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Everyone Loves Debt (11/2/98)
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Okay, who's ready to sink even deeper into debt? It would appear to be official; Apple now has a new consumer loan program that lets people pay for their Macs over time-- at a modest interest rate, of course. According to a MacWEEK article, while Apple hasn't yet made a formal announcement, an Apple Consumer Loan representative confirmed the program's existence. The new low-interest loans became available this Monday, and are actually going to be handled by retailers instead of by Apple itself.
Cool! That implies that Apple reaps the benefits of (hopefully) more Mac customers, while avoiding the headache of processing all the paperwork. It's also not clear to us just who gets the interest on the loans; since the loans are handled by the retailer instead of Apple, perhaps the two entities split the proceeds. Whatever. As it stands, this new retailer-based loan is currently available only from select Apple resellers, including some CompUSA stores, CompuTown, and other unnamed outlets. A big omission right now is that the loan is not available from Best Buy, though right now, neither are iMacs, so we suppose that's just as well. But once those iMacs hit the Best Buy shelves next Sunday, we'd certainly hope that this consumer loan will be available from such a consumer-oriented store.
Now here's the really interesting bit: the current rate of the Apple Consumer Loan is 14.89%, which is almost exactly what Gateway charges for its Your:)Ware program. (At least, that's the best rate available from Gateway-- apparently not everyone qualifies for that rate and so they get stuck for even more.) But according to the MacWEEK article, on Thursday the interest rate on Apple's loan will drop to only 8%, which sounds like a great borrowing rate to us. Heck, our student loans have higher interest rates than that. Sure, there are catches: you've got to be eighteen or older, for a start, and you've also got to have an annual income of at least $15,000 a year. But those are pretty loose restrictions when it comes right down to it. So who's up for a $29.95-a-month iMac?
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 | | The above scene was taken from the 11/2/98 episode: November 2, 1998: If you're hankering for an iMac and you don't feel you've amassed enough personal debt, the new Apple Consumer Loan is for you. Meanwhile, the Apple ranks are swelling with new hires who are scrambling to build iMacs as fast as people want to buy them, and Bill Gates' videotaped head testifies about the Apple allegations...
Other scenes from that episode: 1121: Little iMac, Big Win (11/2/98) It's like something out of an inspirational children's story, isn't it? "The Little iMac That Could." Ever since its unveiling way back in early May, the iMac has captured the eye of the press and reinvigorated interest in a computer company that a great many had written off as irrelevant... 1122: Deeper and Deeper (11/2/98) Well, we've all heard about Avie Tevanian's written testimony in the "Redmond Justice" trial, and it's pretty clear that Avie's squarely on the government's side on this one. He hasn't been called for cross-examination yet-- that will likely happen on Wednesday-- but Bill Gates did respond to the allegations, albeit in a virtual timewarp Max Headroom-like way...
Or view the entire episode as originally broadcast... | |  |
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