First of all, let's try not to use an "Apple would never...". I think we all know how unpredictable Apple can be. No matter what Apple releases next, somebody, somewhere on these boards, predicted it. Apple could release the Mac OS X powered VW Beetle with a built-in, OS-X run computer that monitors your car, and runs all it's systems, has built-in wifi, bluetooth, and a touch-screen interface suitable for driving, and somebody would say "I totally saw that coming!" and provide a link to the appropriate forum.
Second of all, I was very unpopular when I booed the eMac when it first came out. I said it would kill iMac sales, and it did. It IS good to have an eMac type computer on the low end, but when a person can buy an eMac for $500 less than a comparable iMac, then "style" isn't that important. If the difference were $200, iMacs would sell better, but a person can eather have an eMac and a 20 gig iPod (or about a year's worth of .Mac, iLife and OS X updates), or just an iMac, the choice is simple (for most). There just isn't a market for the iMac (or, more accurately, the iMacs market is being taken by the eMac). Especially people coming from the generally "design clueless" world of wintel, style and cool is just not worth $500.
Third, we can sit around all day and theorize about why Apple isn't selling the numbers other companies are, but the fact isn't nessessarily the hardware, it's the software. People use Windows at work and something new frightens them. I think that a smart move would be to make a deal with Microsoft that would have the option to include Virtual PC with a new Mac (offer it pre-installed). Consumers would see that they can use Windows if they get "scared" and go back to Mac when they're feeling "brave". Sometimes it's better to "ease" somebody onto something rather than forcing a sudden change. Even the military realizes this (they encourage people to socialize and work out with other applicants for months before they goto boot camp). Plus, the addition of being able to use their old apps would be appealing. Apple would be happy because it would sell them more machines (they are still a hardware business, right? =P), Microsoft would be happy because they would have this whole "new" market. This wouldn't cut OS X out entirely, but rather provide a crutch for new users to stand on.
Fourth, simply lowering the price wouldn't do anything for Apple. Apple could lower the price of a duel G5 to $1499, but people still wouldn't buy. Lowering the price is like trying to pump blood into a patient who still has a bleeding wound. This is basically the same as what the US politicans are doing, trying to encourage Job growth without finding out what the root problem is and fixing it. Eventually it will become a diminishing return and Apple would go out of business because they are selling things cheaper than what they cost.
Sorry for the long squeege of a post. I hope this all still makes sense when I re-read it tommorrow morning!
Anyway... here's hoping for the ability to connect an iSight camera up to an iPod to record movies! =)
BTW - Letting iSight users record with iMoive was a smart move, but still locking out non-Apple superdrives from iDVD was not.
Second of all, I was very unpopular when I booed the eMac when it first came out. I said it would kill iMac sales, and it did. It IS good to have an eMac type computer on the low end, but when a person can buy an eMac for $500 less than a comparable iMac, then "style" isn't that important. If the difference were $200, iMacs would sell better, but a person can eather have an eMac and a 20 gig iPod (or about a year's worth of .Mac, iLife and OS X updates), or just an iMac, the choice is simple (for most). There just isn't a market for the iMac (or, more accurately, the iMacs market is being taken by the eMac). Especially people coming from the generally "design clueless" world of wintel, style and cool is just not worth $500.
Third, we can sit around all day and theorize about why Apple isn't selling the numbers other companies are, but the fact isn't nessessarily the hardware, it's the software. People use Windows at work and something new frightens them. I think that a smart move would be to make a deal with Microsoft that would have the option to include Virtual PC with a new Mac (offer it pre-installed). Consumers would see that they can use Windows if they get "scared" and go back to Mac when they're feeling "brave". Sometimes it's better to "ease" somebody onto something rather than forcing a sudden change. Even the military realizes this (they encourage people to socialize and work out with other applicants for months before they goto boot camp). Plus, the addition of being able to use their old apps would be appealing. Apple would be happy because it would sell them more machines (they are still a hardware business, right? =P), Microsoft would be happy because they would have this whole "new" market. This wouldn't cut OS X out entirely, but rather provide a crutch for new users to stand on.
Fourth, simply lowering the price wouldn't do anything for Apple. Apple could lower the price of a duel G5 to $1499, but people still wouldn't buy. Lowering the price is like trying to pump blood into a patient who still has a bleeding wound. This is basically the same as what the US politicans are doing, trying to encourage Job growth without finding out what the root problem is and fixing it. Eventually it will become a diminishing return and Apple would go out of business because they are selling things cheaper than what they cost.
Sorry for the long squeege of a post. I hope this all still makes sense when I re-read it tommorrow morning!
Anyway... here's hoping for the ability to connect an iSight camera up to an iPod to record movies! =)
BTW - Letting iSight users record with iMoive was a smart move, but still locking out non-Apple superdrives from iDVD was not.
