Wal-Mart Selling iPod Minis

[Neerazan]

Please can't we all just get along...?

Right, I've spent months reading this board, getting frustrated by various ill informed or narrow minded points of view on all things Apple, and I have finally reached a point where I feel I just have to share with the group as it were...

All PC users are not idiots. There are many good reasons to own a Windows PC over a Mac, in my case it has always been the fact that it was the best platform for the kind of games I enjoy playing, but others like the lower cost of purchase, the perceived compatibility with their machine at work, etc, etc...

Having said that, there are many reasons why my next machine will now be a Mac, less hassle from viruses, spyware, mallware, Miscrosoft, etc. Not to mention a better and more stable OS, and the most beautifully integrated set of apps I have ever seen, namely iLife '05.

There have only ever been two barriers to me buying a Mac, the issue of not having a decent gaming machine with a good range of titles (bless Microsoft, they have invented the X Box, which is good enough for me not to worry about upgrading to another PC), and cost of purchase (bless Steve for the Mac Mini, now it'll only take a few months to save up to a Mac, not a few years for that tripped out iMac I don't really need).

Walmart is what it is, and having never set foot in one of their US stores I can only speak from friends' experiences, and my experiences of their UK arm, ASDA. Pile it high sell it cheap, and budget over quality is what I think of for their own brand goods,, get the same thing for less for the brands they carry alongside them.

Someone has already pointed out that Macs were originally meant to be 'for the rest of us', not for the chosen few, and whilst there is a lot to be said for hugely powerful G5 based machines for all you professional creative types out there, I don't have a wish to edit HD video on my Mac Mini, nor run Photoshop flat out (why would I buy a machine taht costs less than the software I want to use, and expect it to work at top speed?).

Macs have been elitist tools for creatives for years, the Mac Mini is the Mac for the rest of us, and Walmart (or ASDA over here in the UK) seems the ideal place to stack 'em high and sell them by the thousand.

This is my first post, sorry for the length and the slightly ranting nature, but that was a year or so of frustration working its way out

 

[nbs2]

before i finish the rest of the thread

Ya Apple will get the exposure, but I cant honestly say that I think the people who shop in WM are the same as the ones that shop in the Apple stores or dealers.

I think that just might be the point.

Oh yeah - I shop at wal-mart. Went there yesterday and should head there again today. But wait! I think I'll head over to the Apple Store in Tysons for my (roughly) weekly visit. Remember, like everybody else has already pointed out, Wal-mart is everywhere, cheap, and has the basics that you need (and mine is next to Sam's, which means cheap gas).

 

[BenRoethig]

Right, I've spent months reading this board, getting frustrated by various ill informed or narrow minded points of view on all things Apple, and I have finally reached a point where I feel I just have to share with the group as it were...

All PC users are not idiots. There are many good reasons to own a Windows PC over a Mac, in my case it has always been the fact that it was the best platform for the kind of games I enjoy playing, but others like the lower cost of purchase, the perceived compatibility with their machine at work, etc, etc...

1. Hardware that meets your needs
2. Choices
3. Upgrade potential
4. Better device compatiblity
5. Able to build your own if you so wish.
6. Don't have to drive several hours to buy one.
7. Media Center.

Reasons to buy a Mac
1. OS easier to use
2. Only a handful of virues and no spyware.
3. iLife
4. Closed Architecture makes the system more stable.

Combine the two and you have the ultimate computer.

 

[Neerazan]

Sounds familiar....

1. Hardware that meets your needs
2. Choices
3. Upgrade potential
4. Better device compatiblity
5. Able to build your own if you so wish.
6. Don't have to drive several hours to buy one.
7. Media Center.

Reasons to buy a Mac
1. OS easier to use
2. Only a handful of virues and no spyware.
3. iLife
4. Closed Architecture makes the system more stable.

Combine the two and you have the ultimate computer.

Ben old chap, with the exception of being able to build it yourself (a dubious benefit, I speak as one who has built many PCs over the years), you seem to have pretty much described the Mac Mini (if it goes on sale at Walmart especially).

