“Apple will take a big risk in 2005. This could be in the form of a major acquisition. With almost $6 billion in cash, Steve Jobs hinted to a group of employees not long ago that he might want to buy something big, though I am at a loss right now for what that might be. Or Apple might decide to throw some of that cash into the box along with new computers by deliberately losing some money on each unit in order to buy market share,” Robert X. Cringely predicts in his latest articel for PBS.
“We might see that as early as next week with the rumored introduction of an el-cheapo Mac without a display. The price for that box is supposed to be $499, which would give customers a box with processor, disk, memory, and OS into which you plug your current display, keyboard, and mouse. Given that this sounds a lot like AMD’s new Personal Internet Communicator, which will sell for $185, there is probably plenty of profit left for Apple in a $499 price,” Cringely writes. “But what if they priced it at $399 or even $349? Now make it $249, where I calculate they’d be losing $100 per unit. At $100 per unit, how many little Macs could they sell if Jobs is willing to spend $1 billion? TEN MILLION and Apple suddenly becomes the world’s number one PC company. Think of it as a non-mobile iPod with computing capability. Think of the music sales it could spawn. Think of the iPod sales it would hurt (zero, because of the lack of mobility). Think of the more expensive Mac sales it would hurt (zero, because a Mac loyalist would only be interested in using this box as an EXTRA computer they would otherwise not have bought). Think of the extra application sales it would generate and especially the OS upgrade sales, which alone could pay back that $100. Think of the impact it would have on Windows sales (minus 10 million units). And if it doesn’t work, Steve will still have $5 billion in cash with no measurable negative impact on the company. I think he’ll do it.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Forget “Mac OS X for Intel” if Cringely’s right, this would rock the personal computer marketplace and create changes in the market’s dynamics that nobody could imagine. Imagine the results if Mr. Jobs actually did do something this bold. Would he?
Related MacDailyNews articles:
Apple vs. Microsoft rivalry heats up again – January 10, 2005
Apple Computer will own the living room, not Microsoft – January 10, 2005
Cringely: is this the beginning of the end for Macintosh hardware? – May 21, 2004
Robert X. Cringely: Steve Jobs ‘is proud of being an a**hole’ – April 30, 2004
Here’s my “just one more thing”. You can’t make good stuff cheap. You get what you pay for. If you want to be respected for your product (and not for your Dell-caliber successes) you’ll do what Apple has – you make good stuff for the people who appreciate it.
Stuoid. By speculating on this, Cringerly is doing just what Steve tries to avoid: Building up unrealistic expertations in front of Macworld. Who gets excited by a 500$ iMac now?
Spend every $ on R&D, as the magic word “every” predicts.
While $249 is absurdly low, it makes sense that Steve wants to saturate the market with Macs. It’s all about PLATFORM…if Apple wants to become a media power, they need Apple products in as many homes as possible. Macs need to become ubiquitous, not as an end in itself, but for whatever larger plans are up Steve’s black turtleneck sleeves.
My prediction: the iPod was the successful precursor to a very large and powerful move by Apple, starting this year. Everything is in place: iPod, financial stability, newfound reputation, OSX Tiger, Ive’s great designs, G5 processor, fabulous software, deep relationships with both IBM and Motorola…oh yeah, something BIG is on the horizon.
This is a joke.
>Steve Jobs hinted to a group of employees not long ago
>that he might want to buy something big, though I am at
>a loss right now for what that might be.
You’re at a loss as to what it might be, because you have no idea what you are talking about. Jobs, nor any other CEO, would hint to any employee about the possibility of buying something big in the future. The 6 billion in cash is not his to piss away. The board would have to approve and negotiate any purchase of a company that would be made. And due to insider trading policy there is no way they would be chit-chatting with employees in the break room about it.
What kind of garbage is this being posted here? Can anyone write an article that may have some type of negative connotation to it regarding Apple, or even better..a vaporware rumor that is COMPLETELY FABRICATED, and have MDN post it?
Note that the keynote isn’t going to be posted on the Internet until after the markets close for the day.
Seems Apple is preparing to lessen the impacts of such rumors are this ludicrous one from the Cringster.
