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Mac mini Test Drive Offer Pulled
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For you youngsters, they had a similar promotion way back in 1984 or so, and it did not lead to happy results.
shompa said:Its a good chanse that it would work, and I would have bought a Mac Mini.
Now I will never now
Glaring spelling errors aside, HTPC on the Mac, especially on the mini, is woefully behind the PC. That said, HDTV is somewhat ahead of the PC.
In either case, it takes too much work, and too high a cost to get decent results. The Mac and the PC make crappy PVR's, and scalers on many mid-priced HT components are much better than what you can find on a mac or PC.
Dedicated HT products are still way ahead either on price or capability.
It's ironic that when the promo was up on Apple's site, one of the principle lines was 'to show that Apple have confidence in the mini....'. It makes one wonder if they realized their confidence was misplaced!
As a consumer I thought the promo was a great idea. Pay for a mini because I need a system for a couple of weeks to complete a project, then return it afterwards and get my money back - very cheap way to get a short-term lease! From a corporate standpoint, it was an incredibly stupid promo. That it might have tempted additional buys is certainly true, but it could have taken a couple of years to shift all the refub models afterwards through the Apple store.
That Apple have just pulled the promo with no hint of a reason shows they didn't do it for a GOOD reason!
As a consumer I thought the promo was a great idea. Pay for a mini because I need a system for a couple of weeks to complete a project, then return it afterwards and get my money back - very cheap way to get a short-term lease! From a corporate standpoint, it was an incredibly stupid promo. That it might have tempted additional buys is certainly true, but it could have taken a couple of years to shift all the refub models afterwards through the Apple store.
That Apple have just pulled the promo with no hint of a reason shows they didn't do it for a GOOD reason!
I think people would have tried it out and then thought. This is slow and cumbersome due to the slow hard drive, weak graphics card, little RAM, and OS X. Then they think Macs are hype and don't really switch. I still think Apple needs a headless Mac with cheap fast components that is not so sexy and small. I won't buy a Mini until it has room for 2 sets of RAM so 1 GB is easy or 1 GB chips drop a lot in price.
i think they just stepped back from it for a second and realized it was not worth it...what would they do with all those returned mac minis? they would have to put them on the refurbished page wouldn't they? and then they would lose money off of each system and then have to sell a perfectably good mac mini below retail value, and somewhere along the line the consumers would be troubled because they were paying retail value for a mac mini that they could have gotten for less from apple and the machine wasn't even refurbished...it was just a sendback...just my thoughts...hopefully someone will correct me because i really dont know what im talking about...
iSee said:
If someone screwed up, why pull hte promo now? Sure, you messed up, but what does delay get you now? It's been advertised, so you go with the flow.
I'm guessing they realized that demand was far too great, and were worried about a flood of orders.
That, or the legal, like some law in california says that you get it free instead of having to return it.
It's easy to see why. You have a 30 day trial. When Apple announces Mini's with new video cards shortly, are you going to keep that old one your testing out? Or return it fee free and get the new one now that you know you like it. Bet this program is right back on after the update.
cubist said:
Because:
It had to be bought in person, at a store, and carried home.
It had to be returned in person, to a store, and carried there.
It was 24 hours, not 30 days.
The Macintosh was $2499.
It was during the Christmas period, where time is at a premium.
This was completely different:
Bought online, delivered to door.
Returned by courier, from your door.
30 days is enough time to work out whether you like it.
The mini starts at $499.
It's September, and would be over by 31 October.
This cancellation is nothing short of a farce. I hope Apple will at least fully honour those who took part in this programme, as opposed to just cancel those orders made.
Lacero said:
Actually, this is a repeat of a promo Apple did in the early/mid 1990's. "Test Drive a Mac" was a campaign Apple did back in the day, when their market share was really slipping. The promo didn't work very well back then, Gosh knows why they'd try it again...
Well the last mini update was a bit disappointing, maybe it was just a stop gap measure and we'll next something like 1.42GHz and 1.6GHz G4 minis in the next month? Though I don't know that they'd run the promotion again immediately after an upgrade, when you could easily run out of stock selling them to people who never plan to do anything but return them.Lucky736 said:It's easy to see why. You have a 30 day trial. When Apple announces Mini's with new video cards shortly, are you going to keep that old one your testing out? Or return it fee free and get the new one now that you know you like it. Bet this program is right back on after the update.
Most people who go through the trouble of ordering have already been teetering with the idea and this is just a way for them to get one in their home. A gentle push over the hill to get the ball rolling. I'd say at least 8 out of 10 will stay in the home. Everyone knows what a pain it is to box something back up, have to call and get RMA's and go ship it back. This way though, Apple ensures they aren't setting themselves up for a stockpile of old models being exchanged for new ones.
My guess is that new Minis are coming out, and they didn't want people to return the "old" Minis just to buy a new one. I think that sounds like the most logical solution.
i personally think that apple is rethinking how they will do this promotion. sure, there could have been flaws in this promotion. who knows whats going to happen.
It will certainly be interesting to see how the RDF functions with such an obvious, public blunder. Steve may have to use inert hallucinagenic gases in the meeting hall during the next keynote address in order to keep the masses cheering, nodding eagerly, and unable to to render a shread of objective thinking about this company.
This makes the "premature specification" G5 blunder look like sheer genius by comparison.
How a company known for stunning marketing could have EVER let something like this happen is beyond my comprehension. It certainly isn't some sort of intentional "tactic," as it looks bad from every possible vantage point.
But it will be fun to see Steve-O work his voodoo on the crowd. Especially with the whopping 33 mhz "mach-speed" CPU bump to the Powerbooks we are anticipating. Tee hee!
This makes the "premature specification" G5 blunder look like sheer genius by comparison.
How a company known for stunning marketing could have EVER let something like this happen is beyond my comprehension. It certainly isn't some sort of intentional "tactic," as it looks bad from every possible vantage point.
But it will be fun to see Steve-O work his voodoo on the crowd. Especially with the whopping 33 mhz "mach-speed" CPU bump to the Powerbooks we are anticipating. Tee hee!
That is really strange. Wonder what changed their mind. By the way in Europe you can give any product back within 2 weeks if purchased online.
I suspect this means that an update of the Mini is imminent and this promotion was intended for the updated Mini, but it was prematurely posted. I'm sure this promo would have been researched before it was launched, and the only explanation for it being pulled so quickly without comment from Apple is that it was not yet intended to be posted.
I already did it...
I already test-drove a mini. And frankly, I brought it back.
I bought it from Best Buy, who were very enthusiastic about letting me bring it back, like any of their other items, if I was not happy.
If I bought one again I would go with a BTO, but I think I'll wait until the intel Macs before I buy another machine - this Powerbook will do, and I'm considering a Cube instead...
I already test-drove a mini. And frankly, I brought it back.
I bought it from Best Buy, who were very enthusiastic about letting me bring it back, like any of their other items, if I was not happy.
If I bought one again I would go with a BTO, but I think I'll wait until the intel Macs before I buy another machine - this Powerbook will do, and I'm considering a Cube instead...
I wonder if the cancellation is the result of an 11th hour edict from Steve...
"Holy Crap!....you what.....adverts are already up?......Sh*t!.....cancel it anyway! The legal people are crapping themselves over this!.....and tell however's idea it was to put the ads up that he's fired!<slams down phone>".
Fire up the RDF, and set it to "damage control" mode!
"Holy Crap!....you what.....adverts are already up?......Sh*t!.....cancel it anyway! The legal people are crapping themselves over this!.....and tell however's idea it was to put the ads up that he's fired!<slams down phone>".
Fire up the RDF, and set it to "damage control" mode!
