Apple's Upcoming Product Transition

[King Crimson]

iMac / Multitouch

Apple's projected relatively weaker earnings for the current quarter, citing higher component costs, back-to-school discounts and a "product transition" will cause Apple earnings to come in lower than expected.

An iMac with Multitouch would be so ... Applying it to all iMacs and Apple monitors "for free" would result in a massive market base for Multitouch applications ... Which could result in MacOS only Multitouch implementations of very interesting applications, is there anything compareable out now?

And - remember, Apple has a lot of system-freaks that have been involved in the making of the iPhone OS. Perhaps that's just a fake and they basicly transferred the Multitouch skills ...

Now, wouldn't that be an expensive transition?

Just an idea, don't expect it to come real

Anyway, another topic: they'll never drop the only really succesfull all-in-one-computer in the market, never ... That's what Apple was and will be known for.

And of course phones, walkmen, toasters and cleaning robots, hehe

 

[MacinDoc]

iMacs will have more expensive LED-backlit LCDs, more expensive motherboards and CPUs and GPUs, and more RAM/larger HDs than the current models. Add to that the fact that if the 17" iMac is dropped as rumored, the other models will have to drop in price. That could drop the iMac margin from (just guessing) 60% to 20%. Next, new HD-based iPods have more expensive, higher-capacity HDs but cost the same as the current models, again leading to lower profit. Then, with flash increasing in price, the margin on flash-based iPods also drops. Add to that the fact that Apple will have to sell off remaining stock of iMacs and iPods at a discount as the new models are introduced, and its profit takes a large hit. This is especially the case because 2 of Apple's best sellers will be updated this quarter.

 

[gehrbox]

Death of the iMac

As has been mentioned in the iMac threads - the iMac name will die and the product will get the 'Mac' title, next to Mac pro, Mac Book Pro and Mac Book.

Touch screen iMac? Not likely. Head over to a Best Buy and try your hand at Solitaire on an HP IQ770. Aside from being hideous to look at it goes a long way in demonstrating the uselessness of touch screens on anything but Kiosks, hand held devices and tablet PC's

 

[pianojoe]

Ditto for me. They'll have a $4000 order from me as soon as they refresh this stale machine!

Si Señor!

 

[Chisholm]

Yeah, I remember that.

But the MT UI is addicting.

After an outing with the iPhone, I find vaguely uncomfortable/dissatisfied with the traditional mouse/keyboard interface...

Something's missing!

Why can't I just tap/squeeze/stroke/flick that page in iTunes/Aperture/FC/Pages/iPhoto/Google Maps/Safari/etc. on my Mac?

Control keys and mouse click/scroll are sooooo last century... like clothes that you've outgrown (or have gone out of style)... I just don't want to work (look) that way anymore.

KB/mouse is so... so... sooooo... polyester!

I agree MT is addicting. I was looking at a mapping program yesturday (not Google maps) and I actually reached out and flicked the LCD screen of my computer. I felt so dumb when I realized what I had done.

 

[GFLPraxis]

I like this idea, but the first thing that crosses my mind is whether this would put Apple in the same hot water that MS was in bundling Windows Media Player.

Windows Movie Maker = poor man's iMovie.
That new Photo app in Vista = poor man's iPhoto.

Microsoft has already bundled photo and video editing apps with their OS, why can't Apple? It's not with the intention of blocking out other applications (Microsoft got in hot water by bundling Internet Explorer and then threatening anyone who sold Netscape).

 

[GFLPraxis]

An iMac with Multitouch would be so ... Applying it to all iMacs and Apple monitors "for free" would result in a massive market base for Multitouch applications ... Which could result in MacOS only Multitouch implementations of very interesting applications, is there anything compareable out now?

And - remember, Apple has a lot of system-freaks that have been involved in the making of the iPhone OS. Perhaps that's just a fake and they basicly transferred the Multitouch skills ...

Now, wouldn't that be an expensive transition?

Just an idea, don't expect it to come real

Anyway, another topic: they'll never drop the only really succesfull all-in-one-computer in the market, never ... That's what Apple was and will be known for.

