Apple's inventory piling up.

junkyard dawg · June 26, 2002 12:51AM

<a href="http://news.com.com/2102-1040-939363.html"; target="_blank">http://news.com.com/2102-1040-939363.html</a>;

This could be very bad for Apple.

kecksy · June 26, 2002 3:47AM

That sucks. One thing is for sure. If no new iMacs at MWNY, there will be a big price drop. Hope PC sales pick up next year.

fran441 · June 26, 2002 6:54AM

Well, what do you expect?

The 'new' iMacs are 7 months old now and MWNY is less than a month away. People are waiting until Macworld to see if anything new shows up.

My younger cousin who is considering buying a new iMac and wants to convert from the PC (after he got an iPod which he loves), even knows that it would be foolish to buy now.

I think we'll see a 'clearance' on some of these computers really soon from Apple in the form of coupons, bundles, or discounts.

relic · June 26, 2002 7:12AM

Maybe Apple will wake up and think that a computer with a 15in monitor, 800 mhz, Geoforce2 MX, 100mhz bus and only 256mb of DRAM should'nt cost more then a 2ghz PC system. OSX is the only thing that keeps me from moving over. But at these prices and performace, it's making it easier

to change.

crusader · June 26, 2002 9:40AM

4 weeks of inventory!

Ouch :eek:

buonrotto · June 26, 2002 9:46AM

What's bad isn't just that inventory is up but that sales are soooo low: 87 units a week? They sold over 50,000 per month just a short while ago!

amorph · June 26, 2002 9:56AM

That all seems awfully strange to me. I don't think I've ever seen such a rapid decline.

It'll be interesting to see how Apple reacts to this. It's definitely not good news.

fran441 · June 26, 2002 10:03AM

Just because machines are sitting out at Ingram Micro, however does not mean they aren't being sold either.

Remember that a lot of people order from the Apple Online Store as well.

artman @_@ · June 26, 2002 10:27AM

Flash of Brilliance

I got it. Why doesn't Apple advertise their retail outlets...period. They never have (at least I have never seen or heard anything at all). Now they have to. Not everyone gets it Apple. Not everyone knows you have retail outlets. Not everyone gets a clue about these "Switch" ads (I'm beginning to think these could have been done a lot better).

Not Everyone = Average consumer: "Wow, cool iMac/iBook/iPod...where do I get one?"

Not everyone wants to buy a computer online. Not everyone knows Apple has retail outlets. Not everyone knows about waiting for MWNY. Some people will go out of their way to find an outlet...see the GAP here?

APPLE...ADVERTISE YOUR RETAIL OUTLETS NOW.

And don't be so pretentious about it! Lowering prices would help loads too.

hmurchison · June 26, 2002 10:32AM

Apple killed themselves with raising the prices of the iMacs. $100 is not alot of money but it's the principal of paying more for something that a day before was less that sticks in peoples craw. I realize LCD and Memory prices has risen but fact is when these prices go down the end user doesn't see an immediate reduction in price. These extra monies go to Apple's bottom line. It's time for compelling Hardware and compelling prices Apple.

mac voyer · June 26, 2002 12:21PM

The iMac?s problem is too much WOW and wonder for wide-eyed consumers, and not enough bang for the buck or boom in the box for economy burdened buyers. The WOW factor wears off very fast. Once that?s gone, you have only the facts. The specs do not support the price. Thus, the eMac.

Consumers, even potential switchers, still compare hardware. A Gateway with a 2 GHz processor and an LCD monitor can?t be had for a song. At just $999, it has a pretty catchy tune.

I still think the ergonomics of the FP iMac is a big deal. But it is not big enough to overcome the crippled hardware that makes up the rest of the machine. (100 MHz sys bus is unacceptable to anyone who has a clue about such things.) Apple should lower the price until the specs demand a higher price. Apple still has a winner on its hands if managed well.

there is no g5 · June 26, 2002 4:19PM

My suspicion is that the eMac is (deservedly so) kicking iMac's ass.

Maybe not in aggregate, but I GUARANTEE that every new eMac sold is one less iMac sold.

Only an insane person would buy an iMac over an eMac (except for Superdrive buyers).

eMac == death of iMac

ting5

imacfp · June 26, 2002 6:13PM

[quote]Originally posted by There is no g5:



eMac == death of iMac

ting5<hr></blockquote>

Not if Apple puts a 17" LCD in the iMac drops the lowend model and ups the specs and hopefully drops the price by $100 things will be fine. The inventory problems stem from low demand across the board for computers, higher priced iMac, and Apple increasing production too much. The e-mac hasn't been out long enough to effect sales.