You guys crack me up.
They wouldn’t be able to keep up with demand on these.
I for one don’t thinnk this is so outrageous. Never before has Apple or any other company had such explosive and simultaneously positive coverage as it does today. Capitalising on that to get a ‘switching momentum’ going would be perfect timing. Message is don’t buy a new monitor, mouse or keyboard they’re all fine.. just give virus/spyware/crashfree OSX a go… Then watch them all later on buy iMacs et al
Go Jobs. (PS Wonder if Gates’ blue screen of death’ experience at CES made Apple delay the webcast). Didn’t mean that. Sorry!
Okay, now they are loosing it. Sounds like PBS is smoking that $99-iPod-in-January2004 stuff!
FYI – Price dumping is illegal in the U.S.
Two thoughts… Jobs’ cancer scare may have given him a bolder outlook (just a thought) and secondly, would the market share increase see trojans and virus nasty finally come after me?!
If Apple did this, it wouldn’t be for the benefit of new computer users, I think it would be to get people to switch, since new users need a screen and would be well served by an eMac or iMac. They also would quickly find that 75% of the units would be bought by existing Mac owners. Can’t have that now, they make too much money off us. So how do you make sure most of the people buying one of these $249 headless boxes are PC users? Make it a trade-in program. Buy the unit for $499. Bring in your old Windows PC and we’ll GIVE you $250 off your purchase of ANY Mac. That’s the way to do it!
Here’s my theory: What if the new headless box is a G5? The eMac is due for an upgrade, and the rest of the desktop Mac line is already G5. They could probably make a G5 eMac for about the price of the existing eMac, so couldn’t they build a headless model for close to $500? The iMac G5 will be due for an update to faster processors once the PowerMac’s get bumped. If the iMacs are bumped to 1.8 and 2.0GHz, there could be room for 1.6 and 1.8GHz G5 headless low end models. Certainly with a trade-in deal like I mentioned above, they could hit $499.
My 2�. We’ll know tomorrow…
This post has been brought to you by the word “cut”. As in Apple will cut the price of the entry level Macs tomorrow…
Apple doesn’t need a $250 machine and stoop so low, as to become classed as just another PC manufacturer, just because a few PC users might consider buying one. If these PC users don’t want to ‘Switch”, well, their the ones that’ll suffer, as the could have. If my car broke down everyday, what should I do? Tell the World I’ll never get rid of my Yugo & keep breaking down, or buy a Chrysler for a bit more, with now problems? I’d love a more expensive Mac, but I bought what I could afford & it’s still trouble & hassle free. You can do things the right way, or do things the wrong way.
Of course it won’t happen. But … BUT
One way to gain maximum advantage of such a machine is for Jobs to announce that Apple will sell an xMac computer to the first one million customers (five million? ten million?) at a special introductory price of $249. Thereafter, the xMac will sell for its normal price of $499.
Can you imagine the rush by those PCers who love to get the cheapest machine they can build? The rush by those who just rushed to buy iPods? The RIVER of demand this would create? (Can you guess what my magic word is?)
Then all the non-Mac folks can enjoy our special bittersweet joy of waiting, waiting, waiting practically forever for their machine to ship.
No, no, no. I don’t want it to be true. And neither should you. If Apple sacrifices its character for market share they’re already Microsoft Lite, or another Dell. And anyway, if they wanted to make a $500 headless Mac, why did they make the iMac G5? This would cut the iMac market to the bone.
I would lean toward the Digital Conversion Device that has been talked about for several years. The price would be about right for something decent, usable, and still elegant and well-designed, as a compliment to your Tivo, Computer, AirTunes, Airport, and Home Management systems. But I’m totally guessing about this.
If they put out a headless Mac, it’s nickname should be Cube-squared.
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”wink” style=”border:0;” />
Fed Up wrote:
“Why not free? Just give them away. Idiot journalists.”
How about this: starting tomorrow, all new iPods come with a coupon for a free low-end Mac. No “halo effect”?!? We’ll MAKE a halo effect!
If the journalists want Apple to lose money why not go all-out.
This Cringely fellow sounds like a dumb-ass. He must read and believe every rumor to come out of the mills.