“As a capacity crowd waited in San Francisco’s sprawling Moscone Convention Center for Jobs’s keynote speech on Jan. 11, those who knew the truth could hardly curb their enthusiasm. ‘This is going to go down as an important event in Apple history,’ enthused Mike Gartnenberg, an analyst with JupiterResearch who had been briefed the night before on what Jobs was going to announce. While Gartenberg wouldn’t give up any details because he was sworn to secrecy, he hinted, ‘It’ll be interesting to see how he articulates this,'” Peter Burrows reports for BusinessWeek.
“Indeed, while the Apple acolyte sites captured many of the features of the new products, they couldn’t capture how it all adds up to Apple’s most aggressive play for market share in years,” Burrows reports. “Jobs took the covers off the ‘Mac mini,’ a full-functioning Macintosh computer that’s about the size of two paperback books and sells for as little as $499. That doesn’t include a monitor, mouse, or keyboard. Discount prices like that may seem terribly un-Apple-like. But analysts say it points to a bigger, long-term strategy: Build from the iPod’s success and win a whole new generation of converts to Apple technology. Many faithful may also give the offerings a try. But these products are aimed squarely at people who shy away from Apple price tags.”
Burrows reports, “No doubt, Jobs is taking a risk — and some investors may have preferred he left well enough alone. iPod-mania has lifted Apple’s shares more than 200% in the past year, to $64.56 at the end of trading on Jan. 11. Even with no new products, most analysts figured Apple will be able to hold share in digital music and gain share, for the first time in years, in the PC market. The big concern will be over cannibalization. How many customers will opt for a $99 Shuffle, rather than a $249-plus iPod, or a $500 Mac mini rather than a $1,300 iMac? Investors were clearly spooked, driving Apple shares down 6.38% on the day of Jobs’s speech… [But] analysts at the keynote say it amounts to Apple’s best chance at achieving Jobs’s original goal for the Macintosh when it was introduced in 1984 — a computer for ‘the rest of us.’ As Apple watchers know, that didn’t quite happen. Apple ended up in the high end of the PC business. Even now, the cheapest iMac costs $1,300, roughly double the price of an average PC. The Mac mini fulfills that original promise.”
Full article here.
Related MacDailyNews articles:
Apple finally stops overreaching for ‘switchers’ and goes for ‘adders’ instead – January 12, 2005
Wisdom comes with age. SJ/Apple finally got some and the computer world will be better for it. Unfortunately, we may see Dell counter attack with a computer box for $299. It will be crapolla, but the low end crowd won’t know the difference. The mini is really not for those people as much as the more tech savvy “near low end” buyers. Sorta like the “near luxury car” buyers. Isnt alien technology great. (Surely mere earthlngs couldn’t come up with something like the mini – could they?)
Not much to say, but the magic word was ‘Hit’ so I had to post something, because I believe the mini is a hit. (I already bought one, and know 4 people using win98 who should.)
Well im gonna get one to replace my old 800mhz G4 tower.
But – im gonna go for the high end model: 80gb hd, airport extreme, bluetooth, 1gb ram.
The reason… quite simple – my office at home is shrinking (kids etc) and I don’t now have space for the G4 Tower. And the fact that the new mac mini is twice as powerful as my G4 tower and has blue tooth and a better graphics card too!
I will also get the bottom end model for my 5 year old son too.
Does anyone know if it will connect to a ‘old’ style clear plastic 20″ Apple Cinema Display (ADC connector)?
wisdom comes with age! oh, we’ve all been so wise to know the obvious, but Steve Jobs, the oldest veteran of consumer computing, didn’t??
gimme a break. don’t people appreciate that it took time for engineering, pricing, and a whole bunch of factors (like manufacturing ability/chinese pricing) to converge in the Mac mini.
understand this, if nothing else, about Apple: if they can’t do it right, they won’t do it at all. until Steve felt the headless Mac could be done right, he did not want it done at all. it’s not the throw everything to the wall and see what sticks of the rest of the industry. it’s careful deliberation and rejection to filter out the garbage from what they think will really work. just the size of it should tell you how much engineering it took. how long did it take the laptops to get to their current price point/performance ratio/size?? really, think about it, Steve has made it possible to hide your switching to PC.
what to me is brilliant is the packaging. Steve understood that a headless Mac would not be compelling unless it looked like nothing, almost. it had to be striking, non-imposing, and still be a Mac. it’s the logical evolution of the Cube, but it took many years to bring the size and price down.
size matters! so many people I know bought the iMac G5 because they just could not believe a computer could fit in a space like that. they were intrigued, then amazed, then just gave it. same will be the same with the Mac mini. of course, synonymous with iPod mini is good thing too.
The hard part for me, is that will spend AT LEAST $500 in extras with the “most affordable mac ever” =)
magic word “run” as is run to the store ’cause Mac mini’s and iPod shuffle will NOT stay in stock!
