I guess what I'm basically trying to say here is I'd like to see Apple crank out something lovely that is designed to increase market share at the expense of good profit margains for a while.
The current economic conditions do not favour any company reducing profits right now, although Apple is still having difficulty with market share, they are still making money which as someone else hinted at earlier, PC makers are having a very tough time doing. We are not yet at the light at the end of the tunnel, the strategy that Apple is sticking to now (making money) is whats needed to make it through these tough times.
Apple should continue to innovate but not at the expense of profit, cutting the prices isnt going to make switchers. Switchers are the kinds of people who understand Total Cost of Ownership and Increased Productivity through system stability and superior user interface or a computer that "just works".
The current economic conditions do not favour any company reducing profits right now, although Apple is still having difficulty with market share, they are still making money which as someone else hinted at earlier, PC makers are having a very tough time doing. We are not yet at the light at the end of the tunnel, the strategy that Apple is sticking to now (making money) is whats needed to make it through these tough times.
Apple should continue to innovate but not at the expense of profit, cutting the prices isnt going to make switchers. Switchers are the kinds of people who understand Total Cost of Ownership and Increased Productivity through system stability and superior user interface or a computer that "just works".
Re-read what I said. I don't feel they should cut overall corporate profits, rather I'd like to see an inexpensively priced box made available to the public that doesn't rake in large profits for them. They'd still be making the same money from the other models, plus a little bit more off this one I proposed.
Re-read what I said. I don't feel they should cut overall corporate profits, rather I'd like to see an inexpensively priced box made available to the public that doesn't rake in large profits for them. They'd still be making the same money from the other models, plus a little bit more off this one I proposed.
If they could make a cheap box with higher profit margins, they would have done it already.
Re-read what I said. I don't feel they should cut overall corporate profits, rather I'd like to see an inexpensively priced box made available to the public that doesn't rake in large profits for them. They'd still be making the same money from the other models, plus a little bit more off this one I proposed.
You can't just assume that the new cheapMac would sell only to customers that wouldn't have bought a different Mac. A cheaper, lower margin machine would take away sales from other models and reduce Apple's overall margins.
However I agree that Apple needs a cheaper Mac, and the eMac ain't cutting it. The iMac 3 should basically be the same machine, just redesigned to lower manufacturing costs. I don't even know if that's possible with the current form-factor. Many of the original iMacs refinements reduced the number of parts, and therefore costs.
If Apple can make a 799 or 899 15" 1+ Ghz iMac they'll be doing very well. Then there will be space for a Cube-like machine between the iMac and PowerMac.
Nothing precludes Apple from creating an AIO with a removable graphics card. They wouldn't even have to advertise it, but those who are willing to upgrade would also be the same demographics that would find out about it.
This is the worst sticking point for an AIO. PCI slots are less and less of a problem. The CPU is somewhat of a problem, but I venture to guess that the percentage of people upgrading their CPU is only a fraction of those upgrading their GPU, and those are a fraction of the people buying computers at all.
The lack of an expandable GPU makes the iMac suck for many people.
I think there would be a slight problem with making a removable graphics card for an AIO. There would have to be an external cable the connects to the graphics card. Now, this could be remedied by a cable that is very short and perhaps concealed by a plastic door on a hinge. I wish I could draw a picture or something...
Anyway it would be cool if Apple could figure out a way to make the graphics in an iMac expandable, on the other hand I personally would rather upgrade the processor than the graphics card but that's just me, I don't play games. The target market for the iMac, however, is users who might be more likely to play games than me, so I think keeping expandable graphics only on PowerMacs (which are too expensive for most gamers) might not be a great choice.
I guess one of things that is stopping Apple from making an expandable iMac would be the turnover rate. A current iMac probably has a reasonable life of 2-3 years before it really starts to show its age. If they made both the CPU and GPU easily upgradable people could make a cheap iMac last a long time. Seeing as Apple does not make any money from people holding onto an aging Mac through upgrades, they have no motivation to make their consumer machines capable of this.
I suppose they could start to sell Apple branded CPU upgrades for an expandable iMac.
Could they even make the FP iMac easily expandable? It seems like an awkward form factor for this.
I guess one of things that is stopping Apple from making an expandable iMac would be the turnover rate. A current iMac probably has a reasonable life of 2-3 years before it really starts to show its age. If they made both the CPU and GPU easily upgradable people could make a cheap iMac last a long time. Seeing as Apple does not make any money from people holding onto an aging Mac through upgrades, they have no motivation to make their consumer machines capable of this.
I suppose they could start to sell Apple branded CPU upgrades for an expandable iMac.
Could they even make the FP iMac easily expandable? It seems like an awkward form factor for this.
Consumer-level customers rarely upgrade anything about their computer. RAM maybe, but most don't even update the operating systems. If you want an upgradable computer an iMac isn't the right choice, and it never has been. I do agree that Apple needs something in between the iMac and PowerMac. That's where a new Cube should fit.
