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MacBook Air Selling Out
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i Candy it s
Extremely clever marketing. Like the corvette at the chevy dealers: draws in the potential buyers who realize that they actually need a malibu for their n, not a vette, and buy the malibu.
I am happy to see there is finally a "luxury" segment for computers. Not everyone needs the best bang for the buck. Some people even buy expensive things just because they are pretty!!
Extremely clever marketing. Like the corvette at the chevy dealers: draws in the potential buyers who realize that they actually need a malibu for their n, not a vette, and buy the malibu.
I am happy to see there is finally a "luxury" segment for computers. Not everyone needs the best bang for the buck. Some people even buy expensive things just because they are pretty!!
Why is this selling?
Maybe this is how it sells? Two weekends ago I'm in the Manhattan Meat Packing District Apple Store (FYI, Meat Packing District is trendy shop and club area of Manhattan, a touch Euro-trash some might say, but still a hip or at least fashionable area). A Spanish looking dude was asking for a Mac Air. In broken English he asked for "the best", then balked a bit when that turned out to be the $3,000 version. Something made me guess that he was not familiar with costs/benefit analysis of solid state drives. Anyway, the Apple employee got him the basic model, maybe upped the processor or sold him Apple Care. Anyway price went back down to about $2,000. The guy was happy and proceeded to peal off a stack of Benjamins and walked right out with it.
For a guy who just travels a bit and checks his email and websites, the Air is the best thing out there. And if you are the type that walks around with a few grand in cash in your pocket, well then the cost doesn't really matter too much. Though even this fellow wasn't going for SSD model.
I think Apple is tapping into the luxury goods market with the Air. Factor in that the price/value ratio for the Air (and all Mac products) is great compared to typical luxury items (see $1,000 handbags made out of plastic and good for one season or $500 shoes that will fall apart if worn and walked in more than a dozen times for some counter examples) and I can see these flying off the shelves.
Maybe this is how it sells? Two weekends ago I'm in the Manhattan Meat Packing District Apple Store (FYI, Meat Packing District is trendy shop and club area of Manhattan, a touch Euro-trash some might say, but still a hip or at least fashionable area). A Spanish looking dude was asking for a Mac Air. In broken English he asked for "the best", then balked a bit when that turned out to be the $3,000 version. Something made me guess that he was not familiar with costs/benefit analysis of solid state drives. Anyway, the Apple employee got him the basic model, maybe upped the processor or sold him Apple Care. Anyway price went back down to about $2,000. The guy was happy and proceeded to peal off a stack of Benjamins and walked right out with it.
For a guy who just travels a bit and checks his email and websites, the Air is the best thing out there. And if you are the type that walks around with a few grand in cash in your pocket, well then the cost doesn't really matter too much. Though even this fellow wasn't going for SSD model.
I think Apple is tapping into the luxury goods market with the Air. Factor in that the price/value ratio for the Air (and all Mac products) is great compared to typical luxury items (see $1,000 handbags made out of plastic and good for one season or $500 shoes that will fall apart if worn and walked in more than a dozen times for some counter examples) and I can see these flying off the shelves.
You mean like visiting http://www.apple.com/retail/macbookair after 9PM ET and noticing the majority of stores are sold out, or how over at http://store.apple/com, the "ships in" is 5-7 days instead of 24 hours like other Macs, or how very few 3rd party retailers have them in stock?
What more data are you looking for?
Why's everyone always so mean about the poor old Cube? It was a great piece of industrial design. Loved mine and, who knows, might still be using it if my ex hadn't gotten it in the divorce!
So, if its not demand and Apple has full production capacity, then your saying that Apple are producing very low units of Air?
I agree, when you visit youtube and check the discussions thrown back and fourth you can see that most people want to compare it to the macbook and buy one for its thin factor, its so heavily advertised on the tv here in the uk most people think its the laptop from them, but really its not, when you consider it has no optical drive or battery/RAM/HDD access, peoples defence to this is that its a pro consumer product, which is fair enough, for the professional on the go, so why such heavy TV advertising when the professional on the go is a minority compared to the number of potential converters waiting to be converted by the standard macbook??
