“Benjamin A. Reitzes of UBS Investment Research raised his price target and earnings estimates for Apple Computer and maintained a ‘buy’ rating on the company after checks revealed strong sales of the new video iPod and iMac G5,” Maya Roney reports for Forbes.
“The analyst said Apple would introduce more video content and digital entertainment offerings at Macworld in January, helping to drive shares. Checks also indicate that the company may be ready to launch lower-end Intel-based Macs earlier than its original June 2006 target, with the possibility of an Intel-based Mac mini at Macworld,” Roney reports. “He raised the price target to $74 from $65.”
Full article here.
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RUMOR: Apple’s Intel-based Macs coming in first quarter 2006 – November 04, 2005
I just hope those new Mactel DON’T have an “Intel Inside” sticker on them!
“Intel-based Mac mini”
Price it at $299. Take the margin hit. Grow the installed base. Make a Mac mini / iPod combo offer.
The switch to Intel chips is a mistake.
An Apple a day keeps the Virus away. Another reason to buy Apples. Woohoo.
Please stop calling it MacTel. There are no MacBM’s or MacOrolas
there is no reason why I can’t keep low-end machines/laptops Intel based, and the super power machines stay PowerPC.
and if things have gone really well with the switch of OS X to run on both processors, the Mac mini is the perfect machine to switch first, with little to no 3rd party software ready – because the mini is all about the built-in apps and iLife. Period.
Just for you, HAMMER.
I agree. “MacTel” just sounds old-fashioned. Reminds me of “Ma Bell”. Outdated terminology and references.
How about just . . . Macs.
MacTel MacTel MacTel MacTel MacTel Developers Developers Developers Developers Developers… oh, wait a minute!
“Emporer Gates, they’re releasing the new MacMini ahead of schedule”.
“Darth Balmer, what shall I do with you. You don’t have the slightest clue, do you?”
“No my lord but I have many spies in the rebel Apple Alliance. They can’t beat Windows, we’re far too powerful for them now”.
“Gooood, now leave me so I can continue testing my new secret weapon for infecting Macs from Xbox and iPod connections”.
If this is true, I’ll be in line to get one of the first ones in January then…
Ampar,
I’m inclined to agree with you that that would be a killer marketing move, it just doesn’t jibe with Apple’s strategy to date. They sell things they think they can make a profit on.
A nice outcome would be if they received such a huge price break on the Intel chipsets and other components (due to those components being commoditized for x86), that they actually could produce a Mac mini for $299, and still make a profit.
OT: Rumors of a release of a PB 15 first, and perhaps discontinuation of the 12″?
Something reminds me of the way rumour sites covered that the new iPod mini would feature a new color screen, but missed the fact that the iPod mini was being replaced by a whole new product line.
So I suspect there will be a significant realignment of their protable product line.
A new ultraportable class?
Somewhat bigger more consumer/student oriented iBooks, in personalized colors and maybe more on the appearance front.
!5, 17, 19 inch PowerBook series, maybe not that much smaller than the current series, because…
The zillions of ports are limit to how thin you can make a full-featured laptop.
USB2 is pretty nice in this regard, but ethernet?
Maybe we’re headed for a USB2 (or 3) future with thinner powered connectors for slimmer devices.
And perhaps I should stop rambling now…
A new ultraportable with built-in iSight and mic, combo drive, USB2, 512 MB RAM, 60 GB HD and backlit keyboard would be sweet.
I’ve been predicting a January MW announcement with a late January ship date since the move to Intel announcement last June. All you had to do is listen to SJ’s very carefully chosen WWDC words to know there was no way it was going to take a year. He was merely giving himself a roomy safety net, with perhaps a dash of indirection to stave off any Osborne myth effect.
I agree, though, that it would be best to stay dual platform, keeping PPC for the high-end Macs. That’s the part of the announcement which didn’t make any sense to me (i.e. a complete transition to Intel). I suspect politics may have played into that. If so, it would be easy enough to just keep the PPC around longer and let the market decide its fate in the Mac lineup. Why stop building ’em if the customer still wants them?
enamic5 “An Apple a day keeps the Virus away. Another reason to buy Apples. Woohoo.”
No, not an Apple a day. A Mac a Day.
Someone has to be the most bullish bull and looks like USB wants that spot.
I think it foolish and very un-Foolish to raise price targets based on rumors from a company notorious for the innacuracies of their rumors.
Plus, a move to an Intel Mac mini is only significant if it changes the price point and/or increases the feature set to include Digital Hub technologies such as Front Row.
MDN word: army
Randolph is correct. SJ requires every hardware product released by Apple to have a certain amount of return. Marketshare doesn’t mean squat in the short-term, so flooding the market with computers that don’t produce a profit is just a waste. Slow and steady wins the race. Thing is that Apple hasn’t been slow lately. Go Apple!
Rainy Day, you make a good point. Unless of course they expect the Intel benchmarks to blow the G5 out of the water. Anecdotal evidence about the Intel developer machines is that they screem. Intel based Macs will be the first opportunity we have to finally get a relatively fair benchmark comparison between Intel and PPC running the same OS. Oh, one other thing to consider is it costs Apple more to support 2 different processor architectures AND they can secure better volume discounts if they go 100% Intel.
check this out, its a video done of the previous era of mac clones, with specific references to intel so its kinda on topic, thought it was bloody great. its a home video type thing obviously done by mac fans. great stuff.
http://pulsar.esm.psu.edu/Faculty/Gray/graphics/movies/Apple-Music-Video-We-are-a-clone-now.mov
MacBM….
sounds kinda rude
Botvinnik, you always were a tool of the Soviet government; how can we trust what you say now?
Trying to selling a product with little or no profit is a big mistake. Look at Dell and how they’ve messed things up by trying to take market share.
The Mac Mini will be revised from learning about customer needs for that product. Whether Apple can cut the costs and still make a tidy profit will depend on what they get from Intel.
The PBs are really needing a refresh first. They are very long in the tooth. I bought my 1.33 GHz PB two years ago and the current model is only up to 1.7 gHz!!
I agree wholeheartedly Neil. Ampars business plan is a mistake. Apple can afford to price their models a little higher I think. It’s the smartest purchase possible considering what you get. Plus, Dell has been shooting itself in the foot with their “$100 rebates”. I think by now everyone realizes what bullshit that it is.
this is wishful thinking but “not gonna hapin”
You’ll be lucky to see a MINI in January, and even that I doubt. You won’t see an intel powerbook until january 2oo7.
STop the frenzy, it’s like when we were waiting for that damn phone for crying out loud.
ipod + mac deal is dumb.. but I think they should be including rebate coupons with each iPod sold..
however, that is kind of abusive of monopoly powers
hehe