“Apple Computer’s new budget-priced computer doesn’t go on sale in its retail stores until tomorrow, but the company looks like it may already have a hit on its hands. Orders placed on the company’s Web site for the Mac mini may take three to four weeks to ship, the company warns. Other resellers such as MacConnection and MacMall are experiencing similar, although often shorter, backlogs,” Troy Wolverton reports for TheStreet.com.
“The initial response to both the Mac mini and the iPod shuffle, Apple’s cut-price digital music player, has been “incredible,” said Apple spokeswoman Natalie Kerris. But Kerris declined to give sales figures or to say whether demand for the devices has outstripped the company’s expectations,” Wolverton reports.
“One surprise reseller of the Mac mini is Target’s online store Target.com, which is offering both versions of the device. Analysts have speculated that Apple will broaden the distribution of the low-cost computer beyond its normal network of resellers,” Wolverton reports.
Full article here.
Has Target ever sold computers or is this something new for them??
Either way, you just KNOW Ron Johnson had something to do with this deal (he was head of Retail for Target before coming to Apple).
Excellent news!
Ironically – Apple’s under assessment of supply will actually make the mac mini more desirable to everyone.
This same situation happened with the ipod and ipod mini too!
Its a supply and demand market: whenever a product’s demand outstrips the supply the product becomes more desirable – it can be a good marketing move as long as people don’t have wait too long!
Never mind, I just saw that they do in fact sell other brands online.
It may be on Target.com for now, but sooner or later the Mac mini will be sold in Target stores. Retailers like Target and K-Mart will be crucial to selling Mac Mini’s to the mass market. The mini box, with its plastic handle and low price, is perfect for impulse purchasers.
I like Target, they have nice stuff, and it’s nothing new that they are selling Apple products. They have been selling iPods, iPod minis, and iPod acessories for a long time now.
Bah humbug!
A couple of notes:
1) When Apple launched the prepaid iTMS cards it did it first with Target. Target also was the first non-specialty store to carry the iPod. There is obviously a good relationship between Target and Apple. Target also appeals to a demographic that is prime for the Macintosh and has a much more ‘hip’ rep than K-Mart or Wal-Mart.
2) If the Mac mini is a breakout hit you can expect to see Mac software at your local Target store. The implications of something like this for the Mac developers and Mac users would be huge. How huge? Compare this to a hundred Apple Stores or a few hundred specialty retailers.
From their website-
“We operate more than 1,250 stores in 47 states, including more than 100 SuperTarget® stores, 880 pharmacies, 250 optical centers, 150 Portrait Studios, 1,000 Photo Labs and 25 multi-level stores.”
They also share a similar vison with Apple and Mac users-
“Target receives many awards for our success in both the retail industry and the community. Here are a few we’ve recently received:
“Top 30 Companies for Executive Women” by the National Association for Female Executives
“Top 50” in Fortune magazine’s Top 500
“Most Generous” #1 on list by Forbes magazine
“Best for Latinas” in Latina Style magazine’s 50 best companies for Latinas
“50 Best CEOs List” Bob Ulrich named by Worth magazine
“Top Work Place for Women” in Working Mother magazine’s 100 Best Companies for Working Women
“100 Best Corporate Citizens” by Business Ethics magazine, for diversity efforts
“Top in Training” in Training magazine’s Training Top 100 list
“100% Conversion Award” by INROADS for hiring minority interns into full-time positions”
Let Wal-Mart push H-P and Dell PCs. The revolution continues…
My magic word is “hell,” as in: When the hell are people going to stop talking about the magic words?
My magic word is ‘never’ as in ‘I promise I’ll never talk about my magic word.
I saw on another site where someone had taken a picture of Mac minis on sale at a Barnes and Noble bookstore. Dunno if it was staged or not though. I guess since Amazon is selling them…..
You can blame the “magic word” crap on me
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I started it first when my word was “high”. People have been copying “My MDN magic word is” ever since. It’s getting obnoxious. I should have never tried to be clever for it has made people quite repetetive here.
