“Recent speculation has Apple releasing a $500 computer without a monitor into the market. While this is likely what it shouldn’t be is a general purpose PC, what is should be is a media server,” Rob Enderle writes for TechnologyPundits.com.
MacDailyNews Take: We think the general idea that the above conglomeration of words are trying to convey is: People are speculating about a $500 Mac. A monitor wouldn’t be included for that price. I think that it’s likely, but it should be a media server, not a general purpose Mac.
“Apple should not have a $500 general purpose box under the same brand as their premium lines. The perception of quality and exclusivity would be damaged and the net impact on revenues and margins would, if past patterns hold, accelerate their already negative path,” Enderle writes. “However a low cost media server that would host iPods, have a simplified user interface, and expand Apple into the new digital home could be vastly more powerful… My bet is that, assuming the $500 PC rumor is true, they will make the smart move, and follow the iPod into the Digital Home with a $500 PC that serves as a media server.”
Full article here.
I feel like I fell asleep and woke up in a parallel universe where Enderle actually articulated the gut feeling I’ve been having for the past few months. Three months ago I told my brother that I wouldn’t be surprised if Apple released a media center appliance that fulfilled Jobs’ vision of the Digital Hub.
Put an HDMI port on it (alongside the DVI) and a PCI slot for the proper DVICO Fusion card for your locality. Add bluetooth capability, along with the wireless keyboard and mouse. Might as well put an Airport Extreme card in it as well.
With the right software and a setup like that, it COULD be a media server…
You know what I would like to add my product catalogue.
A bullet-proof media server, shipping with 400GB of hard disk as standard and upgradable via a FireWire array. It is build-to-order for DVB-T, DVB-S in both hi-def and 480i form, and comes with a best-of-breed EPG, and it can support multiple concurrent instances of shared iTunes and iPhoto libraries which it will “broadcast” to a well-designed client system. This unit will cost around $1200.00
I’d also like a well-designed client system, with S/PDIF in/out and capable of shipping a progressive-scan component video output to a flat panel of my choosing. So now I can access my shared media -including recorded TV – in every room and either see watch it on an Apple display or a Panasonic LCD TV or plasma, or listen to it through my choice of home theatre system. This can all be mine for $750.00.
Now I’m just going into my cellar with a soldering iron, I may be some time�
And for all those predicting imminent doom for Microsoft, get over it. The Beast has over $53 billion in cash to burn, and I suspect that they’ve been establishing this liquidity over the years as a hedge against the very real probability that a shift in technology could leave them stranded. With that amount of cash, they could stop selling software tomorrow and still be a dominant or major player in any business segment they chose to enter. Certainly they couldn’t expect to make the blinding floods of profits they previously experienced, but a company of this size simply doesn’t evaporate overnight. No matter what you think of Gates & Co., they are certainly not fools, and it is perilous to underestimate them under any circumstance.
Wow, perhaps MDN has turned a new leaf for ’05. No immediate Enderle bashing. It is pleasing to see (and pleasing to let the readers opine about it). I generally think Enderle is firmly in the palm of Gates, but I think he is firmly in the correct direction and even acknowedges Apple’s strengths (“Consensus is that these media servers should, for the broad market, have a starting price of $500 has been growing for some time and Apple is expert at the kind of appliance like interface such a product would require.)
Enderle does make mention of Jobs’ previous Porsche quotes, but in the past, such premium brands have adopted (successfully) such transition products to whet the appetites for the core product. The rumored xMac could have that appeal. The eMac is NOT a PowerMac and people don’t confuse them. Nobody confused an iMac with a PowerMac, either.
If the rumors are true, I hope Apple can make a sh*tload of them and keep up with demand. Oh boy do I hope they can!
Who wants a media center? I don’t even use my DVD player. I stream music via Airport Express to my sterio, but only because it’s cool. I a tech geek, so I would like a TiVo, but I don’t really like to watch TV that much. Apple would sell 100 $500-600 Macs for every 1 media center, even if the media center was $400.
Or at least that’s what I think.
My word is best- whats that tell ya?
I think people are moving more and more away from watching TV. My kids barely ever watch it anymore.
Amazing! They would rather go on line than be bored with TV.
Media center? Nah.
We got a DVD player for Christmas to hook up to the TV.
It is still in its box.
My word is best- whats that tell ya?
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Eh..don’t. The first post thing was wedgie-worthy.. and so’s this.. don’t start this incredibly gay ‘magic word’ shit.. and while i’m at it.. whining cuz you couldn’t spell a word is gay too..
Media server sounds like a great idea. How about another game console? There is no doubt that Apple’s computers are excellent machines, but they constantly fail to excel in the MS dominated market. The iPod is the best thing that has heppened to Apple in a long time. They need more successes like the “pod” to refocus the tech consumer on their products. Start a trend with innovative electronic products as only Apple can and sooner or later, people will also begin to recognize the superiority of Apple computers.
Besides, I still remember the old “pizza box” Macs. They were totally hobbled machines which were limited in pretty much every way Apple could limit them. It was crap like that which caused many people to give up on Apple altogether. If Apple reintroduces low end garbage with built in limits that frustrate switchers and anyone else who buys it, who is that going to hurt?
