By now you’ve probably heard about the new MacBook and MackBook Pro refresh from Apple. This week Apple had a press event at its Cupertino headquarters at which they launched some newly designed laptops. Laptops are a booming segment boosted by the need for more mobility and ‘always on’ wireless connectivity. However, another category called “netbooks” has also been growing rapidly and at very low-costs, granted these “netbooks” can’t go head to head with a MacBook Pro the point I’m making is that newer, more portable devices are coming to the market and at less costs. Now, one of the major highlights that The Steve (yes, The Steve - where would Apple be without “The Steve”?) announced was the lower cost of entry. Lower cost? Really? Have you looked at the specs of the entry-level notebook? For a $1,000 bucks you get a 2.1 GHZ, Intel Core 2 Duo, 1GB DDR2 Memory (WHAT 1GB? are u serious?), 120GB hard drive, Intel GMA X3100 graphics.
Full disclaimer, I’m not a PC head and I’m typing this on my MacBookPro which I love, but this is about access to me. I mean it’s kind of interesting to see the photo of Apple unit sales and revenue %’s.
Does this demonstrate sound business or elitist thinking, is Apple out of touch with today’s economic climate?
Is it me or will Apple ever really penetrate 50% of UNIT market share?
Hmmmm, I might eat my words one day — I mean why is it that I (I mean people) still go to Starbucks for $5 coffee when Dunkin Donuts sells for $2.50? Come to think of it, I’m always at a Starbucks and never at a Dunkin.
October 15th, 2008 at 4:08 pm
The same reason people buy over-priced, brand-name clothes. The visceral appeal and satisfaction of envy from other human beings is a powerful drug.
It manifests itself in big cars, big houses, fancy kid names, loud clothing, expensive dinners, lavish vacations, and opulent accessories.
While I do own a Mac Mini (and a Linux laptop and PC and had an iPod) and work on a MBP, I can attest that Apple’s quality isn’t superior to any other product I own.
The placebo of a higher bill is a tennis match between sensibility and hubris. It’s our human nature…
Maybe tough economic times will shock us back into reality…doubtful, but its possible.
October 15th, 2008 at 4:08 pm
I have a few friends that use a Mac and they swear it’s the greatest thing since sliced bread. But the thing I always look at is bang for buck. Eyesight camera and integrated microphone, oooooohhhh aaaahhhhhh. IMHO use whatever gets the job done. I guess I’ll never be cool because I don’t see the point of getting a MacBook Pro when I can get so much more on the PC market for less. Newsflash, anything created by a human will have flaws in it no matter how much marketing hype says otherwise.
Apple is not out of touch with society, they are just more in touch with the people that already use Apple’s overpriced products.
October 15th, 2008 at 5:36 pm
Well today, my beloved Powerbook G4 started acting crazy and after just spending $400 on a new LCD a few months ago I said no more and just ordered me the new mac book. I will of course get my baby (powerbook) fixed but luckily this all happened today as a new mac book was released — oh…they are too cute too
I am sure I will be more than happy with it. I can’t even operate a pc anymore - its been so long. I have been an apple head since 1999 (multiple mac owner) and once you got mac you dont go back.
October 15th, 2008 at 7:08 pm
Compare any cheap computer to an Apple laptop, you can’t, there is no comparison. Apple will someday try to hit the lower price point, but thats not their core demo.
So the better question is the quality of the brand worth tarnishing to turn out a cheaper product? I personally hope they never risk the quality over mass appeal.
I own a G4, Mac Pro, iPhone, ipod, Time Capsule… all kinds of stuff. Been a Apple user since i was about 6, with my first Apple purchase in 2000. I’ve been professionally working on Macs since 1998, and I wouldn’t switch to any other system at this time.
October 15th, 2008 at 7:40 pm
@Fredric - ur right it would b nice to see ppl wakeup a bit to consumerism, personally I care more about creation than consumption, we nd to develop & own bottom line.
