“It’s been years since I made a fool of myself by publicly predicting what we might see from Apple in the coming year,” Bob ‘Dr. Mac’ Levitus writes for The Houston Chronicle. “But, having scoured the rumor sites and probed the minds of Mac-savvy friends…”
“I predict Apple will expand its iPod product line in 2005, adding lower-priced models with desirable new features. And a year from now, Apple will dominate the entire portable music player market, just as it dominates the hard disk-based segment of it today… New PowerBook and iBook models that offer improved performance, new features and aggressive pricing…. This is my longest shot, but I predict Apple will introduce a full-featured Mac model in 2005 that costs under $600,” Levitus writes.
Full article here.
Related MacDailyNews articles:
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
Headless iMac for $499? Please, Apple, let it be true! – December 29, 2004
I’m with Mozfan. My eMac has done more to convert family members to the Mac family than anything I say. My brother’s family is simply waiting for the cash and they’ll be ordering an eMac as well. We may think it’s weak when compared to Power Macs, but an eMac can do things that AMAZE the average pc user. Don’t compare the eMac to its more powerful siblings, compare it to what the average pc user is dealing with. Even the more powerful pc’s can’t match the virus-free, spyware-free, easy-to-use-even-making-a-dvd eMac. The average pc user is blown away by even the weakest Mac.
Weird–I never would have predicted a sub $600 machine, but lo and behold what ThinkSecret has on tap this morning:
http://thinksecret.com/news/0412expo2.html
If true…. WOW!!
pkradd,
you’re right of course. All this talk about eMacs and you can’t get any cheaper without compromise is rubbish.
All Apple has to do is produce the iMac without the screen – a small desktop G5. Give it a simple but nice design (and Apple can do that!) and voila! you’ve got your ‘cheap’ computer.
$600 is a bit low. Without any quality compromise, $850 is more like it.
It will basically be an eMac without the screen. Apple I believe can take a lower profit margin on the product to gain market share and eventually buyers may migrate to the iMac G5 and other products. Also if buyers purchase a LCD display from Apple, there is additional profit. It’s possible of course that the price point is too low. Even at $699 it has sales potential especially with the OS your get along with the iApps. Apple needs to stop jogging and start sprinting into the marketplace. I think this can turn the trick and double market share by the end of 2006. In the end, however, market share is not the be-all to end all. Profitability is the bottom line. Dell makes so little on their boxes that if they started to lose just a few percent market share they would have problems. Apple is postioned well now to grow.
mike
Apple has already said they wouldn’t bother looking for those low-end margins..
Margins can improve by selling products and software to go along with the computer, warranty upgrade, maybe it doesn’t come with iLife? Sell stuff like the iSight and iPod, etc. Plus more people sitting in front of Mac computers, means more potential software purchases for 3rd party developers means more 3rd party software gets developed.
So there’s more to this than raw profits upfront on hardware.
Cannibalize eMac sales..
If Apple does do this, and they may have to, it will be the new eMac or whatever it’s called so it won’t cannibalize anything.
Get with it MDN!!!
BMW compact anyone?
hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!
Just seen an advert for �199 PC’s in PC World. I can only shudder when I imagine what it is and how it looks.
Sometimes you have to spend more. If you skimp on price you end up paying more.
Magic Word: analysis
Most predictions are either pipe dreams or rehashed versions of upcoming products. I give you the ultimate prediction:
THE RETURN OF THE NEWTON! Apple makes room between their iPod and iBook lines by introducing the Newton X. About 6H x 4W X 1D inches with the screen taking up most of the surface of a beautiful aluminum frame. Runs a full version of Mac OS X, comes with a pen interface and a keyboard interface that pops up on the screen like the Dock. The Newton X can support wireless connections (Airport Extreme and Bluetooth) and comes with USB and FireWire. For a G4 powered, 20 Gb entry model, you can expect about $599. It is capable of email (Mail), internet (Safari), PIM (Address Book, iCal), chat (iChat), and office productivity (iWorks -> to be introduced in January and based on OpenOffice) functions.
In light of the Apple ‘John Doe’ lawsuit and their obvious desire to keep things under wraps, I’d look at this skeptically. The ultimate source may in fact lie within Apple, but I think it’s more likely disinformation to distract people from speculating on other things.
*disclaimer* I have a long history of being wrong.