So What Hardware Is The New Enterprise Group Going To Sell?
Think Secret posts on the ramping up of Apple's now secret Enterprise Sales division. In part:
"The group, which Think Secret first received word of six months ago, is reportedly led by a former Oracle executive; Apple has restructured the company's enterprise sales force under this new executive.
Apple hasn't yet made any official announcements about the group, but sources said it will probably be formally unveiled later in the year when new server products are released. One insider said the new division will be "huge" for the enterprise market."
So what future hardware will this division be pushing? Updated Xserves are a given of course, but how soon will they be G5 based?
Much more importantantly, what will the default client machine be? Power Mac G5s for now obviously, but a product line that starts at $2K is not a long term solution for Enterprise sales.
When Big Company X calls up this new Apple division with an order for 20 Xserves and 500 client machines for every employee's desktop, what are they going to get? Surely not $2K+ graphics workstations, surely not current iMacs or eMacs. This division would not have been created without a business specific client machine in development.
Hmmmm, bMac anyone?
"The group, which Think Secret first received word of six months ago, is reportedly led by a former Oracle executive; Apple has restructured the company's enterprise sales force under this new executive.
Apple hasn't yet made any official announcements about the group, but sources said it will probably be formally unveiled later in the year when new server products are released. One insider said the new division will be "huge" for the enterprise market."
So what future hardware will this division be pushing? Updated Xserves are a given of course, but how soon will they be G5 based?
Much more importantantly, what will the default client machine be? Power Mac G5s for now obviously, but a product line that starts at $2K is not a long term solution for Enterprise sales.
When Big Company X calls up this new Apple division with an order for 20 Xserves and 500 client machines for every employee's desktop, what are they going to get? Surely not $2K+ graphics workstations, surely not current iMacs or eMacs. This division would not have been created without a business specific client machine in development.
Hmmmm, bMac anyone?
Comments
The eMac is more than fast enough for the average office wordprocessing station. Also, they are fairly cheap retail and I am sure that Apple could sell them at volume discounts to enterprises, assuming that Apple were going to get serious about getting their machines out in numbers to enterprises. But that is what we are talking about, is it not?
Originally posted by Ensign Pulver
Think Secret posts on the ramping up of Apple's now secret Enterprise Sales division. In part:
"The group, which Think Secret first received word of six months ago, is reportedly led by a former Oracle executive; Apple has restructured the company's enterprise sales force under this new executive.
Apple hasn't yet made any official announcements about the group, but sources said it will probably be formally unveiled later in the year when new server products are released. One insider said the new division will be "huge" for the enterprise market."
So what future hardware will this division be pushing? Updated Xserves are a given of course, but how soon will they be G5 based?
Much more importantantly, what will the default client machine be? Power Mac G5s for now obviously, but a product line that starts at $2K is not a long term solution for Enterprise sales.
When Big Company X calls up this new Apple division with an order for 20 Xserves and 500 client machines for every employee's desktop, what are they going to get? Surely not $2K+ graphics workstations, surely not current iMacs or eMacs. This division would not have been created without a business specific client machine in development.
Hmmmm, bMac anyone?
cMac ('Cheap Mac'); a headless iMac! $499 G3, $609 G4 (both 1Ghz), $1,725 1.5Ghz G5.
Why not iMacs on the desktop? If Apple could sell them at a good price and the bean counters could get over the fact that they aren't Dells, why not? If all else fails, they could sell the eMac for a desktop machine.
the xserve (even with a g4) is a mind blowing machine for large sectors of IT due to its outragelously low windows networking licensing and a lower total cost of ownership, and of course ease of use...
the key here is not what they are "going" to be selling...
instead, its "how" they will be selling...
more aggressive = good.
Originally posted by Chinney
I think that an eMac could actually be sold as a good Mac for enterprises. I would take one in a flash on my desk to replace my crappy workplace PC.
Good dog NO! The eMac's screen is horrible and full of moire and if you need to put a bunch in one big room the, LCD based displays will be much more pleasant on everyone.
Originally posted by keyboardf12
everything they sell now, and improved versions of of what they sell now in the future.
