marmar@mtk.UUCP (Mark Martino) (02/13/90)
I read the PC Week article about JLG leaving Apple. Is this true? If this is true, can we expect Apple to redirect its marketing efforts somewhat? Can we expect this new direction to be in pricing? Dare we think, could there be, reasonable, (translated, much lower) prices? Would Apple actually stoop to selling machines that have the hardware firepower (which is often the only thing people compare) similar to 286/386/486 clones at competive prices? Would they finally realize that an easy to use machine is worth 20% more, not 60% more than a clone? ...or does this portend nothing at all?
ba0k+@andrew.cmu.edu (Brian Patrick Arnold) (02/15/90)
>Can we expect this new direction to be in pricing?
On Feb 1, vaguely before anybody outside Apple knew JLG was leaving, Mac
Plus, SE and SE/30 prices were lowered. They didn't lower prices on
their high end Macs, but their high end is doing well at the outrageous
prices Apple is charging, so ah...you know it all boils down to those
funny looking supply and demand curves I learned in Micro. Heck if I
knew people are willing to spend $6K on a portable, I'd charge $6K.
Two key signals to whether change is in store after JLG's departure will
be whether buyers see announcements on both a longer warranty and a
new-generation low-cost Mac. In the immediate future.
- Briankeith@Apple.COM (Keith Rollin) (02/18/90)
In article <947@mtk.UUCP> marmar@mtk.UUCP (Mark Martino) writes: >I read the PC Week article about JLG leaving Apple. Is this true? >If this is true, can we expect Apple to redirect its marketing efforts somewhat? >Can we expect this new direction to be in pricing? Dare we think, could there >be, reasonable, (translated, much lower) prices? Mark, I don't think that anyone should be listening to rumors about JLG's leaving. As I type this, JLG is still President of Apple Products, and no one has made any announcements concerning his future. All that's really happened is that he and the Scull-man have been talking about what he'll be doing in the future. Just as Sculley and Spindler probably talked about Spindler's coming to Cupertino to become COO. You see, it doesn't have to be bad. Also, I'm not sure that pointing the finder at JLG for high prices, 90-day warranties, etc. is the right thing to do. As President of Apple Products JLG simply directs the creation of new products; I don't know that he has much to do with pricing or support issues. It seems to me that that would fall under the aegis of the President of Apple USA, who used to be Loren. >Would Apple actually stoop >to selling machines that have the hardware firepower (which is often the only >thing people compare) similar to 286/386/486 clones at competive prices? >Would they finally realize that an easy to use machine is worth 20% >more, not 60% more than a clone? > >...or does this portend nothing at all? I saw an interesting demo the other day. Someone took a 33MHz Compaq 386 and a 16MHz Mac IIx. They set up Excel on both of them, and installed the same macros on both of them, and ran them both at the same time and timed them. The results: what took the 33MHz Compaq 47 seconds to do, the 16MHz Mac IIx was able to do in 34 seconds. Soooooo, if you want a cheap 286/386/486 clone from us, I suggest buying a 8Mhz MacPlus, and tearing the ROMs out. -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Keith Rollin --- Apple Computer, Inc. --- Developer Technical Support INTERNET: keith@apple.com UUCP: {decwrl, hoptoad, nsc, sun, amdahl}!apple!keith "Argue for your Apple, and sure enough, it's yours" - Keith Rollin, Contusions
dave@PRC.Unisys.COM (David Lee Matuszek) (02/22/90)
In article <947@mtk.UUCP> marmar@mtk.UUCP (Mark Martino) writes: >Can we expect this new direction to be in pricing? Dare we think, could there >be, reasonable, (translated, much lower) prices? Would Apple actually stoop >to selling machines that have the hardware firepower (which is often the only >thing people compare) similar to 286/386/486 clones at competive prices? >Would they finally realize that an easy to use machine is worth 20% >more, not 60% more than a clone? Chacun a son gout. Sure, we all wish Apple's prices would come down. The six of us in my family share a single Mac+. It looks like it'll be a few years yet before we can move to a MacII, because of price. However, I wouldn't have an IBM or clone in the house if you gave me one. (But if you want to give me one, fine, I'll find someone to sell it to...) Why? Because everyone in the house, from my 8-year-old daughter on up, uses the Mac--for homework, for games, for typing notes to leave for people, and (especially) for artistic fiddling. They think computers are easy; and they have this strange notion that computers are to use (the rest of us know that they are really to configure :-). If I had an IBM, no one would bother to learn how to use it. Including myself. So your 20% is a bit off, for some of us. I don't like Apple's prices either, but they have what I want, and the PC clones don't. -- Dave Matuszek (dave@prc.unisys.com) -- Unisys Corp. / Paoli Research Center / PO Box 517 / Paoli PA 19301 -- Any resemblance between my opinions and those of my employer is improbable. << Those who fail to learn from Unix are doomed to repeat it. >>
casseres@apple.com (David Casseres) (02/23/90)
In article <12919@burdvax.PRC.Unisys.COM> dave@PRC.Unisys.COM (David Lee Matuszek) writes: > Sure, we all wish Apple's prices would come down... I don't like Apple's > prices either, but they have what I want, and the PC clones don't. And check out Apple's latest prices on the SE, SE/30, and LaserWriter NTX; things are getting better. David Casseres Exclaimer: Hey!