Upgradeable? Well, you can put a bit more memory in it, upgrade to wireless and bluetooth, and er... that's it I guess. But the whole thing costs less than some video cards that I have bought in the past, I'll just go and get a new one, and keep all the cool extras, almost zero redundancy of kit must make it a pretty efficient upgrade...

Device compatibility, can't think of anything I'd ever want to use as Joe Average home user on a Mac Mini that I couldn't just go out and buy off the shelf. USB and firewire have standardised component interfaces (both technologies adopted well ahead of the game by Apple), and drivers for both PC and Mac come as standard in most every box I've opened in the last couple of years.

Media Centre? Hmm... I'll wait for Tiger and Quicktime 7, but it strikes me that I'm gonna use a Mini as part of a component system for digital AV; like a HiFi component system, but for the digital era. Imagine all those lovely matching boxes, a TV / radio tuner, a surround sound amp, a huge capacity external HDD, all controlled via a bluetooth or IR remote and a sweet front end on my TV (I'll upgrade to a HD plasma screen when I can afford it).

Mac Mini - it probably won't allow you to edit Star Was Episode III in HD, but it might just let you watch it (via on demand streaming QT7 based iFilm Store in a year or so?). And record the game, and then buy the soundtrack and listen to it on your stereo, etc, etc...

 

[Yvan256]

if tescos started selling apple products then i know its time to swtich platforms

I don't know who Tescos is, but you better pick up a "Linux for dummies" book, just in case.

 

[asif786]

Wow, according to appleinsider, ASDA (for those of you who dont know, it's the most downmarket supermarket aside from Lidl/Aldi) will be selling shuffles too.

wow, that's kind of an embarrassment (grr, sp?) to apple, isn't it?

 

[sushi]

Wow, according to appleinsider, ASDA (for those of you who dont know, it's the most downmarket supermarket aside from Lidl/Aldi) will be selling shuffles too.

wow, that's kind of an embarrassment (grr, sp?) to apple, isn't it?

Why?!

It seems to me that the more places you can purchase quality Apple products the better.

Sushi

 

[RealDeal]

Walmart may be mixed blessing..

... according to consultant Bain & Co, those doing much business with Walmart suffer lower profits- businessweek link http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_07/b3920042_mz011.htm

Cleverly, even if for a short time, the sheer fact the Walmart will offer (add mysterious, expensive, cool adjective here) Apple, it may add to the forces to "cross the chasm" to mainstreet market success. Together with M$ much-reported significant woes (now dealing with piracy is one of their biggest growth strategies). Now i'm in 'reality distortion' land- if Apple can meet the demand, over the next few years the computing landscape could change as dramatically as when the IBM PC came along.

 

[asif786]

Why?!

It seems to me that the more places you can purchase quality Apple products the better.

Sushi

Well, I think they shoudl at least be selling it in places such as Dixons, Staples etc where people actually go to buy these sorts of things before they try supermarkets..

 

[sushi]

Well, I think they shoudl at least be selling it in places such as Dixons, Staples etc where people actually go to buy these sorts of things before they try supermarkets..

I think that this depends on your location.

I know plenty of places in the US where a Wal-Mart is about all they have. So it is definitely good for Apple to be in Wal-Mart in these cases.

And if they expand to other major chain stores...fine. The more the better. The reason that I say this, is that many folks still do not see anything from Apple as a viable product.

For example, how many folks have you met who do not realize that Microsoft Office is available for the Mac? Or how many question if the Mac can use the Internet? I hear these types of questions all the time.

So to me, the more exposure that Apple products have, the better it is for Apple.

Sushi

 

[jvaska]

So to me, the more exposure that Apple products have, the better it is for Apple.

Yep. And Apple is clearly making some profit from the sales of the iPod lines. Exposure for the Mac mini and the Apple brand is clearly not a minus...if there was a time to cut a little profit out in the attempt to sell more computers now is the time.

 

[macmax77]

i dont have a problem with walmart selling ipods but if they're selling computers then it just makes apple look cheap

maybe we need Apple to look cheap in order for people to start buying them.

I am sorry, but all of my friends don't buy a Mac because they are sooooo expensive, even when this isn't true.

 

[KingJobs]

Once everybody has an iPod, the market will explode and everyone will die in a horrible pit of fire!