[ 06-26-2002: Message edited by: imacFP ]

buonrotto · June 26, 2002 7:21PM

Yeah, if anything, this will force Apple to put its money where its mouth is. Apple talks about innovating its way out of the tech slump, and what's hurting the iMac is the raised price and close feature parity with the eMac. (Thus far we have no proof that the eMac is taking any sales from the iMac, or is the cause of the iMac sales slump. It could very well be that the iMac sales were down already and forced the eMac into the consumer space to get volumes up.) Once Apple raises the specs appropriately on the iMacs, hopefully dropping their prices to their original levels, it will push it far enough away from the eMac so as to at least eliminate concerns of cannibalizing sales.

there is no g5 · June 26, 2002 8:01PM

[quote]Originally posted by imacFP:



Not if Apple puts a 17" LCD in the iMac drops the lowend model and ups the specs and hopefully drops the price by $100 things will be fine. The inventory problems stem from low demand across the board for computers, higher priced iMac, and Apple increasing production too much. The e-mac hasn't been out long enough to effect sales.

[ 06-26-2002: Message edited by: imacFP ]<hr></blockquote>

You are funny. Raising the specs AND lowering the price? The difference in the 17" LCD price vs. the 15" LCD price is probably north of $300, and you want the price to go DOWN?

The iMac is the new Cube: pretty, and pretty expensive. At least the Cube could have been a success.

ting5

spindler · June 26, 2002 8:18PM

I don't think there is anything to immediately fear. The first thing Apple has to do is reduce the price back down to $1299. There is a BIG difference between $1299 and $1399. $1299 is the high end of the range consumers feel comfortable paying for a computer. People will pay a little extra for the cool factor but not that much extra. A $200 premium against competing PCs is much better than a $300 premium.

I went to the Apple Store and I only saw one eMac on display next to the CRT iMac in the corner. I think they have to feature it more because it is the best value.

imacfp · June 26, 2002 8:59PM

[quote]Originally posted by There is no g5:



You are funny. Raising the specs AND lowering the price? The difference in the 17" LCD price vs. the 15" LCD price is probably north of $300, and you want the price to go DOWN?

The iMac is the new Cube: pretty, and pretty expensive. At least the Cube could have been a success.

ting5<hr></blockquote>

I'd rather be funny than stupid. Apple has no choice but to raise specs and lower the price. The Cube won't come back and Apple will never offer a consumer tower. The eMac is not flashy enough to drive sales so at the mid-range they need the iMac. One thing that Apple could do is allow people to remove the Superdrive on the highend iMac. That would drop the price about $250 to $300 but keep the better specs. I don't think they would do it but many people want the faster chip and bigger hard drive and don't care as much about the Superdrive.

[ 06-26-2002: Message edited by: imacFP ]

amorph · June 26, 2002 9:03PM

That article also notes a whopping 22.5% decline in desktop sales overall, so some of it is just a general hurt.

One interesting article I read (no link right now, sorry) speculated that it's partly due to a reduced consumer interest in desktops, period. Maybe Charles Moore is finally right, and laptops have hit a price/performance point that makes them a better option for many than desktops.

buonrotto · June 26, 2002 10:05PM

[quote]Originally posted by There is no g5:

Raising the specs AND lowering the price? The difference in the 17" LCD price vs. the 15" LCD price is probably north of $300, and you want the price to go DOWN?<hr></blockquote>

Again, the Cube had no space in the market because the iMac DV Se was sitting in its place. Plus it cost over $2000 with a monitor. I don't expect the iMac to drop much lower, but if they could manage to drop the price to the original levels, I think it will help sales volumes a lot. I would agree that a price break to $1000 wouldn't make sense because, again, it would compete with the eMac's sales which would be a waste of resources to sell two machines for the same price and market.

I think a lot of us here are on the same wavelength.

junkyard dawg · June 27, 2002 12:32AM

I agree, the iMac needs a 17" LCD display standard (or at least a 16" LCD), and the LOW END should be a 1 GHz G4. I say put the same CPU in all iMacs, 1 GHz, and differentiate by drive configurations.

Now that Apple has the eMac to shore up the low end, there is no reason for the iMac to have a dinky little 15" LCD. At the price points the iMac is at, it really needs a 17" LCD to compete with wintel offerings.

there is no g5 · June 27, 2002 1:11AM

[quote]Originally posted by imacFP:



I'd rather be funny than stupid. Apple has no choice but to raise specs and lower the price. The Cube won't come back and Apple will never offer a consumer tower. The eMac is not flashy enough to drive sales so at the mid-range they need the iMac. One thing that Apple could do is allow people to remove the Superdrive on the highend iMac. That would drop the price about $250 to $300 but keep the better specs. I don't think they would do it but many people want the faster chip and bigger hard drive and don't care as much about the Superdrive.

[ 06-26-2002: Message edited by: imacFP ]<hr></blockquote>

You can't really lose money on a product and make it up on volume, except in a dotcom, circa 1999.

ting5

Apple's inventory piling up.

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