Analyst Keith Bachman of Banc of America Securities maintained his “buy” rating on Apple Computer (AAPL) with his target price of $48.
Apple Computer’s Mac Mini product portfolio is likely to significantly strengthen the company’s market share and distribution channels in the long term and that the company would witness substantial opportunities for market share gains in the forthcoming quarters through third-party channels, without employing much capital, Bachman stated today in a research note.
[Attribution: newratings.com]
Well, duh.
does anyone know when we will get any sale figures on how well the mini is selling?
Apple needs to offer a nicely designed KVM switch for PC owners, so they can switch back and forth. Hell, I could use one myself for the two G4s I use at work.
About April 13th or so.
like, duh…
Right neomonkey,
I hope Apple finally wake up to this.
Most computer users don’t know about these switches. I’ve explained them to a few who were interested in the mini and they were amazed.
With a big KVM/mini campaign, Apple could substantially increase their sales.
While we are listing wants, how about a reintroduction of the “Studio” line of Apple LCD Monitors? I bought a nice Samsung 17″ LCD for my Mom’s new Mac mini I got her for her B-day. The only problem is that the lower priced monitors all use VGA instead of DVI. Since Samsung/Phillips source the LCD panels for Apple, a 17″ styled to match the Mac mini with DVI should be possible for something approaching the $279 (US) I paid.
neomonkey,
You’re right. The choice for KVM is pretty lame. If you want to get a DVI switcher, the choice is even worse. The one I own is the Mini DVI switcher from Gefen. The support has been terrible and the product buggy as hell. Don’t buy from Geffen!
An iSwitch form Apple would be a great thing indeed.
In France, I have ordered a Mac Mini Customized on 17th of Janauary. My Retailer – on my request asked Apple about délivery delays. Answer from Apple was: impossible to fix a date ! mor than seven weeks….. eight weeks ….. more… nobody kows. Congratulation Mr Steve Jobs, I don’t thinks you wioll be able to gave satisfaction to PC users. They get a PC without delay.
Pierre;
Don’t worry. We’ll get to France in order of importance.
Sincerely,
USA
Mr Steve Jobs, I don’t thinks you wioll be able to gave satisfaction to PC users. They get a PC without delay.
I don’t know how this is relevant. It’s comparing apples and…virus-ridden PCs.
Yeah, but the vast majority (85-90%) of macminis will all be bought by current Apple owners.
So, yes, market share will go up for a bit as the old Mac OS9 and earlier crowd pulls out $499 from the shoebox for a new Mac with a Tiger in it. But then once they have their new OSX mac it will be a lonnnnnnnnnnng time before they buy another mac. (And will sales of higher priced Macs drop because Mac owners are going for the bargain priced, just right for surfing the web Apple computer?)
Market share is only counted on a quarterly and yearly basis basd on sales of new product.
to NoPCZone – well, elcheapo, spend some bucks and get your mom a better monitor! Why some CRT heater? Get her a LCD flat screen job
I would reckon that about 40% of mac minis will be purchased by current PC owners. I have pulled that figure out of my enormous gelantious arse. But my arse has proved resoundingly accurate lately in numerous feats of computation.
I totally agree with neo-monkey. Apple should offer and advertise a KVM-switch in the Apple stores. In the online store they offer a few Belkin ones (the low end ones are 60 dollars without Audio support and 70 dollars with Audio support – just search for “KVM”). I don’t know if they have these in the real-world Apple stores but they should. They should also advertise the hell out of this solution. Most people have not even heard of it -not even some power users. And it would be nice if they did PS/2 to USB adaptors too (also availiable in the online store – two PS/2 devices to one USB port for 20 dollars by Belkin again).
One other thing that would be cool would be a 15 inch low priced monitor but I don’t know if Apple wants to go into the low end that deeply. The margins on something like the KVM switches and adaptors should be pretty good though I would think. Apple should utilize this to gain a bit more profit from Mini switchers and I think they should seriously consider offering their own solution and not rely on third party producers. There should be a little Mac mini accessories section in the Apple stores.