New $499 ‘Mac mini’ fulfills Apple’s original promise of a computer for ‘the rest of us’
And it just took 21 years.
I have read elsewhere that the AAPL stock price took a short term dive mainly for two reasons. The Wallstreet practice of “Buying on the rumor and selling on the news” and the fact that everyone had already aticipated 4.5 million iPod sales over Q4 and so got out quick when no upside over predictions was seen. But maybe some people sold because they feared canabalization. I was just the opposite. I sold off some other stocks to buy more AAPL. It is gonna go up for sure.
solarflare
There should be a little ADC to VGA adapter that came with your monitor. If not, you should be able to purchase one for a few bucks or so off of Apple’s website. Enjoy your Mac mini! I know I want one, lol
Magic word: used
Hmm, sounds like a double meaning.
Actually solarfire needs a ADC to DVI adapter not a ADC to VGA because the Mac mini’s native video port is DVI (with the ability to use VGA with the provided adapter)
Amen Brother Michael. Apple is turning this kind of thing into an art�and as they say about art, “I know what I like.”
After I spilled coffee on my pbook,
I’ve been searching for a computer that my parents
wouldn’t mind buying for me. This $499 mac seems
perfect!
I have nice Dell 17″ LCD but I’ll try to
spray paint it silver. I prob remove the dell decal
and replace it with a spray-on apple logo.
Too bad Apple won’t release a moniter for this pup.
I don’t like the fact that I have to pay more for a
LCD then for the computer.
-NeXt
P.S. I hope I get apple stickers!
P.S.S. Does anyone know if the miniMac has those Apple
stickers?
EDIT: I got the Dell LCD from an Uncle who got himself
a Apple 23 inch display.
He had a Dell XPS but he gave it to my bro (a winXP
freak) and gave the monitor to me for my pbook.
But for 4 months I’ve been mac-less. Been using that
darn Dell. The thing is so cheap looking and the
neon light makes it more of a joke.
The Mac mini isn’t going to take anything away from iMac sales. Do the math. By the time you put together a comparably equiped Mac Mini with a display, keyboard and mouse it costs almost as much as the swifter iMac G5. Not that cheap. On the other hand it’s cool as hell and a lot of us will buy one just for that reason. I’m going to get the bare bones model just to get out of WinHell.
Speaking of neon…
I might consider buying a Mac mini if only it had some neon and internal strobe lights and some cool alien shaped plastic for the outside… all the coolest pc’s have that.
There are a bunch of ADC to DVI adaptors out there:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=ADC+to+DVI+adapter&btnG=Google+Search
If Apple wanted to get some real attention they could put out a bounty on Windows PCs and offer $100 off a miniMac for the first 1,000,000 Windows PC users willing to part with their PC box for a miniMac. The promo would cost $100 million- about the price of a major ad campaign these days. The buzz, goodwill and free press would more than repay Apple for the cost.
Liberating a million Windows PC users from spyware, adware, the virus plague and exposing them to the joys of iLife and the like. Apple could then send the PCs to a recycling center or donate them to groups that recondition PCs for non-profits, running LINUX.
I really think it would do a lot more than another media campaign.
“who had been briefed the night before on what Jobs was going to announce”
I think we all got briefed on what Jobs was going to announce.
“How many customers will opt for a $99 Shuffle, rather than a $249-plus iPod, or a $500 Mac mini rather than a $1,300 iMac?”
Most iPod and computers already have more than one iPod/Computer and are looking to get another one.
Just get them in the door.
There were a couple of people I work with thinking about buying a Mac before the keynote – now there are at least 5 actually buying one!
All of them are looking at upgrading the mini, so I think this is what Apple is counting on. So far none of them are going to be spending less than �500 with the Apple store, and our IT dept have finally found out what they can do with all the old CRT monitors they just upgraded with LCDs!
noPCzone
I had the same idea when I saw the specs of the miniMac. They should have large garbage crates outside the Apple stores for the trade in PCs. Wouldn’t it be fun to watch the crates fill up with junk PCs.
It should be Pentium III minimum though, you don’t want the museum pieces.
“How many customers will opt for a $99 Shuffle, rather than a $249-plus iPod, or a $500 Mac mini rather than a $1,300 iMac?”
Well I have 850 songs on my mini, I’m not exactly going to switch to the shuffle, I may rather upgrade to a 20GB model. But my daughter wants an iPod. The shuffle’s going to be great for students who have not yet amassed great numbers of CDs. It’s cheap enough so you don’t have to worry about the kids being mugged for it.
As for the miniMac, I see it as replacement for our 400DVSE iMac in the living room. It’s inobtrusive, it’s cheap and it’s perfectly sufficient for what my wife needs in a computer. Used 15 inch TFTs are dirt cheap these days.
Still, my next computer will be the medium iMac. So the miniMac will come in addition, not as alternative.