Are we on the last generation of Macs?

[Benjamindaines]

A lot of people have said that Apple still makes a lot of money on computer sales, but I think it should be pointed out that Apple makes more money on computers than they do with iPod / iTunes combined.

--Cheers

 

[simontarr]

Reading into things too much has reached a new level.
The 'Welcome to 2007' banner conversation was bad enough.

 

[combatcolin]

Apple used to make printers and scanners, but they stopped making/selling them as they decided they weren't making as much as they want.

As long as Apple can turn a profit making computers and software/hardware that run on said computers they will continue to invest in the Mac computer brand.

(Now if they made a damn consumer Mac they would make a lot more money out of me, but thats just my rant )

 

[Counterfit]

The newest plan to take over M$...

"The Empire"

(theres an Apple species named Empire,as there is MacIntosh. Just thought it would br ironic to be overtaking the "empire" that is M$)

And for our older but still loyal customers...

"the Granny Smith" (a Mac Classic running OS X, colored green)

They should introduce a line named after the variety that the patent for was mistakenly awarded to MS. (It was supposed to go to a nearby farmer, who had probably used the same patent attorney. It all got fixed though.)

 

[Xeem]

Certain facts, which were fairly well known in the early 70's, seem to have been forgotten. I will offer them. If you find them difficult to believe, well the truth is out there for those who want to know.

The fact is, oil production is controlled by US, British and Dutch oil companies. The Arabs you see sitting around that big OPEC table are front men for the real men calling the shots. They artificially inflate the cost of oil at their whim. If there was ever a group that needed reigned in, it is them. Most people are not stupid (except the far-right). They know this is happening. They have just been beaten into submission.

Wrong thread?

I don't think the Mac is going away, but I still think that it deserves a little more of the spotlight. If the iPhone gets a tab, there is no reason the Mac shouldn't have one too.

 

[darkanddivine]

I think all that has happened is as Apple have moved towards being a technology company rather than a computer company they have marketed themselves more so. People that I speak to generally think of Apple as "those guys who make the iPod" so it makes sense to corner that market as they have done so well.

On Amazon.co.uk lately there has been an ad saying "iMac, from the people who brought you the ipod". Kinda says a lot. The company as a whole is stronger than ever though, and I think more and more people will switch but in the mid term the computers will play second fiddle to the newer technologies.

 

[Benjamindaines]

(Now if they made a damn consumer Mac they would make a lot more money out of me, but thats just my rant )

What you have to understand about "consumer PCs" is that they actually cause the companies to lose money, every time someone buys a bottom of the line Dell computer Dell loses money. They only make money on their higher end computers (same will all other manufactures). Apple is in the business of making money, not offering things people want at a price to their pocket book. They are simply too small to be able to afford that.

 

[Benjamindaines]

On Amazon.co.uk lately there has been an ad saying "iMac, from the people who brought you the ipod". Kinda says a lot. The company as a whole is stronger than ever though, and I think more and more people will switch but in the mid term the computers will play second fiddle to the newer technologies.

That was actually Apple's original campaign for the iMac G5 "Introducing the new iMac, from the creators of the iPod." (something like that)

 

[matthew24]

Apple will sell in 2007 between 9 and 11 million computers (!), that is more then twice the number of 3 years ago. Tomorow we will have the figures of the last quarter. Apple is booming, this is the message that needs to go out, not some doom-message based on actually nothing which could even hurt sales! Let the momentum continue!!!!

 

[Grakkle]

Well, they seem to have transitioned from, "Put a logo on the front. People love logos. They generate buzz," to "Flashing blue lights. Tons of them. Light up the undercarriage. If it works for that kid who hangs out at the gas station off exit 57, then it'll work for our tower cases too."

Hey, the lights are space-age!

I suppose anything's possible, but I'd doubt Apple will be getting out of the computer hardware business in the near future. At least not until there are real computer industry standards that pretty much guarantee quality and compatibility for their OS.

 

[bankshot]

There's still no Conroe-based Mac... unarguably Intel's best performing chip.

Yeah, that kind of puzzles me. Yes, the iMac fills the consumer desktop line while the Mac Pro is for professionals. But I'd kill for a Conroe tower starting around $1200-1300. My G4 tower cost me $1200 brand new 5 years ago. So yes, Apple used to sell towers in this price range. It's still going strong today thanks to the various upgrades I've been able to put in since it's a tower.