I think the answer to my question comes in the form of apple realising services and software offer a higher margin than hardware/computer solutions, with their iTunes Store making a hefty margin and no optical drive on the Air, unless people own another machine to use the optical drive they will simply buy off of iTunes giving apple more margin, this is what they want and a driving force behind their reasoning for dropping the drive and then claiming its a pro consumer product while driving it harder than they do towards a typical mac users not interested in pro consumer products. Thinking back to services, theres the added service charge apple can charge for battery/RAM/HDD, but at the risk of invalidating my entire argument should i be wrong about the service charge then nevermind, as the iTunes Store argument still stands and is the main point i want to make here.
All told, long story short, the Macbook Air is an iTunes Store sales driver.
Wait...
Wait...no one on the forum yet complaining about the specs/price? Must be a record. Anyways, it does seem like there is a market for the MBA. I can't justify one for myself right now but do think it is a cool laptop that can serve many a persons. Who knows exactly who Apple is targeting with the MBA, but I am guessing it's for persons with enough room in the budget for a desktop and a MBA.
Wait...no one on the forum yet complaining about the specs/price? Must be a record. Anyways, it does seem like there is a market for the MBA. I can't justify one for myself right now but do think it is a cool laptop that can serve many a persons. Who knows exactly who Apple is targeting with the MBA, but I am guessing it's for persons with enough room in the budget for a desktop and a MBA.
maybe they are being kept in short supply because an updated version will be along soon. I know I know, so soon? But I think the macbook air has the potential to be a great product, its just lacking in a couple areas where it doesn't need to be lacking.
I was one of the so called knuckleheads who bought a G4 Cube when it was first introduced, and I have to say it is the best computer I have ever owned, and it is still in use today. I have owned just about every new Mac in existence
and am typing this reply on a MacBook Air. I remember waiting 7 weeks for delivery of my G4 Cube, and I can see a parallel with the Air. It is a limited audience computer, but a good computer non the less. If I was designing the Air I would have added another USB port, a better video camera, and stereo speakers and output. Other than that it works for me.
and am typing this reply on a MacBook Air. I remember waiting 7 weeks for delivery of my G4 Cube, and I can see a parallel with the Air. It is a limited audience computer, but a good computer non the less. If I was designing the Air I would have added another USB port, a better video camera, and stereo speakers and output. Other than that it works for me.
Why's everyone always so mean about the poor old Cube? It was a great piece of industrial design. Loved mine and, who knows, might still be using it if my ex hadn't gotten it in the divorce!
I wasn't having a pop at the cube. I loved the design and it was a great technical success, but it wasn't a commercial success.
I was having a pop at the pundits who claimed the Air would be a commercial failure, which from early indicators it more than likely will not been.
I don't think you have any clue about sales.
The MacBook and the MacBook Air are very close performance wise. And while the MacBook isn't too heavy and not bad to look at, the MacBook Air is light like Air and looks an absolute beauty. It is an item that people _want_. Now what happens: All these people _want_ to buy a Macintosh. If they can't buy the MacBook Air that they want emotionally, they buy the MacBook, because they can then convince themselves that the MacBook is much better value for money. Either way, they can go home with the idea that they made the right decision (either "I bought it because it is so beautiful, worth every penny" or "I bought it because it is just as good as the MBA, at half the price").
Compare the MacBook Air to the MacBook Pro, and it isn't close in feature and performance. It looks like a bad product. If you were to choose the MBA, you would know what things you have to give up: Bigger screen, faster processor, the MBA just doesn't cut it. So you are not happy about buying an MBA. As a result, you are not happy buying an MBP either. They are two products that are both expensive and that show each other as being not perfect. Bad combination.
You have to position a luxury product so that it looks perfect and gives the customer a chance to buy a non-luxury, more rational, product at a lower price. That way the luxury product actual drives sales of the cheaper product, and every luxury item that you sell comes at a bonus.
Yet another business "genius" on MacRumors.
People see Lou Dobbs on CNN and they think they're experts.
Why's everyone always so mean about the poor old Cube? It was a great piece of industrial design. Loved mine and, who knows, might still be using it if my ex hadn't gotten it in the divorce!
It also led to the MacMini. Not all of Apple ideas have turned golden, but sometimes the failures can lead to something else. I think it's great that the tech world has an occasional mad scientist who pushes what is conceivable in tech. It makes for better products in the grand spectrum of things.
