“In the weeks before Apple introduced the new MacBook laptops, there was speculation that Cupertino’s favorite son would introduce a model under $800 and jump into the value notebook category, where most of the competition plays today. In fact, if you look at the majority of laptops sold in the last two quarters, a very large proportion of them were in the $600-to-$800 price range. Conventional wisdom suggested that since the current economic downturn was hindering people from buying upper-end or premium laptops, surely Steve Jobs would finally release a model in this lower price range to try and entice even more consumers to buy Apple,” Tim Bajarin writes for PC Magazine.
“Trying to be like everyone else almost buried the company… To Jobs’s credit, [upon his return to Apple] he tossed out [previous CEO’s philosophies] of compatibility and revived his original strategy for Apple: being different. Remember the candy-colored all-in-one Macs? Apple has since owned the MP3 player market, made major strides in smartphones, and gained market share against the PC makers. All this by creating products that are easy to use and have superb integrated software. The company continues to add layers of differentiation to the Mac platform at the OS and design levels,” Bajarin writes.
“Now take a look at the new MacBooks in this light. Apple very clearly wanted to create a product that would be radically different. So the company created a brand-new case using a precision aluminum “unibody” enclosure—and put in an LED backlight using seamless glass for instant full-screen brightness. The kicker is the nVidia GeForce graphics processor, which handles graphics five times faster than that in most laptops and in essence lets the mainstream MacBook double as a serious gaming laptop,” Bajarin writes.
“Apple does create products that carry a premium price, but I believe Apple feels these products add value to the overall personal computing experience,” Bajarin writes. “While that may seem hard to swallow for a consumer who wants a lower price, the fact is that when Apple played the low-cost game, that strategy nearly buried the company. In the end, Jobs has shown that by creating products that are different and yet still deliver real value, he can keep the company in the black.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” for the heads up.]
MacDailyNews Take: As we wrote last week, “Macintosh is the aspirational brand in the personal computer market and Apple is smart to keep it that way.”
What we want to do is deliver a lot, an increasing level of value… There are some customers which we choose not to serve. We don’t know how to make a $500 computer that’s not a piece of junk, and our DNA will not let us ship that. But we can continue to deliver greater and greater value to those customers that we choose to serve and there’s a lot of them. And we’ve seen great success by focusing on certain segments of the market and not trying to be everything to everybody. So I think you can expect us to stick with that winning strategy and continuing to try to add more and more value to those products in those customer bases we choose to serve. – Apple CEO Steve Jobs, October 21, 2008
Apple products are the standard by which all the others’ are measured.
Just like SONY TVs used to be.
“Apple does create products that carry a premium price, but I believe Apple feels these products add value to the overall personal computing experience”
Apple does not feel anything. They KNOW. As a Mac user, I know.
Buy a Mac, and feel for yourself.
Sheesh. Stupid touchy-feely analysts. How about some good-ole experimental science? Ya know, trying out things?
Just bought a MacBookPro yesterday, quality of case is important because previous aluminum 12″ bent easily. Fit and finish do matter. The new trackpad and screen and general layout are superior to previous version, and overall value for money is reasonable. This and the MacBook are going to sell faster than previous models, because there is a lot more value in the MacBook than the previous model, price is roughly the same.
Once they actually see the new models, sane consumers will not want to settle for less.
Conventional wisdom suggested that since the current economic downturn was hindering people from buying upper-end or premium laptops
Sometimes conventional wisdom isn’t all that smart or wise.
Well, look at the other computer companies. Low prices are killing them now too. There is too much clutter at the low end of the computer market, why compete there when your products rise to the top?
The MacBook’s such a great machine, but for the lack of a port…
Ooooo, wow!
You hold back till the 6th post before pulling out the FW issue.
clapclapclapclap
Is Jobs saying the Mac mini (Apple’s $500 computer) is a piece of junk?
