“Shares of Apple Computer Inc. dropped as much as 6.8 percent after the company said the next version of its iMac desktop computer will be about two months late,” Jessica Brice reports for Bloomberg. “The delay means Apple won’t have a new iMac for the key back- to-school shopping season, analysts such as Joel Wagonfeld at First Albany Corp. in San Francisco said. Sales of the computer already had dropped in five straight quarters, sinking to $252 million in the company’s fiscal second quarter.”
[MacDailyNews Note: Analyze this: schools can still buy iBooks and eMacs (the “e” stands for “education,” by the way), so what exactly is the problem?
“‘Shipments in the September quarter will depend on when the new iMac is available and how much demand Apple can fulfill,’ Wagonfeld, who rates Apple shares ‘neutral,’ wrote to clients. ‘While we expect healthy demand, we think it’s unlikely Apple will be able to ship three months’ volume in one month,'” Brice reports.
“The company needs to refresh the iMac to steady results as competitors step up challenges to Apple’s best-selling iPod digital music players, analysts said. iPod shipments surged in its second quarter to 807,000 from 80,000 a year earlier. iPod in the past two quarters generated $520 million in sales, while iMac totaled $503 million. ‘The iPod could be faddish, here today and gone tomorrow, while their desktop base is stable and loyal,’ Cary Nordan, an analyst at BB&T Asset Management in Raleigh, North Carolina, said in an interview before the delay. His firm manages $14 billion and doesn’t own Apple shares. ‘It’s a strategic value that they cannot neglect or let go,'” Brice reports.
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Geez, we hope Apple doesn’t let the Macintosh go or we’ll probably have to change our name. Some analysts are real geniuses, you know? Some are not.
I get tired of hearing that the iPod is a fad. It’s been doing well for too long to consider it a fad despite all the numerous iPod killers that have emerged from companies large and small.
Windows ME was a fad.
MDN Reader: Faddish could be a word
Regarding the education thing, here is quoted from the Reuters article in the first place:
Analysts said that Apple shouldn’t be hurt by the lack of an iMac for the back-to-school shopping season, which is important for the company, because it has emphasized other models for the education market.
In the education market, Apple has historically emphasized its iBook notebook PC and the eMac desktop machine rather than the iMac computer, which has a circular base and a flat-panel screen that hovers above it.
“From a back to school point of view, those are their products and they are pushing hard on notebooks for education,” said Roger Kay, an analyst at market research firm IDC.
faddish – adj.
1. Having the nature of a fad.
2. Given to fads.
The iPod is not “faddish” and the Mac ain’t dyin’ anytime soon.
Where the lack of an iMac hurts is whole digital hub idea–in order for you to base your business around being a digit hub you need the f-ing hub.
A giant G5 tower isn’t going to a digital hub. A 50 lbs. eMac isn’t going to be a digital hub.
The iMac is the hub, and for a while Apple’s got no hub.
Know what happens to a wheel without a hub?
O.J. wrote, “A 50 lbs. eMac isn’t going to be a digital hub.”
What, exactly, does weight have to do with being a digital hub? Does the eMac have FireWire and USB or not? The eMac is just an iMac with a CRT monitor – this keeps it inexpensive.
FYI, I use my PowerBook as a “digital hub,” works just fine, thanks. Others use iBooks which also work very well.
A lot of cool things can happen with hubless wheels:
http://metropolis.japantoday.com/tokyo/525/cars_bikes.asp
http://www.osmos-wheel.com/pages/application_cycles.asp?lang=en
http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?cmd=print&id=1279054
I think Apple is trying to spin the news to support their stock price.
The eMac is marketed as a “bulk purchase” item, one that is intended to be bought in quantites by school systems, small colleges, etc. So the iMac delay may not hurt Apple there. The iMac is marketed as a “personal use” item, one that the consumer goes out and buys for himself. The lack of a new iMac might well hurt Apple there. So the question for Apple is which is more important: individual retail sales or bulk orders? You’d think bulk would be a higher priority, as bulk orders generally incur a lower cost across the board.
I don’t care when they introduce a new iMac. It will be here shortly, and all of us who have been waiting for a G5 are going to buy one and be incredibly happy. And give Apple a hell of a lot of cash.
As a buyer for a major west coast university I can verify that the iMac LCD models have very little place in our operation. We buy PowerMacs for labs, eMacs for staff desktops, and primarily 12″ PBs and iBooks for faculty members. I think, out of about 200 machines, we bought 2 iMacs last FY.
-B
Bork,
Get a better dictionary. See meriam-webster.com:
“Main Entry: fad
Pronunciation: ‘fad
Function: noun
Etymology: origin unknown
: a practice or interest followed for a time with exaggerated zeal : CRAZE
synonym see FASHION”
You people sound GAY to me…ALL OF YOU.
The new imac will set the benchmark in modern design for all the copycat dells and vios to sheepishly follow. Be proud you will soon get a new imac but most of all, BE PROUD TO BE A MAC USER.
Microsoft sucks and is GAY!
Nanker Phledge: dude, shut up. just zip the lips. stuff some cake into that large opening in your mouth. Using “gay” as a negative description of someone is incredibly middle-school of you. Why don’t you say… “Microsoft sucks and is black.” Or call them jewish, that’ll get you some points. Maybe you can call them dune coons – cuz that’s mature. Best of all… just shut off your computer because we don’t want to hear from you.
On subject: the iMac delay will be hurtful, short term, but not cause the end of the world. When was the last time analysts were right about Apple? The iPod that’s too expensive? Or the iTMS that caters to the wrong crowd?