@richS- I agree with you & I’m victim of the mindset, but we can’t keep supporting this out if touch mentality - for example orig iPhone was extremely overpriced, look at how they dropped iPhone gen2 - go figure
@Mann - stop drinking the Koolaid, look I luv my MacBookPro but bottom line u can compare other computers to a Mac. Dropping the price a bit more doesnt kill a brand, bottom li e computer parts are essentially the same just like car engines they just wanna be the Mercedes of computers. I’ll agree that their
design is flawless but that doesn’t make a great computer in & of itself. Bottom line Steve J & crew can afford to drop the entry level (1GB only LOL) down to a more reasonable $800
October 15th, 2008 at 7:45 pm
I would agree that the higher price point is one reason I have not been able to justify switching. However, you assume Apple wants 50% market share. They are doing alright. I think part of the cache of an Apple is that everybody doe snot have one. I was drooling over a MacBook Pro because I want to work with Final Cut Studio and I am not goint to lie, it just “feels” different. They keys feel softer. I feel hipper just playing around with it. Its cute. In the same way that I don’t own an MP3 player, I own an I-pod. Sure a $29 number can do the job, but it isn’t as “neat”. or cool.
I am eying some used Apples on craigs list. I just can’t bring myself to pay retail. But no, Apple will never be a $498 computer you can pick up in the electronics section at Wal-mart, but last time I checked, they weren’t hocking BMW’s at Walmart either.
October 16th, 2008 at 1:34 pm
Apples products are for label whores …. LOL.
I’ve had a couple of Macs (graphic designer) but once Adobe hit the PC market it was hard to justify buying a Mac when I could get two PCs, one for me and one for a freelancer.
I still check them out every now and then (can’t help it, they’re beautiful) but I can’t see myself buying one anytime soon.
There are comparable and even better products out their.
Having said that, clearly they do what they do and they know their customers. They’ve mastered their brand and are getting every penny they can for selling “cool” products.
Apple Product + Me = Cool
FYI: Apple Reports Record Third Quarter Results — Revenue Up 38 Percent Year-Over-Year Mac Sales Reach All-Time High
http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2008/07/21results.html
“The Steve” knows what he’s doing.
October 16th, 2008 at 9:28 pm
They ARE beautiful!
October 18th, 2008 at 10:41 pm
“Cool Products” they are and they are selling you a lifestyle
but such pretty laptops
October 20th, 2008 at 2:00 pm
I agree with pretty much everyone’s point. I personally don’t own a Mac, not because I don’t want one, but because of the industry that I’m in and the work I do. For example, I would prefer to do my vulnerability assessments using Nessus 3 on a laptop with the Windows or Linux OS. Now if I just used the laptop for all of the nice features that a Macbook offers, then I might opt to go the Macbook route.
October 22nd, 2008 at 8:59 am
Apple has a very profitable niche and lowering the barrier to entry doesn’t make a lot of business sense for them. The affordability of a consumer product is a strategic decision by that product’s producer that basically says: if you can’t afford it, we don’t want you to have it. Some companies want as many people as possible to have their product, premium brands like Apple only want as many as can sustain their growth and (generally higher) profitability targets.
That strategy has worked pretty well thus far.
October 24th, 2008 at 9:55 am
I’m typing this from a PowerBook G4 that I bought in 2003. Think about that for a second — how many Windows laptops do you see from 2003 that are still in use? Not many, I’d wager, and the ones that are were more expensive to begin with.
Apple makes quality hardware, which contributes to the computer’s long lifespan, but they also make the operating system, which adds an additional boost to the computer’s life. The Mac OS doesn’t slow down over time like Windows is known to do (at least up through XP — I haven’t heard that from Vista). Topping it all off, they tend to have good judgment concerning which technologies will be useful in the future and get them into their products very early (DVD burners, USB, Firewire,
and built-in wireless were available in Mac laptops before they were in most low-cost PC laptops). Thanks to that foresight, I have access to most of those features (except for DVD burning) in a laptop I bought more than 5 years ago.
My point is that over the course of 5 years, I’ve probably SAVED money by buying a Mac instead of two PC laptops. Every time someone buys a new computer there is a potential that they will switch to another brand. If people are buying computers less often but at a higher price point from Apple, that’s a sound strategy for two reasons:
1.) Customers are happy with Apple because their computers behave well for a long time
2.) They aren’t considering a switch to Dell every 2 years when their old computer finally poops out on them.
Low-cost, entry-level laptops become obsolete quickly. Early obsolescence is a quality that Apple is unlikely to want associated with their products. Is there a market for them? Absolutely. Is it Apple’s market? Probably not.