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Apple Retail Store Change on the 19th?

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To heat things up...

I ordered my dual G5 1.8 on 8 December 2003. Waited and waited, I thought I could have it in my Christmasbreak from work. After my short holiday at the beginning of the second week of January, I contacted my dealer, who said: "Production has just started and we aren't expecting your mac for another three weeks". That was a serious bummer... So, with all these rumors going around, I really hope that they put in a little bit more then 1.8's! With a bit of luck, I have my precious next week, or the week after that!!

BTW, I had it build to order, nothing special, no superdrive, no modem and put bluetooth in it. That's all. On the Apple site it says it takes 5-7 days. Or could it be that I have ordered a Dr. Bott ADC to VGA adapter with it? On the Apple site it says that takes up to three weeks...
 
Fred Anderson did not say a $999 iMac was coming. He opined that the sweet spot is under $1000 and that is why iMac sales were flat or slightly down. The eMac is below $1000 (in some configs). Reading into something that someone doesn't say.... well, I guess this is the place. They did mention that component prices are down, however.

Apple changes the graphics at their stores on a regular basis. Nothing new here.
 
pkradd, agreed.

Which begs the question - if Apple are to launche a 20th Anniversary product around the 24th how will they do it?

Will they just update the website?

Will they hold a press conference?


Seems like without an event the likelihood of an announcement is pretty poor.
 
i thought i read something about apple wanting to make their 12" powerbook stand out from its 12" ibook. could the the dually powerbook release be drawing near? what are the thoughts on the powerbooks? will apple bring out a dual G4 or jump to the G5?
 
Originally posted by jnasato
If Apple does release something special, I hope that they price it fairly- or even at a bargain price- because we all know what happened with the Cube...
Click to expand...

What happened with the cube? I wasn't around for Macs then...I'm new! I didn't even know about a cube until two days ago. lol
 
Could the 20th be the WEEK of the Mac Anniversary

Given this rumor of the 20th, could this actually be a week of releases starting Tuesday until the 24th and anniversary proper?

G5s PM on one day, iMacs on another, eMacs on another etc?

Wishful thinking...

Jason
 
Originally posted by desdomg
pkradd, agreed.

Which begs the question - if Apple are to launche a 20th Anniversary product around the 24th how will they do it?

Will they just update the website?

Will they hold a press conference?


Seems like without an event the likelihood of an announcement is pretty poor.
Click to expand...

Well January 24 is a Saturday and Apple does not have special events or announcements on Saturdays. They do offer product on sale for the first time on a Friday or Saturday but have always announced it in advance. A special event means inviting press and that means mid-week or thereabouts I'd say. There is a whole year in front of us for new product and Apple will spread this out over the next 11 months. Next big announcment, the week that the iPod mini is introduced, may be iTMS for other countries.
 
Originally posted by masterjedi73
What happened with the cube? I wasn't around for Macs then...I'm new! I didn't even know about a cube until two days ago. lol
Click to expand...

short version: when steve jobs came back to apple, he implemented a 4-square approach to systems, a pro and consumer model each for desktops and laptops (respectively PowerMac, iMac, Powerbook, iBook). Then they threw in the cube, which was basically a headless iMac priced like a PowerMac. The good news is that it proved Job's 4-square plan was solid; the bad news is it did this by failing miserably. People were just not inclined to buy a G4 with almost no expandability because it was cool. That said, there are a lot of cube cultists out there, i myself want one very badly. When Apple killed the cube, they "put it on ice", saying that it wasn't necessarily dead for good. which has fueled speculation to this day that it will be coming back. personally, i doubt this, but if there's a 20th anniversary edition Mac coming out, my guess is it would have the cube form factor.

paul
 
They just priced the Cube too high. It is a shrunken tower, not a headless iMac. It was originally priced at $1795. When the price dropped to $1295, sales improved (I bought mine), but the machine was already being discontinued.

A G5 Cube, if one comes out, needs to be priced below the 1.6 tower. It ought to be around $1399.

A G5 iMac at $1999 won't sell, either. That's just too much money. I can get a faster tower and a non-Apple display for considerably less.

Coupling screen size with processor (e.g. G5 only on 20") is so transparently artificial... that we almost expect it, don't we :mad:

Don't Hurt Me and others are always pointing out that the iMac is expensive for its performance (dollars per xbench point, shall we say?). But Apple's displays are worse.
 