Wow - as a former East Coaster and New Yorker, I never thought I'd hear "Meatpacking District" and "trendy" in the same sentence.
Though in response to an earlier post - if Apple is putting the Airs right next to the MBPs in stores, this makes perfect sense to me: Folks are drawn to the Air, and realize that they could spend "a couple hundred more" and get a MBP, if this is indeed what's happening, and Apple still comes out ahead in sales. I feel like everyone forgets that in the end, Apple's primary concern is making money, and they'll do it by either looking cool or with raw computing power. I'm sure they have armies of consultants whose sole job is to manage product placement and display at the Apple stores, and don't need the likes of us at MR to tell them how to sell.
Woz sez it'll flop
http://www.smh.com.au/news/biztech/...1204402340251.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1
But to be honest he's been a bit of a luddite lately. He wants to go back to 1977 to live the rest of his life when computing equalled tinkering.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/biztech/...1204402340251.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1
But to be honest he's been a bit of a luddite lately. He wants to go back to 1977 to live the rest of his life when computing equalled tinkering.
So we'll see wireless firewire, wireless USB and wireless power charging in 6 months time?
NOTE: Wasn't I talking about computing world stuff to begin with? I've heard that phrase repeated continually and it's a pile of crap, hardware updates still operate in the real world so don't hold out for all those wonderful wireless goodies in 6 months time, not when its Apple doing the updates. I think we were already expecting wireless ipods "6 months ago"!
Despite spending an inordinate amount of time in trendy coffee shops around the city, I've never seen an AIR outside of the Apple store or BestBuy. And I've never seen them out of stock at either place.
Maybe they are selling better somewhere else, but I don't get the impression that the AIR is flying off the shelves around here...pardon the pun.
Maybe they are selling better somewhere else, but I don't get the impression that the AIR is flying off the shelves around here...pardon the pun.
You mean like visiting http://www.apple.com/retail/macbookair after 9PM ET and noticing the majority of stores are sold out, or how over at http://store.apple/com, the "ships in" is 5-7 days instead of 24 hours like other Macs, or how very few 3rd party retailers have them in stock?
What more data are you looking for?
is that how you make conclusions?
data, like 300,000 iphone sold during 2 days weekend.
data, like 6 millions of people rode dart in 2006.
data, like setting bitrate to 450kbps will result in a 90 minutes movie of about 400MB in size
data, numbers?
Great! This reminds me of 2001 when people thought the iPod would never succeed because of its price and little market for it.
And now look!
And now look!
Air update...
So it seems to me that if the reason Apple updated the MB's this past week with Penryn was due to Intel's production schedule, then the Air should be getting Penryn too (I am somewhat new to this, so if my logic is flawed, let me know). If they are going to update the processor of the Air to Penryn, I would also want 4 GB ram (soldered is fine by me) and a larger hard drive possible 100 GB or more, or at minimum a 80 GB SSD.
For me, I was about to purchase the "new" MBP this past week, but I am not in dire need of a new computer till July so I am willing to wait for the possibility of newer and better MBP or Air. For my needs, I don't really need all that much power, but some extra ram and hard drive space would definitely put the Air in a much better light for me, someone who doesn't need all the power of a MBP but would greatly benefit from the space-saving, Air.
So it seems to me that if the reason Apple updated the MB's this past week with Penryn was due to Intel's production schedule, then the Air should be getting Penryn too (I am somewhat new to this, so if my logic is flawed, let me know). If they are going to update the processor of the Air to Penryn, I would also want 4 GB ram (soldered is fine by me) and a larger hard drive possible 100 GB or more, or at minimum a 80 GB SSD.
For me, I was about to purchase the "new" MBP this past week, but I am not in dire need of a new computer till July so I am willing to wait for the possibility of newer and better MBP or Air. For my needs, I don't really need all that much power, but some extra ram and hard drive space would definitely put the Air in a much better light for me, someone who doesn't need all the power of a MBP but would greatly benefit from the space-saving, Air.
From the Apple Store:
Top Sellers
Mac
1.MacBook Air
2.MacBook
3.iMac
If we're to believe Apple, it's their top selling Mac, at least right now.
Top Sellers
Mac
1.MacBook Air
2.MacBook
3.iMac
If we're to believe Apple, it's their top selling Mac, at least right now.
