Apple to clear out current Mac minis, older G5s
On the heels of a succesful clearance of previous generation iPods through online discounter Overstock.com, Apple is reportedly looking to dump existing inventory of Mac minis and previous generation G5 systems through similar outlets.
The company late last week held talks with several online retailers and discounters to discuss terms of the inventory liquidation, according to reliable sources. It's believed that Apple will again team with Overstock to move the majority of the inventory.
Some of the Mac systems Apple is looking to discount include "finished goods" stock of Mac minis, first generation iMac G5s and Power Mac G5 desktops. Sources said a percentage of the G5-based systems are believed to be refurbrished items, while the stock of Mac minis are new retail models.
The mini, which remains due for a refresh, also saw ship times slip to 5 to 7 business days from Apple's online store on Tuesday. Apple has yet to update the mini following its inception in early January, but is expected to do so sometime this quarter as sales slow.
On the other hand, the company's current iMac offerings remain hot in their current form. Sources speculate that Apple may have slightly underestimated demand for the all-in-one desktops this quarter. Ingram Micro, one of two major US distributors for Apple in the US, had also run dry of some iMac models on Monday.
It was about a week ago that Apple through Overstock.com succesfully sold through "thousands" of previous generation 60GB iPod photos in a day, according to sources. The online discounter offered a savings of $100 on the players.
Update: It appears that HP is also making use of Overstock.comÂ*to move excess inventory of previous generation 20GB iPods. Â*While HP's own hpshopping.comÂ*lists the grayscale 20GB "Apple iPod + HP" for $299.99, Overstock.com is selling the same model for $259.95.
The company late last week held talks with several online retailers and discounters to discuss terms of the inventory liquidation, according to reliable sources. It's believed that Apple will again team with Overstock to move the majority of the inventory.
Some of the Mac systems Apple is looking to discount include "finished goods" stock of Mac minis, first generation iMac G5s and Power Mac G5 desktops. Sources said a percentage of the G5-based systems are believed to be refurbrished items, while the stock of Mac minis are new retail models.
The mini, which remains due for a refresh, also saw ship times slip to 5 to 7 business days from Apple's online store on Tuesday. Apple has yet to update the mini following its inception in early January, but is expected to do so sometime this quarter as sales slow.
On the other hand, the company's current iMac offerings remain hot in their current form. Sources speculate that Apple may have slightly underestimated demand for the all-in-one desktops this quarter. Ingram Micro, one of two major US distributors for Apple in the US, had also run dry of some iMac models on Monday.
It was about a week ago that Apple through Overstock.com succesfully sold through "thousands" of previous generation 60GB iPod photos in a day, according to sources. The online discounter offered a savings of $100 on the players.
Update: It appears that HP is also making use of Overstock.comÂ*to move excess inventory of previous generation 20GB iPods. Â*While HP's own hpshopping.comÂ*lists the grayscale 20GB "Apple iPod + HP" for $299.99, Overstock.com is selling the same model for $259.95.
Comments
Originally posted by fieldor
TS might be right after all. We will just have to wait and see. They could announce on a thursday, that would be good.
Right on what? They are expecting iBook updates... this article has nothing to do with iBooks.
Originally posted by Matthew Yohe
Right on what? They are expecting iBook updates... this article has nothing to do with iBooks.
Indeed and TS claims there will be not be a Mac mini update any time soon.
Originally posted by 1984
Indeed and TS claims there will be not be a Mac mini update any time soon.
Is this the same ThinkSecret that said "Think Secret sources have heard nothing to date regarding any collaboration between Apple and Intel" ?
Originally posted by bdkennedy1
I wonder what would happen if Apple never released another update for the iBook and phased them out. Then what would you all worry about? When it's released it's released and no one knows for sure except for Apple. Go outside and go for a walk, or take your kids to a movie or something. Jesus.
This is where you got it all wrong. You clearly don´t understand how a modern company is run.
You see. the only thing that drives products refreshments at Apple is the bitching posts here. It works like this:
Each morning Jobs is handed a summary of the threads at this board, he reads them and by that gets the overall picture of where Apples product portfolio is lacking.
The he goes to the various developing teams and present his findings to them, throwing all those printed threads at them, yelling "See, they call our mac mini embarrassing! Do stuff NOW!!!"
In this particular case its not the engineers who are the problem but the surplus of inventory. The engineers told Jobs that they were ready but they had all those products on the shelves that needed to go before releasing the new model.
