Post by Ringo LanglyHi JP,
One problem with many of the sub-$500 PC's (like e-machines) is they're
crap! Yeah, they run Windows and allow the user to do most basic
features Windows can do, but gaming, high-end graphic/video editing,
etc probably wont do very well. Apple knows this, so they're target
isn't the money-pinching people wanting to by a computer JUST because
it's cheap. Apple's target market has always been for the computer
person who knows what they want -- and you get what you pay for.
I personally do wish Apple would release a version of the iMac without
the monitor for users who already have money invested in a nice CRT or
LCD (like me), and I can see them saving $150+ off the box if they did
this even. There are things i think Apple could definately do to
increase their market share, but Jobs doesn't want to do this because
his market has always been rather higher then what the average PC user
is.
Personally I think the best move Apple can do right now is to get their
computers into more stores. Unless you live in a larger area you
generally don't have access to an Apple to play with or test. Walk
into Best Buy, Circuit City, or anyplace you won't see any Apples.
CompUSA does carry them, but the CompUSA in my town closed down
recently -- so now there's zero Mac shops unless you drive almost 90
miles. It's not that people don't like Apples or that they're too
expensive -- it's that most have NEVER SEEN one.
Bottom line -- if Apple can create a NICE PC for under $500 (which I
think they can) and get their product into more stores, then I think
they'll definately grow.
Take care, and thanks for the thread...
Ringo
I think Apple could have a bit better price point than they do. However
as I've said over and over, Apple can't have the economy of scale that a
Dell has, so components cost them more. Second, Apple is not like the
branded PC OEM's who essentially assemble parts and make hardware.
Apple has research division, education division, software division, and
a developer effort to support on the margin they make "selling
hardware".
Could Apple sell a cheaper, headless Mac and make enough to support what
they currenly do at the present profit margin? Perhaps, and maybe not.
If they sold a $499 headless iMac it would eat some of the sales in the
current iMac so volume would have to make up for that as well.
Additionally, Apple has had a historic problem meeting demand. If they
had a cheap, headless iMac, could they meet demand if that demand were
*huge*? That's a question that only has a difficult answer.
Typically, when huge demand hits a product a company has two options.
First, Increase production capacity or Second, raise prices to bring
demand inline with production capacity.
The second choice is an immediate solution(though many would say not a
good one) but the first, increasing production capacity is difficult and
expensive since it often, if not usually, requires building new
facilities for that production capacity. Since Apple as well as others
largely have production overseas, those builders don't just have an idle
several hundred thousand square feet of idle space, fully stocked with
the equipment to build hardware, ready to be activated. They have to
build it too, so the problem is the same.
So the question of why doesn't Apple build a sub-$500 box does not have
a simple answer even though as this article suggests, that the PC makers
don't really have a sub-$500 box either. Think Bait and Switch.
--
Regards,
JP
"The measure of a man is what he will do
knowing he will get nothing in return"