We bought a MacBook already, and we love it. By far the best portable that we have had since the Power Book 12″. Sure, no firewire, but honestly, I don’t think I have ever connected a FW device to any of the portables we have owned. Maybe once, so no FW for us is no big deal.
@Growl
No, because the mini does not cost $500, it cost $599 for the entry level $799 for the higher end.
The common sense is the less common of all senses…
Mac Mini has not been at $500 for years.
Why settle for common sense when you can get common dollars;-)
@growl the mac mini is $600 ($599), so no, it’s not a piece of junk.
and common sense ain’t so common…
Thank God for Steve Jobs’ scruples! We’re all so much better off for it.
My Mac Mini makes an awesome test environment for my Mac Pro.
As for this new MacBook. No firewire isn’t a deal breaker for me but I still think I’ll wait a while and hold onto my black MacBook before I treat myself to an upgrade. I’ve only had it about a year now and I just use it for surfing and coding while I watch the telly.
Still, I have played with the new MacBook and it’s awesome. Just wish Apple didn’t attach them to the table in the Apple Stores though. I really wanted to feel for myself just how sturdy they are now.
The old $499 Mac mini with a G4 processor was not a piece of junk. It was a stable, solid, Tiger-running, web-surfing, music-playing, photo-editing capable machine. In a lot of ways, I think those G4s – while slower – were more stable than any of the Intel machines.
Granted, you have to get a monitor, keyboard and mouse to use a Mac mini. So is Jobs referring to a $500 all-in-one or a notebook? Cause that would make more sense considering they do have a computer priced at $599 (overpriced if you ask me).
Wah! If Porsche doesn’t come out with a model ‘for the real consumer’, they’re gonna shut it down and give the money back to the investors. I swear, companies never learn…..
Where’s my durn Zenith remote control!?
I don’t see the Mini as $599 or $799. You have to factor in the cost of at least a decent keyboard and mouse, and some sort of display as well. So right off the bat, there is another $200-300 minimum.
Think of the Mini as Macbook without the keyboard/trackpad/display/battery. It’s not junk by any means. Take one apart and you will understand. Really nicely built, lots of thought went into the design. And again, at those prices, it’s designed to replace a typical Windows machine, for a consumer that already has a USB keyboard and mouse and a decent display.
Our 1.5G PPC Mac Mini is now our entertainment center. We cancelled DirecTV, installed Miro for shows, tvrss, MediaCentral (No AppleRemote on the PPC Mini), and bought an ATI remote wonder. Between that, itunes, and Hulu, we have a complete entertainment center.
go go old tech!
I guess Apple is a bit less trusting in the UK. Here in the states, they’re not bolted or glued to the display tables. You can pick them up and wave them in the air a bit to feel the rigidity of the new Unibody construction. (They are tied to the table a/Kensington locks and cables, of course, so you can’t walk away with one!) I just visited the Apple retail store at Montgomery Mall in Maryland.
Cheers.
Jake
I had a Mac mini, loved it. Sold it to raise cash for my current MacBook that I still love. My friend who bought my Mac mini still uses it every day.
No they are not junk, they are marvelous little machines.
The best thing is that Apple continues to drive innovation by simplifying (unibody, no mouse button, led screen, easily removable laptop hardrive, streamlining OSX with snow leopard) while windows keeps getting more obese by the day. You can also believe that as they get more experience with the new manufacturing process, they’ll be able to cut costs over time and deliver even lower priced products while maintaining acceptable margins.
Sadly, i think the regular computer consumer still has the habit of comparing #s because it’s the easiest thing to do.
I think Apple needs to do more to let regular people understand the value they’re getting for their $ on the retail level. When i browse Bestbuy retail and see a <$1000 laptop and then look at the MacBook for >$1000 with seemingly similar specs, i might just think the MacBook is overpriced and continue believing the Mac stereotypes.
I know Steve Jobs doesn’t like clutter but a small point-of-sale with 3 points about why OS X is more secure, compatible and useful would be very helpful. It helps spur the consumer to ask the Apple retail staff questions too.