Norm Wattenberger: Mac Pro - Is Apple changing marketing direction

[Norm Wattenberger]

Apple has always had an operating system that made Windows look ridiculous. But, most users were not ready to pay Apple prices. The new Mac Pro appears to be an incredible performer ? yet is priced very reasonably. And it comes out just as Dell, always a price leader, has decided to overprice it?s new systems. All of a sudden, Apple is the price leader. It will be interesting to see the effect on the market.

[MGP]

I've always been a non-mac person, but with Parallels, I would consider buying a Mac. I just looked at their laptops on their website though and the biggest problem I see from them really taking off is that they baby the consumer too much and don't give enough options/details.

You can't choose a faster hard drive - only the 5400rpm are available, they've way overpriced their memory, you can't choose a faster processor, etc.

While I agree they'll gain some share, I think the lack of choices will make it harder for people to swtich over.

[Norm Wattenberger]

The Mac Pro also suffers from a lack of options. They have neither to disk nor video card that I want. And there is no normal desktop at all at the moment. At least that I can find on their site.

[Viktor Nacht]

> The Mac Pro also suffers from a lack of options. They
> have neither to disk nor video card that I want. And
> there is no normal desktop at all at the moment. At
> least that I can find on their site.

This is unlikely to change. Apple has never been a big believer in an overwhelming number of BTO (Build To Order) options. This is the most they've ever offered.

Although I would prefer far more BTO options on their Pro equipment, the fact they do baby consumers has been a strong selling point for years. And keeping it simple helps keep costs low, since pre-configured systems are much cheaper to move through the supply chain.

The move to Intel is an excellent decision (though I would have preferred AMD). The next thing that would help would be to untether their OS from their hardware, but I think they're still insecure about losing hardware sales after their previous experience with licensed clones.

Good Bits,

V