The problem with cheap is that it is just that. Do you really think that Apple would release a sub $500.00 machine which could be expanded and accessorized in such a way as to complete with an $1000 more expensive iMac, or even a $500 more expensive eMac? Either the rumour of a sub 500.00 Mac is false, or Apple hasn’t learnt anything in the last twenty years of declining market share. Let’s hope it is a media server, a game console, or almost anything but a reincarnation of the cheap Mac with limited memory options, slow system bus, and hobbled processor.
Viridian:
How would you amend your comment in the light of the fact that Microsoft has approx $20 billion in cash not the $53 billion in your opening remark. Microsoft has also pledged to buy back $30 billion shares, to prop up their ailing stock price.
Microsoft is very vulnerable at the moment, until Longhorn hits the market I doubt we can be sure they will survive. They have long gone passed the point of pissing too many people off, as well as people looking for alternatives to Microsoft products there are more people working to destroy Microsoft.
It seems that the only reason put forward to support the longevity of Microsoft these days is that they are too big to fail.
I agree with Enderle on this. The sub-$500 Mac should not be a desktop computer. For that price a good video recording system can be put together but this could distinguish itself from similar products by managing the iTunes music library. For the iPod user who cares little about computers this would be the ideal solution for ripping CDs.
My guess is that if the device has no DVD-R drive it will be intended mainly for music. If a DVD-R drive is included this will be a video recording device.
There is no way Apple would make a cheap Mac that would take sales away from the eMac and the iBook.
Windozers will be afraid to switch and buy it because it won’t have a ‘plays4sure’ sticker on it.
IIRC Enderle got something Mac related right about the same time last year, pattern or coincidence?
As others have pointed out media centre or headless Mac would hardware wise be almost identical, the difference is in the software and interface. Hardware wise the iPod is another hard drive in a pretty case, software and interface turned it in to a winner.
Mind you, if it is everybit as fully featured as, say, an iMac, but just without the monitor, then I’m all for it!
It seems that the only reason put forward to support the longevity of Microsoft these days is that they are too big to fail.
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No.. it’s because of Windows. Every developer out there benefits from having one (very dominant) platform..
porting is a hassle, no matter what technology exists. Having one platform is great for developers.. which means MS will always be a developer darling.. this is why they’ll never fail.. because Windows trends towards 100% not 50%…
That doesn’t mean Apple can’t succeed also..it just means that Developers are strengthening MS, not looking to tear it apart..
I wish they would bring back an iBook for $750
and the old iMac CRT w/a handle for $600.
I’m just not sure i get this whole ‘headless mac’ thread.
Its weird.
I have an iBook and a graphite Airport and DSL connection, and no matter what sort of machine this “headless” Mac turns out to be, it will likely go on my list very quickly if, and that’s a big IF, I’m able to do what I think it could do, which is this: I don’t have any other CPUs and having something like that to which I can attach the external storage drives I have for backups and big pics will mean I won’t have to walk the iBook across the house and plug in the firewire drives to get access to them. I’ll be able to create a wireless network tied to my existing external drives, in addition to whatever storage this new unit might have, assuming that it is anywhere close to what all the rumor sites purport to be coming.
I humbly apologize to Mike for having mentioned “first post” earlier, on a different thread. I also apologize for stating what the magic word was when I made a posting earlier in this thread. I did not mean to be the cause of anyone�s woes by starting some “gay shit”. I am also sorry for spelling errors and truly hope that any of my future posts are not offending. I do not mean to clutter this thread or any other with non-subject related text.
It�s a shame I have to share the same name with you, if Mike is you name.
Wow. So many different possibilities voiced in so many different opinions. My head is spinning. It will be really really interesting to see what the reality is come MWSF.
I think since it seems that the digital hub media thing is pretty much accepted as the Next Great Frontier, it very well could be that Apple will take the industry by the nose and yank it in the direction it should be going by “Thinking Different”.
this thread. I did not mean to be the cause of anyone�s woes by starting some “gay shit”. I am also sorry for spelling errors and truly hope that any of my future posts are not offending. I do not mean to clutter this thread or any other with non-subject related text.
It�s a shame I have to share the same name with you, if Mike is you name.
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yeah it’s gay. no apology necessary.. just givin’ you the heads up
Apple will have lots of competition, including SBC/Dishnetwork offering this. this will be hard to beat.
i believe they are using 2wire’s media server.
http://www.2wire.com
There will be no headless Mac
mike
porting is a hassle, no matter what technology exists. Having one platform is great for developers.. which means MS will always be a developer darling.. this is why they’ll never fail.. because Windows trends towards 100% not 50%…
That doesn’t mean Apple can’t succeed also..it just means that Developers are strengthening MS, not looking to tear it apart..
You know I’d be inclined to cede you this point, but look at game consoles. Often the same title sees multiple platforms, with often only minor cosmetic changes. Porting may be a “hassle” but it can be done profitably.
IT I think is more of an obstacle than developers.
There are also hundreds of millions of Wintel PCs out there, that’s another obstacle and likely the biggest of them all.
Apple just has to keep chipping away at MS, it doesn’t have to confront them head on.
Unfortunately for Apple if this media server has the name Apple on it, this will immediately turn off PC owners (and sales people) because they will think it is a product that uses the Mac OS therefore of no use or interest to a PC owner. Their PC would not work with this new Apple product…or so it would be perceived.
It would be stuck in the Apple products section of CompUSA or Fries – the Apple products section- a place where PC owners pass through quickly.