There was a time about 10 years ago when Apple's product line was needlessly complex and confusing. It was never clear which models were targeted at which market segments or for which tasks. Jobs cleaned that up when he came in, but I always feel like they could still expand with a little more overlap between product lines without confusing customers. Maybe that's just me...

That said, despite the lack of an affordable tower, Mac hardware isn't going anywhere.

 

[SmurfBoxMasta]

Design principles, what design principles?

agreed , you can't change something that you never had to begin with !

 

[bob5820]

What I'm getting at is, is Apple preparing to stop selling computers? The OS transition to Intel is complete, so Apple could open up OS X to *all* Intel PCs anytime they want to, and go head to head with Microsoft.

Are we on the last generation of Macs?

If the plan was to open OSX up, why even bother with the expense of transitioning to Intel. If that was the case they would have just released OSX to PC builders. As much as I like OSX, I think you are being extremely naive about Apples ability to go head to head with the evil empire. Apple survives and prospers because it only chooses to swim in a little part of Bill's pool.

 

[MacVault]

Apple still make a lot of money on Mac sales.

Yea, but isn't it "probable" that if they open OS X to all PC hardware, their hardware sales drop a few percent but their OS X sales skyrocket 5000%??? Actually I don't know why their hardware sales should suffer as long as they get more competitive, oh.. and put a REAL GPU IN THE MACBOOK!

 

[solvs]

Yeah, it's not like they just renamed all of their computer products Mac-whatever instead of i/Power. MacBook, MBP, Mac Pro, and of course the already perfectly named iMac. Plus Mac OS X.

Apple is entering a new age, reinventing itself as a media company. But they're only adding to the computer stuff, not replacing. Looking at the iPhone, you could almost call it a Macphone, because it's just a ultra mini portable Mac.

 

[GimmeSlack12]

But there was no mention of Mac's before as you can see in this comparison of the UK and US apple links.

View attachment 66322

View attachment 66323

If you look at the Apple Tab you see Hardware as a second set of tabs.

Anyone that thinks that Apple will stop making Macs is just to new to the game to know what is going on. And anyone that actually "believes" this talk really hasn't a clue.

The iPod and other accessories that Jobs has produced were all made to attract one thing: More people to Macs. If you had to choose one thing that is essential to Apple, it is the Mac. Even the OS on its own (no hardware) would not allow Apple to grow very much.

 

[cecildk9999]

If they were on the last generation, I think the whole 'get a mac' ads would be pointless; apple is all about selling an entire package in a product, and I can't see them following the MS model at this point. The marketing aspect for the computers would be a lot different if this were the case.

 

[TenaciousPZ]

LOL, what a concept.

Thread starter obviously knows nothing about e-commerce website design, pay per click, or landing pages.

Do some googling related to macs, click on links, see what pages you end up on.

 

[Umbongo]

You are reading into this waaaaay too much.

SJ has been waiting to show the iPhone for over two and a half years. He said Macs are going to be big in 2007, but that's all he would say about macs at MacWorld. This doesn't mean that the computer line is doomed.

But we are 20 days in to 2007, it's been 11 days since the keynote. Apple aren't shipping 8 core Mac pros, macbook and macbook pros with updated platforms, core 2 minis, a new desktop designed for gamers, leopard nor iLife 2007. Apple have obviously abandoned the computer world, as is clearly evidenced by them ignoring the hardware and software side for so long and the fact that only a few very popular items have their own menu tabs and everything else is relegated to a submenu on default tab. Anyone looking at the Apple site wouldn't even know they made computers.

 

[macOSX-tastic]

if i had to run OSX on a PC (and that would be my OS of choice, if it were licenced) it would definitely be a nice little vaio.

S

 

[combatcolin]

What you have to understand about "consumer PCs" is that they actually cause the companies to lose money, every time someone buys a bottom of the line Dell computer Dell loses money. They only make money on their higher end computers (same will all other manufactures). Apple is in the business of making money, not offering things people want at a price to their pocket book. They are simply too small to be able to afford that.

Half way between the Mini and the Pro would be around £800-£1000.

And how would Apple not make money on that figure?



