“Computer makers are scrambling to adjust to rapidly deteriorating demand for personal computers, cutting prices as they brace for what is quickly shaping up to be a cheerless holiday season,” Justin Scheck and Yukari Iwatani Kane report for The Wall Street Journal.
“Dell Inc. and some retailers are even offering discounts of 20% to 30% on new notebook computers, chipping away at profits in a segment that has enjoyed healthy demand,” Scheck and Kane report. “Until now, the $263 billion PC sector had shown resilience amid a slowing economy: World-wide PC shipments rose at least 12% in each of the first three quarters of the year. But PC sales have stalled in recent weeks as consumer spending has plunged.”
“Research firm IDC is preparing revised numbers that it could release as soon as Friday that project a 1% drop in U.S. PC shipments for the fourth quarter compared with a year earlier,” Scheck and Kane report. “The deteriorating PC climate portends poorly for Hewlett-Packard Co., the market leader with 19% global share in PC shipments, and Dell, which has roughly 15% share, according to IDC.”
“One exception to the trend may be Apple Inc. The Cupertino, Calif., company chose to pack more features into new aluminum MacBooks it unveiled last month, rather than drastically cut prices. The new aluminum MacBooks start at $1,299 and range upwards of $2,000,” Scheck and Kane report.
“The strategy allows Apple to maintain its brand’s premium reputation while protecting its industry-high profit margins, which are close to 20%. In its last reported quarter, the company reported double-digit growth in unit and revenue shipments for its Macintosh computers,” Scheck and Kane report. “Though analysts say Apple will likely be affected by the economy, they say the company will still see a solid holiday season as consumers snap up the new notebooks.”
More in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Citymark” for the heads up.]
MacDailyNews Take: Think Different:
Don’t know if everyone else (I’m in Europe) are getting the same ‘More On This Topic’ links at the bottom of this page.
The contextuality of these contextual ads is truly hilarious, and show that even if ‘Think Different’ strategy would turn out to be a misjudgement, Apple still has options:
How to Use Michael Dell’s Philosophies in Running a Business
Dude, You’re Getting An ‘Iron Man’
What to Spend on a Computer
How to Buy a Dell PC
And most important, related and relevant of all:
How to Ship Day-Old Poultry
Thank you for bearing with us as we beta test the “Pluck” system (the “More On This Topic” section below).
For now, please consider it comedy.
Thank you.
Yet again, Apple are “gonna innovate our way outta this”!
Is it just me or does Bill Gates fit in that picture?
Sure we all hate him and villify him, but at the end of the day, he helped pirates and spread windows all around the world. And thanks to the shittiness of it, people come to Macs.
Maybe Apple would do better if it got it right.
Think Differently!
On the other hand, Ballmer’s just crazy.
This is the story of the three little pigs. Dell built their house of straw, and HP built their house of wood. Then the Big Bad Recession came and blew their houses down. But Apple built their house of bricks and weathered the storm.
The nice part of recessions is that they end. Apple is prepared. When the recession is over, Apple will still be there.
This one is even better. This is about a ‘real hero’ who landed 4 times behind Geman lines in assaults with gliders, and after landing, became foot solders. Only time in history.
Oh, there is a fourth little pig. Microsoft, who built their house of electrons. When the Big Bad Magnet comes by that pulls all their customers away there will be no house at all.
A huge cash reserve under your pillow lets Apple sleep better at night and during these downturns. They need to just keep innovating and introducing great products. Perhaps consumers will really look at the products they are buying and get real value for their money spent, which will put Dell in a world of hurt.
This just in:
Rob Enderle has just advised his client Michael Dell to go into the day old poultry business.
In a related note, Microsoft will sell you a Premium Home User license for day old poultry for $199.
Apple, please, please run that commercial again for a month or so…that is one of the greatest ads ever, ever, ever. It is moving, still.
It would reinforce the class act and Think Differentness that Apple has always stood for.
We need a class add like that during these times. The only thing you have to change is the logo at the end. Please run it!
@MacDailyNews Webmaster
Comedy or not, be very careful if you mention “Pluck” system beta and day-old poultry on the same page.
PETA is everywhere.
More on-topic, it is important to remember that back in the 2001-2002 recession Apple was the only PC maker that remained consistently profitable while the rest of them lost their a**.
What if Bill Gates and Warren Buffet together funded people with good mortgage/income ratios who can prove they lost their jobs and have at least one child, but not those who have a 50g income who were dumb enough to finance a 300g house.
We could use a kick start from someone, why not them. A billion less would not hurt either one of them and they would make history books.
JoshtheiMacGuy,
unfortunately it’s not just U.S. citizens who are ignoring adverbs; although they’re the worst.
When you ask a U.S. American how he’s doing, he’ll usually answer “I’m good” instead of (the correct) “I’m well”.
“I’m good” sounds like self-praise to me, because that’s what you might answer if you’d been asked:
What sort of person are you?
When I read ‘Think Different!’ all those years ago, I always used to add in my mind (like Eliza Doolittle):
“But speak proper”!
I’m not seeing the “More on this topic”.
Is my blocking system that good?
JoshtheiMacGuy,
Not to belittle you in any way but you are incorrect.
@josh and Muffin Man
The usage is not incorrect, based on the intent of the statement.
The syntax of this slogan is acceptable; “different” is not meant to modify “think,” but rather is the object of “think” being used as a transitive verb here. They are not urging you to think differently from others, they are urging you to think about that which is different.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122662495216826913.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
mdn magic word freedom, as in freedom to link.
Yeah, I read that in the WSJ this morning. As soon as I read “chose to pack more features into new aluminum MacBooks”, I thought, sure they did. They packed more in by eliminating firewire ports and the matte screen option.
That’s going to boost sales, isn’t it?
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Well, actually it did. I rushed out last night to buy one of the last MacBook Pros (with matte screen), on sale at Micro Center.
Coincidentally, a young family was buying an older model MacBook at the same time… One that would work with their firewire camcorder.
I should be set for a while… hopefully until someone wakes up in Cupertino and brings back choice.
(and please, no Uber-fanboys getting rude over my preferences)
The Think Different ad spoke to a very specific type of person, the devoted Mac user, at a time when the Mac was an afterthought in the computing industry and Apple was struggling for survival. The commercial reassured that group that the Mac wasn’t going anywhere.
The ad did its job back then for its specific target but it’s not necessary now as Apple’s in a different position. I know the Think Different ad pissed off a lot of people who thought it was elitist and co opting the good image of a lot of great people. It did make some people think Mac users were full of themselves.
Today, Apple is catering to the upper part of the mass market and the Think Different ad is a bit too ‘out there’ for regular folks who just want an iPod or a new computer.
America is broke and has been borrowing tons of money from other countries to give itself the illusion that it is rich. Meanwhile, the people have been pissing away all the money that they have been able to weasel out of the banks on dumbshit, feel-good things like BFTs (built for towing, big fucking trucks), SUVs, trips to Disneyland, and liberal-arts college degrees.
When Americans went to the moon to play golf, they owned the world. Now the world owns them.
You can thank your war-mongering, fear and loathing Neocon republicans for this.
@ rdbvideo:
Ex-fscking-actly! I’m right with ya, bro!
Somebody please call a whaaahbulance for the tit-babies crying over their firewire loss. If it is that much of a loss for you, go use a windoze pee cee