Mac to go below $500?

[Agathon]

Perhaps not because if their computer business fails

It's not failing. They are financially sound and would be even if the ipod had never existed. There wouldn't have been this massive spike in share price if not for the ipod thing, but they would still be doing OK.

Marketshare is irrelevant as long as the company is still making money. For the foreseeable future that is the case.

People have been saying that Apple is going out of business for more than 20 years. They've had one real crisis and that was nearly ten years ago. Other than that, the company has been in pretty good shape.

[Mr. Nice Guy]

Originally posted by Agathon

Perhaps not because if their computer business fails

It's not failing. They are financially sound and would be even if the ipod had never existed. There wouldn't have been this massive spike in share price if not for the ipod thing, but they would still be doing OK.

Marketshare is irrelevant as long as the company is still making money. For the foreseeable future that is the case.

People have been saying that Apple is going out of business for more than 20 years. They've had one real crisis and that was nearly ten years ago. Other than that, the company has been in pretty good shape.

You missed my point entirely.

I didn't say Apple would go out of business.

I said if Apple doesn't do something about their falling market share in computers they may have to drop out of that business entirely and just run as a media company (iTunes, iPod, Quicktime; etc.).

[Agathon]

That's not going to happen. Just because their marketshare is falling doesn't mean they are going out of business.

Hell, I specialize in Ancient Greek Philosophy and even I can understand why that is.

If the number of computers being sold as a whole is going up, it doesn't matter that Apple's marketshare is going down. Nor does it matter if they can maintain sales at a rate sufficient to keep the company afloat. At present, no one with any credibility is saying different. I haven't seen any serious source assume that Apple will get out of the computer business. The professional predictions have been the opposite - it's a stock to buy as analysts think that Apple's move into consumer electronics will benefit its computer business in the medium term.

They may be wrong, but why all this doom and gloom when Apple was the top performing stock of the year? Even if it wasn't the absolute top performer, it was way up there.

You want to see what happens when a computer company really fails? Look at NeXT. There is no sign that Apple is in that sort of trouble.

[Mr. Nice Guy]

Originally posted by Agathon
...doesn't mean they are going out of business.

[Mr. Nice Guy]

To be honest with you, I hope it doesn't happen either. I have very high hopes for Apple and am keeping the, err... "faith."

Just... keep the... "faith"... going..., man.

[Agathon]

It's not a matter of faith.

You'll know if Apple is going out of the computer business. Right now, all this is speculation, and not particularly well-informed speculation either.

But it's fun to speculate, and it gives people on internet forums something to do.

[Spiffor]

Originally posted by Kuciwalker
Having no games on it isn't a good reason not to buy the system?

Depends for which audience. There are plenty of people who never play games on their computers past Minesweeper, and there are even more people who don't even play these.

And people don't get *gaming* experience when using the computer labs at school.

Again, the high-schoolers typically not the market Apple should look for. The expectations of highschoolers (games, tinkering, acceptation of a non-simplistic GUI etc.) are not expectations that are universally shared.

So is Windows, in fact. Boot it up, click "start".

And have the computer not boot up (thanks to a virus contracted with E-Mail because of computer-illiteracy). Read the Windows manual, where is written "read the manual of your computer". Don't find anything in the computer manual. Be very angry at those airheads who can make rockets go to Mars, but who're not even able to make such a simple thing as a working computer. Call some computer hotline and yell, to no effect of course. Call some computer genius in the family / neighborhood. Try to explain the situation to the computer genius, and try to understand his explanations....
To a computer-literate like you, the situation wouldn't have even happened, because you wouldn't have contracted a virus in the first place. But I can see many people who want to avoid such a hassle. For them, a "box that works", and where there is only one possible culprit if it malfunctions, is an attractive idea.

[Mr. Nice Guy]

Originally posted by Agathon
But it's fun to speculate, and it gives people on internet forums something to do.

Amen to that.

[Agathon]

Excellent post Spiff.

For people like my mother a cheap Macintosh would be ideal.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Originally posted by Agathon
Excellent post Spiff.

For people like my mother a cheap Macintosh would be ideal.

Which is why I think it is a good idea for Apple to go into the cheap computer business. For those who don't want to play games, they just want to send email, surf the web, and write papers (or whatever) for the best price they can find.

[Agathon]

Which is why I think it is a good idea for Apple to go into the cheap computer business. For those who don't want to play games, they just want to send email, surf the web, and write papers (or whatever) for the best price they can find.

Well, I think you might be right. The original imac was initially supposed to be this sort of machine. If the rumour is true, I imagine that Apple did a fair bit of market research and found that a lot of their Windows ipod customers would try a mac if it were cheaper.

Funny thing is that this computer would be cheaper than the top of the line ipod. I suppose if people are willing to shell out for that, they would be willing to shell out for a cheap mac.

On the other hand, it will now fail since I have said this. I have an impressive record of failure at predicting the success of Apple products. I thought no one would buy the original ipod or the ipod mini at that price.

[Mr. Nice Guy]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui
For those who don't want to play games, they just want to send email, surf the web, and write papers (or whatever) for the best price they can find.

Not to mention not having to worry about any hassles.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Originally posted by Mr. Nice Guy
Not to mention not having to worry about any hassles.

People care more about price.

[Mr. Nice Guy]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui
People care more about price.

Low price, no hassles. Great combination!

[Spiffor]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui
People care more about price.

Again, it depends of the people. Many old-ish middle class people would happily spend an extra 100$ for a machine they deem to be simple and reliable. OTOH, many poor people would prefer to put some effort into looking for the cheapest comp, even if that comp appears to demand more effort from their part.

EDIT: I'm not saying old-ish middle class people would happily spend 1,000$ on a Mac if they could spend 400$ on a Wintel. But they would probably shell out the 500$ for the new Mac, rather than making the effort to create the cheapest PC comp (269$ according to QCubed, IIRC)