Lose the display
4 Dimm slots
Spare HDD bay
PCI -E Upgradable graphics
No need for PCI slots

Words "Potato" and "Hot" spring to mind.

 

[iW00t]

Because computers aren't where the money's at, it's the OS. As soon as SJ decides to license OS X, X1, etc. to the PC's of the world, he will overtake Gates, as the world's richest man, Apple will dump the computer business, and we'll be ebaying our powerbooks for pleasure.

I doubt it.

If Apple starts selling OS X for PCs it will be the end of Apple as we know it.

1) People don't "suddenly" just walk into a store and buy OS X, and then spend the next 3 months wondering why all his old software doesn't work. That's not what Joe Sixpacks do.
2) The people who care enough to run OS X will stop buying Macs and just buy the OS.
3) The current "Hackintosh" crowd will just download it off [website name removed] They didn't pay for it in the past, why suddenly stop now?

Yea, but isn't it "probable" that if they open OS X to all PC hardware, their hardware sales drop a few percent but their OS X sales skyrocket 5000%??? Actually I don't know why their hardware sales should suffer as long as they get more competitive, oh.. and put a REAL GPU IN THE MACBOOK!

Yes, because we all know Microsoft makes a lot of money from retail software sales.

OEMs, rich fortune 500 corporate types, enterprises.

That's where the real money is at. Home users just helps Microsoft maintain mindshare, after all they are not going to be able to sell software to businesses if their employees don't use Microsoft software.

 

[lled7]

I wanted to first of all say that I just purchased my first Mac (iMac 20" C2D) yesterday and am typing on it right now.

As for the topic of this thread, I have been thinking about this for a few days now. I think it is very possible BUT I think we have some years to go before it happens.

The more Apple is successful in other areas and the less share (income wise) they make on their computers, I see them going back to offering CLONES. However, I see them only offering a handful of clones not the thousands of machines available for the windows platform. (If they did that, I would hope they make Sony one of the clone makers.)

In this way, they can keep a good eye on the hardware as they continue to make the hardware and software tightly integrated but make most of their money off the software (like Microsoft).

Anyway, that's just my opinion. I'm off to explore more of my new iMac.

-ken

 

[CmdrLaForge]

In one word - NO !

Not now and not in the next 15 years.

Apple has 2% worldwide market share in selling computers and they are making I would guess 50% of profit with them - that is 500 Million dollars last quarter alone and per year 2 Billion Dollars ! As long as they make that substantial money with Macs they will not go away.

The other way is in fact the case. With iPods and iPhone and other products they get more and more switchers and market share for the Macs. Of course these products add revenue - but thats the reason Apple is making them.

Yes - there portfolio is now more diversified then 5 years ago but that makes the company only stronger as it adds to the baseline.

 

[2ndPath]

But we are 20 days in to 2007, it's been 11 days since the keynote. Apple aren't shipping 8 core Mac pros, macbook and macbook pros with updated platforms, core 2 minis, a new desktop designed for gamers, leopard nor iLife 2007. Apple have obviously abandoned the computer world, as is clearly evidenced by them ignoring the hardware and software side for so long and the fact that only a few very popular items have their own menu tabs and everything else is relegated to a submenu on default tab. Anyone looking at the Apple site wouldn't even know they made computers.

Missing computer hardware and software upgrades at Macworld don't mean yet that Apple is abandoning computers. The Macbook and Macbook Pro were upgraded about 3 months ago, so by Apples standards they are not yet due for the next upgrade. And this upgrade will likely be the upgrade to the next mainboard chip set, which is not yet available. The mini is supposed to be a low end, cheap machine, so it is fine with the core duo if this enables Apple to keep the price at the current point. The iMac and the Mac Pro might be due for an update, which however might just be a speed bump and thus just wouldn't fit in the presentation next to really new and different things like the iPhone. In general Apple has to upgrade its computers now a a rate given by the providers of their hardware technology, which is Intel in the first place. If they would just wait for a big event like Macworld, everybody would complain.

Looking at the whole situation from a different point, over the last few years Apple has continuously increased its porfolio of software products for the Mac. This is a long term development and doesn't fit at all with abandoning the computer market. Their shift might be more to do software than hardware (Apple does much less hardware engineering than in PPC times), but presently they are clearly staying in the computer business.

That said, of course Apple might always be up for a big surprise.