They don't sell anything now. The division is still a skunkworks. When they "go live" what "improved versions" do you mean? Better iMacs and eMacs? I don't think so.
Originally posted by Matsu
Good dog NO! The eMac's screen is horrible and full of moire and if you need to put a bunch in one big room the, LCD based displays will be much more pleasant on everyone.
Wow, I'm agreeing with Matsu.
The eMac and iMac will never be sold as an enterprise desktop client for many reasons, but only one truly matters: white plastic. If they put several hundred eMacs on corporate desktops, employees would laugh and rightfully so.
"eMacs? My six year old runs Reader Rabbit on one of those."
Apple needs an inexpensive, small, quiet yet powerful desktop Mac for the Enterprise. It must scream quality and Serious Business Machine®. The Xserve does this, but is only half the equation. The Power Mac G5 does this also obviously, but is expensive overkill.
G5 bMac. Aluminum. Cube-like design. $999 retail. Significantly less in corporate bundles with large Xserve purchases.
If Apple brings it back as a business only model and brands it as the "bMac", they can spin the Cube's negative legacy in a new positive way. The price/performance ratio would have to be a home run, of course.
Originally posted by Ensign Pulver
The eMac and iMac will never be sold as an enterprise desktop client for many reasons, but only one truly matters: white plastic. If they put several hundred eMacs on corporate desktops, employees would laugh and rightfully so.
"eMacs? My six year old runs Reader Rabbit on one of those."
Apple needs an inexpensive, small, quiet yet powerful desktop Mac for the Enterprise. It must scream quality and Serious Business Machine®. ....
I am not sure that I follow. Are you talking about the 'look' of the eMac and iMac? In what way do they fail to fit the bill? I think that they look far better and more professional than just about any PC. Are beige box PCs professional-looking? Yuk. But if your objection is the whiteness of the Apple plastic, I am sure that Apple could arrange black plastic for their enterprise machines.
Originally posted by Chinney
I am not sure that I follow. Are you talking about the 'look' of the eMac and iMac? In what way do they fail to fit the bill? I think that they look far better and more professional than just about any PC. Are beige box PCs professional-looking? Yuk. But if your objection is the whiteness of the Apple plastic, I am sure that Apple could arrange black plastic for their enterprise machines.
Of course the eMac and iMac are better looking than any PC. I'm not saying otherwise. The problem remains that they are obviously consumer machines ill-suited for a "corporate takeover" by Apple.
I'm talking about something far deeper than switching to black plastic. I'm talking about a small aluminum box that embodies the "seriousness" of the Power Mac G5 and Xserve, while remaining low cost and low maintenance.
If Apple is serious about this new Enterprise Sales group, then they need a new client desktop box to match the Xserve. Remember, Mac hostile IT departments have to be wooed. The eMac and iMac (rightly or wrongly) embody everything these guys hate about Macs. The Xserve has opened the corporate door. The bMac must blow it off its hinges.
semantics...
G5s
Xserves
PLENTY of hardware to get started _for the big kinds of accounts i bet they are going after_PLENTY of profits in those machines...From the looks of it they are not going after mom and pop nascar folks. So no grand vision of $499 bMacs....
run then walk.
Originally posted by keyboardf12
apple has enough products to sell to learn the ropes now. no need for a bMac until that division is firing on all cylinders..
I agree, for the very short term. The point of this thread however is what are they going to sell once they are firing on all cylinders?
or should be ammended.. it sounds like what is the group going to sell when they are "official"
It's overkill, its large, its expensive....
the eMac is even worse.
Cheap MINItower is needed
Originally posted by Ensign Pulver
So what future hardware will this division be pushing?
Xserves running Oracle 10i
XServe
XServe RAID
iSight
Airport Extreme
PM G5
PM G4 (for OS 9 boot requirements)
Forthcoming products:
G5 Blade Servers (IBM to sell 2.5GHz 970 Blades by Q2'04 Ars story
Pooch/Wolf Clustering software to enable farms of older hardware and extend life
?????
edited to remove software in compliance with thread title
mmmm, servers...