“Apple may be gearing up to take a big bite out of the mass computer market. Following the overwhelming success of its iPod music player, which flew off the shelves this holiday season, Apple is getting set to bring those customers back around with a cheap new personal computer, followers of the company said,” Tom Van Riper writes for The New York Daily News.

“According to Think Secret, a website dedicated to following Apple’s products, the company will unveil a $500 version of its iMac computer at its next [Macworld] trade show on Jan. 11, and make it available for sale sometime before April. Apple’s current Macintosh lineup sells for between $799 and $1,899,” Van Riper writes.

MacDailyNews Note: Macintosh computers currently sell for prices between US$799 and $2999 – base prices for the entry-level eMac and the top-of-the-line Power Mac G5 Dual 2.5GHz.

“To some avid Macintosh users, adding another machine to the lineup means more of a good thing. A contributor to ‘MacDailyNews’ who wished to remain anonymous aside from the pen name SteveJack, said he loves using [Macs] because of filters that block out annoying spyware and adware programs that are always popping up on Windows-based machines,” Van Riper writes.

SteveJack’s Note: The reporter seemed surprised that Mac users don’t have problems with viruses, but also asked if we suffer from junk mail spam. Well, I tried to explain that Mac users get email spam, too, and how the junk mail filter works in Apple’s Mail application to spare Mac users from a lot of unsolicited email spam. Unfortunately, I went into it right after talking about the lack of viruses, adware, spyware, and other malware for the Mac. I probably confused the issue. My mistake – I’ll try to speak more clearly next time.

“‘This [rumored $500 Mac] would make it easier for people leaning toward a Mac but don’t want to pay the $800 minimum price,’ SteveJack said. And while the new cheap version is still just in the rumor stage, the idea makes sense to company followers who have watched the flamboyant Jobs make big splashes at the annual trade show in the past,” Van Riper writes. “The popular PowerMac G5 was unveiled there in 2003. ‘This is the big event of the year, where they often make new product introductions,’ SteveJack said.”

Full article here.

Related MacDailyNews articles:
Rumored ‘Headless iMac’ would be radical departure from Apple’s usual high margin strategy – December 30, 2004
Piper Jaffray: ‘Headless iMac would appeal to many potential Windows to Mac switchers’ – December 30, 2004
Headless iMac for $499? Please, Apple, let it be true! – December 29, 2004
RUMOR: Apple to debut $499 ‘headless iMac’ at Macworld Expo on January 11 – December 29, 2004
Inexpensive ‘Headless iMac’ could hook Windows users who love their iPods on Mac OS X – December 29, 2004