(My magic word is called)
Well, here is more anecdotal evidence. My Bro in law, who has been a windows user his whole life but has started wanting to get a Mac since he saw how I never had any problems, has decided to get two Mac minis. One for himself and one for his mother in Germany so they can iChat.
Changing people’s lives for the better, one PC at a time.
Let’s not forget that Ron JOhnson the head of Apple’s Retail Division came from Target. I have always thought that eMacs should have been sold at Target. Target’s core cusotmer is earning about 20 to 30K more than the Wal-Mart’s core customer, which is also Apple’s core customer. If you have seen the iPod display at Target there is a bottom shelf that is taken up by a plastic ad front, which I have always thought was a waste of prime selling space. My estimation is this is a perfect spot for mac mini boxes. Let the good times role… my 401K is loving it!
Does anyone think, that sales at Target may backfire. If someone buys one at Target, there will be no way for them to upgrade RAM. They’ll be stuck at 256. For some applications that’s fine. But if Apple would have started with 512, the overall experience would be far better.
I do see one increddible value for using target. Their 3-year extended warrenty only costs $50 for the mini mac.
What can you do about a mic input for the mini? The whole concept of iChat and iSight is kind of ruinedd if you can’t talk to the people you’re conferencing with.
loki,
umm…
“iSight is the incredibly easy to use personal video conferencing camera with INTEGRATED microphone that will allow you to have face-to-face conversations with your friends, family and co-workers over the Internet.
“
As long as you have a firewire connection…. which the mini does, there is no need for a mic input.
The above was taken directly from http://www.apple.com
Ahhhh, beautiful… I did not know that (apparently)! I haven’t yet upgraded to a new iSight, I just got my Dual 2.0 G5 set up about two weeks ago so the audio in isn’t really a concern for me but I’m wanting to get my son one for his birthday in a couple months and I’m just covering all my bases in advance.
Thank you for the info!
I saw the Griffen USB audio interface, but that’s an extra $40. Are there other cameras that use integrated audio? My old 3Com cam apparently isn’t very compatible with my new machine.
Uh honey, could ja pick up some underwear, tampax, and a Mac mini down at the Tarjhay.
The CompUSA here in Greenville, SC sold out in 1 hour of their mini’s and they haven’t received any shufflees yet…
Target would be HUGE…as an investor I couldn’t be more pleased with the results so far. Yes, the “headless” Mac is going to be a success.
Man, everything was sold out at the Apple store in San Diego. Damn.
Target is a good choice… it’s kind of the “higher end” Walmart.
As for users who need to upgrade RAM, I’ve read several places that the RAM IS upgradeable by the user…
IN canada we haven’t even got any minis or shuffles.. and *gasp* hardly any ipod minis…
the guy at the reseller was expressing some frustration that ‘every phone call we get is about the iPod shuffle, the mac mini or Tiger’
LOL… they’re getting calls about Tiger..
He said they’re having to turn all these ppl away cuz.. lol.. the products aren’t even out yet.
Uhm.. Kevin Rollins may not want to go outside for the next 9 months..
Did you guys/gals see the new HP ad that directly addresses the Mac mini (not by name)? The commercial begins by saying something to the effect of ‘here is HP’s new blah-blah computer for $499 (no coincidence) complete with monitor’. It goes on to talk about all these cool things it can do, but almost all of them required an upgrade not included in $499 price shown. It talks about it burning DVD’s (with an admittedly cool surface etching capability), that you can’t do with the default setup. The commercial ends with what might be the PC worlds new catch phrase, “everything you need”. It looks like they are quite aware of the Mac mini, and are appropriatly trying to stem the tides. I don’t think it will help. Once enough people get there hands on a Mac mini and OS X, the word will spread like crazy. And when people here from their friends and family how great OS X is, $499 is not going to be a barrier for the average Joe that the iMac might be. (I ruled out the eMac because I don’t think many people care for it, and we all know it’s hard to send $800 on something you don’t care for)