New iMacs With OS X.1 In September?
from the that's-the-theory dept
Kelly McNeill writes “Many individuals had anticipated new iMacs at Apple’s recent Mac World Expo, but were befuddled when, not only new Apple all-in-ones were not unveiled, but that last year’s model (and colors) were released with only minor speed improvements. To make things even more bizarre was the fact that the machines were actually a couple hundred dollars more expensive than the models they replaced. As many in the Macintosh news scene have since suggested, It was almost as if Apple was saying, “Don’t buy this machine!”. That was when it hit me. Perhaps this was indeed the case. When you consider a recent comment from Steve Jobs about making announcements periodically throughout the year rather than just at trade shows, and that the second largest computer-buying season (slightly behind Christmas) — the back-to-school season — comes in September, then you have the layout for what might be the most ideal time frame to unveil the ideal educational computer… iMac!” An interesting theory. My only problem with it is that people start planning their back-to-school purchases a bit earlier than September, and if they don’t even know that these iMacs are coming, then people will buy other machines too early. If Jobs had announced the machines were coming by September, then people might have waited for them.
Comments on “New iMacs With OS X.1 In September?”
No Subject Given
Who would buy a flat screen iMac when they can get an iBook for the same price? A flat screen iMac would look like an iBook, but it would lack the hinge (and all the portability that it brings). Apple should milk the current iMac business model as long as they possibly can. I am one of the few Apple fans that was glad that they didn’t release a new iMac (can you say Cube).
Re: No Subject Given
Personally, I agree completely. I love portables, and 1299 iMac vs. 1299 iBook would be an easy decision for me. However, a 1299 iMac would have a 14″ screen, Apple would be absolutely foolish to release a desktop with something smaller. Plus it would be faster, better graphics, etc etc. I don’t think that the LCD vs. CRT screen is the *only* reason that laptops traditionally have a worse price:performance ratio
Not the ideal time frame
Consider that educational institutions have budgets. This means a product announcement in the Fall won’t get consideration for purchase until the next *spring* at the earliest. Ditto on individual user purchases although the timeframe would be more like Halloween to Christmas.