing me!
----------------
10" - $799 - the EeePC killer
MacBooks
--------------------
13" - $999
15" - $1299
17" - $1599
MacBookPro
---------------------
13" - $1299
15" - $1599
17" - $1999
YES, i am greedy ...
not sure, other than Graphics and Bly-Ray(Dvd burner) how to differentiate the Pro and consumer line and if this turns out what happens to MBA?
Unless it can be shown otherwise, can't the 3G iPhone's expected global volume and lower pricing itself account for the overall lower margins?
but Apple gets the difference in price ($399 to $199) from the telcos, so it is not hitting the margins...
MacBook Mini
----------------
I still like the idea of OS X going free, but as a consumer I like the sound of MacBook Mini. :-)
I have been keenly watching this stuff on the Web..
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=qZ7mDw...eature=related
Folks are buying $500 atom-based netbooks and installing OS X on them.
The performance isn't too bad either.
But you gotta face it, you can't launch one of these without killing the Air.
Are umbrellas not full of Air?
C.
but Apple gets the difference in price ($399 to $199) from the telcos, so it is not hitting the margins...
A couple of questions:
1) Do we know that the wireless providers are paying Apple $200 per handset up front?
2) If not up front, how could Apple report the earning before they were received?
1) New Montevena chips released
2) Dozens of competing notebooks flood the market
3) MB/MBP due for redesign
4) Microsoft about to launch a $300mil ad campaign going after Mac
5) Back to school
I'm not a Vegas odds maker, but come on!
I still like the idea of OS X going free, but as a consumer I like the sound of MacBook Mini. :-)
I have been keenly watching this stuff on the Web..
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=qZ7mDw...eature=related
Folks are buying $500 atom-based netbooks and installing OS X on them.
The performance isn't too bad either.
But you gotta face it, you can't launch one of these without killing the Air.
Are umbrellas not full of Air?
C.
MacBook Touch
ok some news sorry rumors
http://www.macdailynews.com/index.ph...macbook_touch/
A couple of questions:
1) Do we know that the wireless providers are paying Apple $200 per handset up front?
2) If not up front, how could Apple report the earning before they were received?
that no one knows, how it works out, i guess even they do not disclose to share holders ...
but sure they moved from (getting money from 24 months contract) to getting money up front with 3G iPhone