Originally posted by pkradd
Well January 24 is a Saturday and Apple does not have special events or announcements on Saturdays. They do offer product on sale for the first time on a Friday or Saturday but have always announced it in advance. A special event means inviting press and that means mid-week or thereabouts I'd say. There is a whole year in front of us for new product and Apple will spread this out over the next 11 months. Next big announcment, the week that the iPod mini is introduced, may be iTMS for other countries.
Click to expand...

but...wasn't it last year that apple introduced Shake on a Sunday? The LDC iMacs were introduced on Monday (MWSF). iTunes for Windows was, what, Wednesday or Thurdsay...we ALL know that Tuesday is super common for new stuff. And don't forget that BOTH Pather and Jaguar were let out on Fridays.

So, I have no problem expecting something to come out on a Saturday - especially on such an 'important' day as the 20th Anniversary.
 
Feel the heat

Originally posted by cubist
They just priced the Cube too high. It is a shrunken tower, not a headless iMac. It was originally priced at $1795. When the price dropped to $1295, sales improved (I bought mine), but the machine was already being discontinued.

A G5 Cube, if one comes out, needs to be priced below the 1.6 tower. It ought to be around $1399.

A G5 iMac at $1999 won't sell, either. That's just too much money. I can get a faster tower and a non-Apple display for considerably less.

Coupling screen size with processor (e.g. G5 only on 20") is so transparently artificial... that we almost expect it, don't we :mad:

Don't Hurt Me and others are always pointing out that the iMac is expensive for its performance (dollars per xbench point, shall we say?). But Apple's displays are worse.
Click to expand...

First of all, the Cubes problem was not just the price. It had a vertical feed drive which was bizarre at best and the problem was the cables fed under the bottom. Although attractive with the touch sensitive power button it was a disaster ergonomically. Form took over function and although it would make a lovely museum piece it was not realistic especially if you have to switch out devices because those ports were not conveniently placed at all.

I applaud Apples efforts to stay on the cutting edge of design but sometimes you have to consider how a person will be using said device.

Cube loyalists will undeniably object to my arguments but if you open your mind just a little you will see what a disaster the cube shape is unless you allow for it to be used in a more desireable fashion.
 
Re: Feel the heat

Originally posted by sedarby
First of all, the Cubes problem was not just the price. It had a vertical feed drive which was bizarre at best and the problem was the cables fed under the bottom. Although attractive with the touch sensitive power button it was a disaster ergonomically. Form took over function and although it would make a lovely museum piece it was not realistic especially if you have to switch out devices because those ports were not conveniently placed at all.

I applaud Apples efforts to stay on the cutting edge of design but sometimes you have to consider how a person will be using said device.

Cube loyalists will undeniably object to my arguments but if you open your mind just a little you will see what a disaster the cube shape is unless you allow for it to be used in a more desireable fashion.
Click to expand...

Ok, I'm a cube fanatic:
The vertical drive: No problem.
Cords on the bottom: This is minor suckage. I think apple wanted us to set it up and leave it, and use the usb ports on the keyboard and monitor, the cube was advertised and meant to be used with an Apple monitor with the ADC connection and extra usb ports. But where was the firewire? Under the damn cube.

What *really* killed the cube was the windows-centric media conspiring with Apple's outrageous price scheme. People just weren't willing to pay for quiet and elegance like steve thought they would. And then apple-bashing media hinted that the cube was useless because it lacked expandability. This turns out to be hogwash but consumers ate the lies up (the same consumers who wouldn't actually dream of actually expanding their computer but hell, tell someone a computer lacks something and suggest that it's cool or vital, and people will say, "Heck, that thing doesn't even have X" dismissively, ignoring that they have no use whatsoever for X) and the cube died.

Another great point someone over at cubeowner (I think...) made, was that apple's marketing for the Cube was off. They marketed it as a mainstream, mass-market headless pro machine when it was actually a niche fetishist machine. Some people (Steve Jobs) HATE having fans in their computers. I happen to be one of them, and I honestly don't find that the stock chip and bus, slow as they are supposed to be, slow me down at all. For science, pro video, and so on, yes, but for photoshop, coding, and my other web-centric stuff, it's fine. The G5 is MUCH better at photoshop, but I don't miss my 1.6ghz Athlon AT ALL. :D
 
Re: Feel the heat

Originally posted by sedarby
First of all, the Cubes problem was not just the price.

...

Cube loyalists will undeniably object to my arguments but if you open your mind just a little you will see what a disaster the cube shape is unless you allow for it to be used in a more desireable fashion.
Click to expand...

But that isn't what made them not sell - those are all 'after purchase' problems that would crop up.

I was doing the Apple 'demo' days at the time and to get a cube with an Apple display (and since it was a show piece who was going to use anything BUT an Apple display with it?) was $2400!!! This for a virtually unexpandable computer as powerful as the low end PowerMac but more expensive. Everyone loved to look at them but no iMac customer could afford it and no PowerMac customer could afford the design limitations. So they got looked at (and sighed at) quite a bit, but not a one was sold on my watch.