One question. The picture of the KVM switch for audio had the two pink and green connectors you see on PCs. Does this mean ANOTHER adaptor to fit with Apple’s single Audio out connector?
Jobs-ian Savior, I am an American and you are an idiot. Pierre, remember not all Americans are like this. Wherever you go there will be some people who write things that aren’t worth the pixels they print on. My guess from his America Uber Alles attitude would be that Job-sian Savior voted for Bush.
Yeah, but the vast majority (85-90%) of macminis will all be bought by current Apple owners.
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PFfft.. good point.. NOT.. this is idiotic rhetoric. If you want a deal.. get an eMac.. the Mac MIni is for PC users that already have a Monitor and a Keyboard/Mouse.. get it?
I agree Mike. I am a major Apple fan and Mac User but the mini does not tempt me much (unless they come up with a great easy solution to make it a Media Center). However, it was perfect for my switcher brother in law who just bought one last weekend. We hooked it up to his monitor and mouse (I gave him an old Apple keyboard I had lying around) and set him up. He was amazed at how easily and smoothly everything went. I guess based on past PC experience he was expecting it to be a complicated and time-consuming ordeal.
We took it slow so it took about 30 minutes to have him all set up. We had my son call him for a one way video chat and there it was – just working. Now he is going to get an iSight so he can do two-way. Currently his old PC is down with (another) virus so we will see how long it takes him to find the time to clean it out and get it up and running again. My guess would be that it is just going to be gathering dust since he is pretty busy and really doesn’t have time to be messing with keeping it running all the time. If he does get it running again it will be almost exclusively dedicated to off-line tasks.
Anyway I guess he was pretty impressed with the Mac experience. Now he is planning on buying 3 more – one each for his Mom and Dad and Brother – so his whole family can be set up for video chat PLUS get all the other benefits of having a Mac.
I’ll probably pick up a mini as soon as it’s available with a 2Ghz processor and has one of the new Blu-ray disc drives in it.
I’ll be hooking it up to a 60+ inch HDTV as a media center. It should be sweet.
If Apple gets its downloadable video store online by next year, well, that’ll be even sweeter.
to mike: an eMac??? That thing is dead. Apple is taking it out of its stores. Who wants that 40 lb. lump?
You probably have two right? Didn´t think so.
Mike – tip to you – Mac users using version OS9 and below probably have a monitor and keyboard. With all my PowerMacs I had to buy a monitor (a keyboard came with it). And you would be surprised how many Mac owners own a PC, too. Like you, perhaps????
You “all-a-PC-owner-wants-is-a-cheap-mac” thinkers are in for a surprise. It is not easy to get people to change platforms.
By the way, in addition to our macs, I´ve got 5 pcs running XP at my shop – they work fine, no problems.
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ToJackA – your brother must have had an old windows computer. The new XP pcs are as easy to get going out of the box as a Mac. Hook up new hardware on a pc? Just plug it in.
Jack A: “Currently his old PC is down with (another) virus” What a crock. If you have a functioning ant-virus program in your computer this does not happen. The guy must have windows 95 and no anti-virus software.
Liberal — you are not an American. You are a liberal . . . and an idiot.
Keep your socialist rantings to yourself, beaver. We don’t need no souffles and crepes served here. France will be tended to when necessary.
Sincerely,
Libertarian Patriot
To “to mike and JackA” OoooooKay. No problems with viruses in the windows world as long as you have anti-virus software running. simple. Yeah, right.
Jack A: this is what we at Microsoft keep saying. The problem is not Windows, but idiots around. Just buy our new anti-virus service and we promise you will never experience any known virus again.
For new viruses, please, do not forget to pay for the updates that are foreseen to happen once a week to keep our customer satisfaction high.
We at Microsoft have always been committed to a virus free PC experience.