And of course phones, walkmen, toasters and cleaning robots, hehe

And interestingly...Leopard's Resolution-independent interface is perfect for a multitouch environment where you use your fingers to touch things, as buttons can be made larger without reduction in resolution.

Coincidence? (Probably)

 

[King Crimson]

Touch screen iMac? Not likely.

Yep

Head over to a Best Buy and try your hand at Solitaire on an HP IQ770. Aside from being hideous to look at it goes a long way in demonstrating the uselessness of touch screens on anything but Kiosks, hand held devices and tablet PC's

It's not about total transition of MacOS to MultitTouchOS. It's an addition, there are heaps of interfacedesign-challenges that could be tackled the "Multitouch-way": education, visualisation, ...

But I'd hate the fingerprints on my display

Anyway, it's just brainstorming!!!!!!

Cheers

 

[fawlty]

I would guess they're referring to the Leopard transition, scheduled to happen in October, which may cause people to put off buying a computer this quarter. That is how a product transition decreases earnings in the short term, though it will likely increase earnings in the following quarter.

That makes sense - obviously Oppenheimer can't say "we're not going to sell many Macs this quarter because smart people will wait for Leopard".

 

[King Crimson]

"we're not going to sell many Macs this quarter because smart people will wait for Leopard".

Sounds like Dilberts boss

 

[Chisholm]

Except that Comcast would screw you on the cable internet when it's not attached to a cable tv plan. My internet only account with them is nearly $70 a month after taxes in the ATL.

Yeah, I was paying Comcast $60 a month for cable modem only. Then I figured I could get the basic cable from them for $8 a month to get rid of the $10 non TV subscriber SCREWING, PENALTY, (*&^%$$#, Now I pay $58 a month and get basic cable. But all my coax is conected to DirecTV.

 

[smilanov74]

Transition obvious??

I think that without a doubt the transition is having to do with what apple plans with the iPod. Look at the negative response to the supposed 6th gen version that is coming out in August! Wow, people are not too happy that it is not like an iPhone. So they forsee that while they make the (here it comes) transition from a conventional iPod to the more iPhone like one, they will see a possible decrease in iPod sales (or at least level sales). Really they can't make the iPod just like the iPhone just yet and they need a new ipod for the Holidays so what are they to do? Well make that one that people are not too happy with. So this transition they will go through with the next 2 gens of iPod are why they are predicting lower revenue than expected. Make sense? (note that I did not read the multitude of responses so this might be duplicate to what another has said)

 

[Chimaera.fr]

But I'd hate the fingerprints on my display

Cheers

What about an imac/macbook with a full keyboard but without keys?

 

[mathwhiz90601]

I think it's more obvious than that.

Apple is going to get out of the hardware business and make OSX for PC's.

"People who really care about software should make their own hardware."
- Paraphrase of SJ

AKA Apple is NEVER going to leave the hardware business.

 

[RoDe]

My guess is he means people holding off on buying stuff until Leopard is introduced. Because even if they introduce a new iMac it would still have the "old" operating system on it. A least that's what I think.

 

[mathwhiz90601]

I've gotta agree. It's margins.

The current iMac has not been updated in 9 months; but the hardware used has dropped in price considerably. It probably has HUGE margins.

When Apple releases the new iMac, they're going to suddenly have much lower margins; add to that the current iMacs that will sit on shelves and have to be returned...

I agree about how upgraded iMac hardware will eat into margins, but there's hardly any iMacs on shelves left. Plus, instead of being returned, why not just have a clearance sale on them?

 

[gehrbox]

Touch screen = pain

The problem with a touch screen (aside from the finger prints) is the ache in your arm if you spend any significant time using it.

Something I've not seen mentioned that could lend a multi-touch feature without the expense is a mouse with a touch sensative surface. No buttons, just a touch surface. Curved and integrated into the mouse surface.

You could duplicate much of the multi-touch features this way.

Yep



It's not about total transition of MacOS to MultitTouchOS. It's an addition, there are heaps of interfacedesign-challenges that could be tackled the "Multitouch-way": education, visualisation, ...

But I'd hate the fingerprints on my display

Anyway, it's just brainstorming!!!!!!