The Cube needed to be a high end iMac replacement and the price (with monitor) had to reflect that. For that market most of your problems are unimportant - once it was set up no cables would be moved, no configuration changes would be made. A few design problems would need tweaking with the revision 2, but the number of customers with deep pockets and low tech needs just wasn't big enough to make them sell at CompUSA and so it never got that far.

Now with lower monitor prices maybe they could do it - but with the stellar design of the iMac now, most of the customers would be nostalgia-based, and could you even cool a modern GHz G4 or G5 with convection heat anyway?

I would have bought one at the time if I was rich, but I really think the moment has passed for their return and it wouldn't make 'good business sense' for Apple to do it for a small 'anniversary' run.
 
The cube, for me, has always been something I wanted, but could never get for the various limitations already talked about. However, I think that the birth of the G5 (and the movement to the 90 nano process) will allow the cube to flourish in the middle of Apple's desktop line up. The eMac is dead, design and sales wise, and, thus, should be discontinued. Display prices have lessened and iMacs should be able to drop in price considerably. Here is my proposed new desktop lineup, including updated G5 towers:

iMac G4

All 1.33 ghz G4
15.2 inch widescreen- 799$
17 inch widescreen - 1299$
20 inch widescreen - 1799$

Cube G5

2.0 ghz G5- 1199$
2.3 ghz G5- 1699$
2.6 ghz G5- 1999$

PowerMac G5

Dual 2.0 ghz G5- 1999$
Dual 2.3 ghz G5- 2499$
Dual 2.6 ghz G5- 2999$

Now I don't know how much money Apple will make off of these machines, but I don't think that is important. Apple seems to be modifying their profit strategy from computer sales centric to software and accessory profits. What is impotant for Apple, at this point, is establishing a greater installed base. I feel this lineup, along with new displays, will generate the type of excitement necessary to make those sales. Making this sort of announcement on the 20th of January could lead to a renewed interest in the rebirth of a computer company.
 
Originally posted by agentmouthwash
I do agree with you 100%. I bought a G4 Powerbook when I knew the G5 Powermac was out.

I was just saying.,. I wonder that's what Apple is going to do so they don't confuse the public with that models are PRO and what models are CONSUMER. Either way, it's a mac and the more mac users the better.

www.dorchestra.com
Click to expand...
well, at least at the apple store at easton town center, there are labels on the celing that say "pro" and "consumer" :D
 
Originally posted by jade
too soon for g5 powerbooks...many retailers are barely getting good stock of current powerbooks.
Click to expand...

I tend to agree with Appleface.

If retailers aren't getting stocked up with new powerbooks, it could be that G4s are being phased out and G5s powerbooks will hit the shelves soon.

That, combined with a recent dumping this week of lots of refurbed powerbooks on the Apple refurbed store site (something that seems to happen a lot to Apple product a lot just before new product comes on the market) suggest that G5 powerbooks (maybe 15" an 17", but not 12") will be launched this week.
 
I'm impressed by the lineup of new Mac's that Flyers486 has listed. Would also like to see listed the updated Cinema Display. Very happy that Apple is such a great manufacture of the Mac. If it all goes as predicted, then MWSF will just be a distant memory.

I spoke with the Genius at my local Apple Store. He said that he was not aware of any changes to the store for Tuesday night. "There isn't anything back there."
 
paulwhannel -

If SJ is still pushing the 4-square Market thing, where does the eMac fit in?
 
Originally posted by lind0834
paulwhannel -

If SJ is still pushing the 4-square Market thing, where does the eMac fit in?
Click to expand...

the four-square thing is three-dimensional now. it's a cube.

(with three missing corners)
 
If Apple releases a cube I think they will avoid putting Mac in the name, maybe just call it iCube or something. Use OS X and be a full home media device, PVR and include game controllers..
 
Originally posted by stingerman
If Apple releases a cube I think they will avoid putting Mac in the name, maybe just call it iCube or something. Use OS X and be a full home media device, PVR and include game controllers..
Click to expand...

Shuttle Mac! (like Shuttle PC, get it?)

or, G5 mini!
 
Maybe no new products at all. Apple could just be celebrating the 20th anniversary with posters and displays.

Not as much fun as new products but certainly possible.
 
TIME?

Hi,

Anyone got ideas of when the updates on the apple store will be done? Ive ordered a 1.8 G5 and its been delayed so much. I have asked Apple and they said that if a new one comes out soon they will upgrade me.

waiting to see what comes up... whats the latest they will be doing the update on?

Thankz...
 
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