My theory: A new upgrade cycle.
I think that Apple has the choice of changing their upgrade cycle from 6 months to 10-12 months. Are they actually changing that? Why?
1) they have retaken the lead in perfomance with the G5 and the G6 is not far away. I think also that Apple will have three of their five product having the G5 in a short timeframe.Intel will name their processor performace in another way as actually(GHz).
With the performace advantage of the G5/G6 they could, and I think they should, change their upgrade cycle to 10 to 12 months. The "wait before new upgrade" effect will reduce.
2) they don't use the big public events(WWDC is not) to announce new HW products anymore.
3) they will reduce the costs for R&D(as good as null for a light upgrade)
4) an easyer and cost effective stock management.
5) an announcement/immediately availibility scenario. /YES
6) rumors will reduce their activity and their audience
One thing is important. If they decide to go this way, it is important to tell everyone especially their professionnel customers that they will have a new uprgade cycle and that they should not wait for purchasing Apple products.
What do you think?
1) they have retaken the lead in perfomance with the G5 and the G6 is not far away. I think also that Apple will have three of their five product having the G5 in a short timeframe.Intel will name their processor performace in another way as actually(GHz).
With the performace advantage of the G5/G6 they could, and I think they should, change their upgrade cycle to 10 to 12 months. The "wait before new upgrade" effect will reduce.
2) they don't use the big public events(WWDC is not) to announce new HW products anymore.
3) they will reduce the costs for R&D(as good as null for a light upgrade)
4) an easyer and cost effective stock management.
5) an announcement/immediately availibility scenario. /YES
6) rumors will reduce their activity and their audience
One thing is important. If they decide to go this way, it is important to tell everyone especially their professionnel customers that they will have a new uprgade cycle and that they should not wait for purchasing Apple products.
What do you think?
Comments
The only way it might work if there are price drops every 4-6 months.
Originally posted by 3.1416
I don't see how that can be a good idea. It leads to huge initial spikes in demand when new machines are introduced (which in turn lead to shipping delays), followed by slow sales for the rest of the year.
The only way it might work if there are price drops every 4-6 months.
price drops would be nice
ps: 3.14159265358979 (all from memory
.
Originally posted by tink
regular, predictable, incremental, updates and upgrades
.
I second that .
Originally posted by Messiahtosh
We are going to see more and more 7 month cycles, with the ocassional 9 month wait. Fred Anderson said pretty much that, in a conference call.
That would certainly appear to be the case with the G5 tower machines.
But it also means the iMac/PBG4/eMac lines are overdue for a refresh, wouldn't it? Hmmm. Gotta look up the intro dates, I suppose.
Somehow I do not think that Apple planed on not releasing a product in February/March, it doesn't make sense based on Steve's statements in San Francisco. All signs point to something coming, something big, probably something unexpected as well. I'm sure that we will see.
As to the notion of one major upgrade per year, don't think it will happen. The market will determine what Apple can get away with there, and IBM's product cycle as well. Intel will push harder and harder to overcome any problems that they have with chip speed, like they have done in the past. If IBM does manage to make the PowerPC platform a competitor in the Linex market then they will have to work at or above Intel's pace or loose the race. Likewise Apple will have to finish closing the performance gap that they lost due to the G4 in their consumer computers. Apple may have a strong competitor in their high end, but they still have some catching up to do in the rest of their line-up. Once they do this they will have to stay current, which means keeping their products fresh with 2 upgrades a year.
Originally posted by Sam Damon:
That would certainly appear to be the case with the G5 tower machines.
But it also means the iMac/PBG4/eMac lines are overdue for a refresh, wouldn't it? Hmmm. Gotta look up the intro dates, I suppose.
Well the iMac was last updated in November (20" iMac) but last received a speedbump in September.
The eMac last received a speedbump in May of last year.
The Powerbook G4 was last refreshed in September.
IOW, they're all due for an update shortly.
Cheers,
C.
You know it, I know it. Apple would never sell ANYTHING. But their online store would get about 7 trillion hits an hour, 24/7.
Originally posted by Spartacus
1) they have retaken the lead in perfomance with the G5 and the G6 is not far away. I think also that Apple will have three of their five product having the G5 in a short timeframe.Intel will name their processor performace in another way as actually(GHz).
With the performace advantage of the G5/G6 they could, and I think they should, change their upgrade cycle to 10 to 12 months. The "wait before new upgrade" effect will reduce.
I must have slept through that lecture.... G6 not far away?? Are you referring to a G5 derivative?? Or do you really mean that there is a proper G6 lined up in the wings??
Might need to up the medication if you think the latter is true. G5 isn't even a year old yet is it?? Maybe I've slept for a whole year and not just one lecture
Originally posted by pooandwee
I must have slept through that lecture.... G6 not far away?? Are you referring to a G5 derivative?? Or do you really mean that there is a proper G6 lined up in the wings??
Might need to up the medication if you think the latter is true. G5 isn't even a year old yet is it?? Maybe I've slept for a whole year and not just one lecture
OK, ok..... I stand corrected..... I just saw the rumour over at MOSR about the whole G6 thing with the speed and the greatness and the hoy-hoy....
I don't know if Apple will call it a G6 though.... Unless they are looking to put their machines on the same development cycle as the OS.
Lucky I wore my flame retardant underwear.... just in case.
Unless they don't care about selling computers anymore which sadly is making me wonder.