Cheers

 

[mathwhiz90601]

...the Mac Mini sounds like it is going away...

No way it isn't. 50% of mac buyers last quarter were new to the macintosh platform. The mini targets this market; would apple drop some 25% or so of its buyers by dropping the mini?!? No way, I say!

 

[Joshua53077]

Duh!

It's the Osbourne effect folks

Apple rarely unveils a hardware product that ships immediately. Therefore, if they unveil a new iMac, it will inevitably mean that
a) Inventory of existing iMacs will be allowed to dwindle down and
b) People will await the new model

My opinion? Apple is going to announce the ultra portable laptop that we've all been talking about. Why? Because for apple to expect it to impact their balance sheet, it would have to be something more substantial than a product revision. If, for example, an ultra portable is announced, it would most likely affect near term sales of both 15 inch Macbook Pros as well as Macbooks. Considering how laptops are driving sales of new macs right now, a reduction there will have a more dramatic affect than virtually any other part of the mac product line.

OR

Apple unveils a product a la the Apple TV but they heavily discount it up front in order to allow some type of subscription model in the long term.

Either way, it should be interesting

 

[Nym]

I theorize different.


Transition sounds different than new models or upgrades.

I have wondered for some time, and more so with the rumored iPhone nano, whether the iPod line will eventually be phased out in favor of an entire iPhone line.

It doesn't make sense in the short run, but neither did shipping an iMac with only USB ports and no floppy disk drive.

iPOD has always connoted a small digital "pod" for holding things, like a pea pod. iPhone takes the idea of a small pod that holds things and adds communication. To me it seems inevitable that Apple will add communication to small devices moving forward. I think in some ways you could look at the iPhone as the next generation over iPod G5.5. And maybe the next product will be the next generatioon over iPod nano G2.0

But an iPhone shuffle? hehe...... In another thread I made a joke about apple coming out with an iphone shuffle that holds a thousand random phone numbers...the joke didnt go over well there...here? anything?


An interesting way of looking at the market that I just thought of while writing this, is that we have had communication devices for aw hile now (cell phones) which in recent years have been trying to add content (Vcast and all that crap)..Apple on the other hand has made content devices to which they are adding communication functionality. i think apple has a good standing in that way of looking at it, because computers were content devices long before they became communication devices. And the reason they were so useful as communication devices was because of all the content already on computers that was ripe for sharing as the WWW came of age.

Just wanted to say that, you actually make sense

Really, I'm not being sarcastic! I'm not saying that there will be no 6G iPod in favor of a new all iPhone line, what I'm agreeing is about the difference you stated between Apple and the other cell phone companies, especially if you think that that difference could be the main reason why Apple may very well be ahead of all it's competitors in this sector in less than 5 years.

 

[Stella]

My prediction of product transition -

This is being blown out of all proportions. In reality, to us customers, it will be not very important.

However, I would love to see:

iLife + .Mac + iWorks as one product at $129.

( even as a part of OSX ).

.Mac is very poor value for money.

 

[Cooknn]

I'm in the touchscreen camp. Product Transition = iMac Touchscreen. It has to be much different than its current form factor though. I can't even imagine what would work - but I'm sure Ive has I hope when Steve steps down someday Jonathan gets the keys to the kingdom.

 

[shawnce]

Apple rarely unveils a hardware product that ships immediately.

Rarely?

 

[Stella]

Rarely?

Yep, he obviously has forgotten about:

-iPhone
-iTV
-Quad Mac Pro
-Every OSX release
-XServe


And a whole load of other products that Apple announced in advance of shipping. I'm sure someone can come up with a more complete list.

 

[Delicious-Apple]

I'm in the touchscreen camp. Product Transition = iMac Touchscreen. It has to be much different than its current form factor though. I can't even imagine what would work - but I'm sure Ive has I hope when Steve steps down someday Jonathan gets the keys to the kingdom.

I completely agree. Ive gets my vote for the keys. He comes across as a very positive, likeable character. He also has the same mysterious streak and a 'bit' of a knack for innovative design and usability Hopefully Steve-o is getting him upto speed on the business side of things.