What's keeping Apple from making a cheap iMac is that the iMac is not cheap to make. Apple went and made the ideal consumer AIO, but it's simply too expensive to manufacture. Any new iMac will probably be focused on making it easier to manufacture. Sure it'll have updated specs, but hopefully it'll have a much lower price.
Comments
Originally posted by rageous
I guess what I'm basically trying to say here is I'd like to see Apple crank out something lovely that is designed to increase market share at the expense of good profit margains for a while.
The current economic conditions do not favour any company reducing profits right now, although Apple is still having difficulty with market share, they are still making money which as someone else hinted at earlier, PC makers are having a very tough time doing. We are not yet at the light at the end of the tunnel, the strategy that Apple is sticking to now (making money) is whats needed to make it through these tough times.
Apple should continue to innovate but not at the expense of profit, cutting the prices isnt going to make switchers. Switchers are the kinds of people who understand Total Cost of Ownership and Increased Productivity through system stability and superior user interface or a computer that "just works".
Originally posted by AsLan^
The current economic conditions do not favour any company reducing profits right now, although Apple is still having difficulty with market share, they are still making money which as someone else hinted at earlier, PC makers are having a very tough time doing. We are not yet at the light at the end of the tunnel, the strategy that Apple is sticking to now (making money) is whats needed to make it through these tough times.
Apple should continue to innovate but not at the expense of profit, cutting the prices isnt going to make switchers. Switchers are the kinds of people who understand Total Cost of Ownership and Increased Productivity through system stability and superior user interface or a computer that "just works".
Re-read what I said. I don't feel they should cut overall corporate profits, rather I'd like to see an inexpensively priced box made available to the public that doesn't rake in large profits for them. They'd still be making the same money from the other models, plus a little bit more off this one I proposed.
Originally posted by rageous
Re-read what I said. I don't feel they should cut overall corporate profits, rather I'd like to see an inexpensively priced box made available to the public that doesn't rake in large profits for them. They'd still be making the same money from the other models, plus a little bit more off this one I proposed.
If they could make a cheap box with higher profit margins, they would have done it already.
Originally posted by Xool
How about a new G5-based iMac Special Edition?
In tangerine. I'm there!
Originally posted by rageous
Re-read what I said. I don't feel they should cut overall corporate profits, rather I'd like to see an inexpensively priced box made available to the public that doesn't rake in large profits for them. They'd still be making the same money from the other models, plus a little bit more off this one I proposed.
You can't just assume that the new cheapMac would sell only to customers that wouldn't have bought a different Mac. A cheaper, lower margin machine would take away sales from other models and reduce Apple's overall margins.
However I agree that Apple needs a cheaper Mac, and the eMac ain't cutting it. The iMac 3 should basically be the same machine, just redesigned to lower manufacturing costs. I don't even know if that's possible with the current form-factor. Many of the original iMacs refinements reduced the number of parts, and therefore costs.
If Apple can make a 799 or 899 15" 1+ Ghz iMac they'll be doing very well. Then there will be space for a Cube-like machine between the iMac and PowerMac.
This is the worst sticking point for an AIO. PCI slots are less and less of a problem. The CPU is somewhat of a problem, but I venture to guess that the percentage of people upgrading their CPU is only a fraction of those upgrading their GPU, and those are a fraction of the people buying computers at all.
The lack of an expandable GPU makes the iMac suck for many people.
Anyway it would be cool if Apple could figure out a way to make the graphics in an iMac expandable, on the other hand I personally would rather upgrade the processor than the graphics card but that's just me, I don't play games. The target market for the iMac, however, is users who might be more likely to play games than me, so I think keeping expandable graphics only on PowerMacs (which are too expensive for most gamers) might not be a great choice.
I suppose they could start to sell Apple branded CPU upgrades for an expandable iMac.
Could they even make the FP iMac easily expandable? It seems like an awkward form factor for this.
Originally posted by InactionMan
I guess one of things that is stopping Apple from making an expandable iMac would be the turnover rate. A current iMac probably has a reasonable life of 2-3 years before it really starts to show its age. If they made both the CPU and GPU easily upgradable people could make a cheap iMac last a long time. Seeing as Apple does not make any money from people holding onto an aging Mac through upgrades, they have no motivation to make their consumer machines capable of this.
I suppose they could start to sell Apple branded CPU upgrades for an expandable iMac.
Could they even make the FP iMac easily expandable? It seems like an awkward form factor for this.
Consumer-level customers rarely upgrade anything about their computer. RAM maybe, but most don't even update the operating systems. If you want an upgradable computer an iMac isn't the right choice, and it never has been. I do agree that Apple needs something in between the iMac and PowerMac. That's where a new Cube should fit.
What's keeping Apple from making a cheap iMac is that the iMac is not cheap to make. Apple went and made the ideal consumer AIO, but it's simply too expensive to manufacture. Any new iMac will probably be focused on making it easier to manufacture. Sure it'll have updated specs, but hopefully it'll have a much lower price.