So Jobs went into his office and thought to himself "But i-am-an-elf is really waiting for the next mac mini and DHagan4755 is making fun of us. I have to do something" and then he did something and called overstock.com.
So don´t come here and patronize us. We are the driving force behind Apple innovation. Without us we would never have gone beyond the flower power imac.
Originally posted by Anders
This is where you got it all wrong. You clearly don´t understand how a modern company is run........
Originally posted by Matthew Yohe
Right on what? They are expecting iBook updates... this article has nothing to do with iBooks.
Wow sorry about that, I just read it again and I was so off the mark.
Originally posted by Ravenflight
Do you mean I had it all wrong? I thought the driving force behind Apple's innovation was Steve getting up every morning, looking in the mirror, and saying "What do I want today?"
nooo...! write now Steve is looking at the mirrror, and reading that Sunilraman has been a really good boy this whole year and is dying for a widescreen glossy 14" iBook with ati mobility 9600 64mb vram and 5400rpm 60gb drive which comes with 512mb RAM... and his like, oh no, here's a boy that's not happy, time to pay him a visit when he sleeps tonight...
wait a minute, i seem to have gotten Steve Jobs, Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, and Michael Jackson all mixed up. OMFG what is in these muffins i am eating ??!!!
Originally posted by sunilraman
nooo...! write now Steve is looking at the mirrror, and reading that Sunilraman has been a really good boy
Originally posted by sunilraman
nooo...! write now Steve is looking at the mirrror, and reading that Sunilraman has been a really good boy this whole year and is dying for a widescreen glossy 14" iBook with ati mobility 9600 64mb vram and 5400rpm 60gb drive which comes with 512mb RAM... and his like, oh no, here's a boy that's not happy, time to pay him a visit when he sleeps tonight...
wait a minute, i seem to have gotten Steve Jobs, Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, and Michael Jackson all mixed up. OMFG what is in these muffins i am eating ??!!!
You must have gotten some of those magic Stevie carrot bran muffins. Be careful though. Too many and reality starts to distort around you.....
Originally posted by Anders
So don´t come here and patronize us. We are the driving force behind Apple innovation. Without us we would never have gone beyond the flower power imac.
Yeah, well, then Apple needs to fire the guy responsible for reading and passing around the PowerMac G5 complaints, because he isn't doing his job at all. 2+ years, and no improvement whatsoever. Great.
And I find it funny everyone says the mini is due (or overdue) for an update. Under what schedule? Apple doesn't update products on a 3-6 month cycle, more like 6-10 months. And I also recall everyone saying the exact same thing last year (until May-June 2004) about updates to the powermac G5 (first it was updates, then when they didn't come, it was definitely that they were holding up the updates for the massive 3.0GHz machines!), then the same this year, from January to April. All these "Apple is due" remarks are crap, since they might be due, but that doesn't seem to actually press Apple to make an update.
Oh, and expect any update to the mini to increase the base price by $100, with some lame excuse about how they're adding value, like more RAM and better drives and stuff. Keeping cheap stuff cheap isn't in apple's computer history (I think they hyperventilated whenever the iMac got below $1000).
And any update is just going to be some better specs (RAM, HD size, etc). They're not going to add any features or other whizbang stuff to it (like decent dolby 5.1 audio output, or much better video, or probably even gigabit ethernet. Can't be offering too much on the low-end, it'll make the rest of their computers seem even more overpriced then they appear now.
Absolutely nothing is holding Apple back from going 9200->9600 and 256->512
Originally posted by Anders
IBM was holding Apple back with the G5.
Absolutely nothing is holding Apple back from going 9200->9600 and 256->512
Nothing held Apple back from updating their computers sooner with more memory, better video, better HD, etc. But they never came. As did never come PCI Express, which most people are hoping for sometime this decade.
As for the mini, sure nothing is holding Apple back from going to 512 or a 9600, except costs (which cuts into margins), or the lack of desire to do so. For example, nothing kept apple from upgrading the graphics chip in the iBook and iMac for so many years, yet they kept coming out with new revs with the same crappy nVidia chip in it.
Originally posted by Louzer
Nothing held Apple back from updating their computers sooner with more memory, better video, better HD, etc.
You know what held them back? Customers praising every move they make, not complaining about outdated systems, and banging down their door for known obsolete products. Why would they cut into their profit margin if people still want what they offer now?