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Greetings, Prof. Falken (7/22/99)
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When Steve Jobs first took the wraps off of the iMac, we recall several people enumerating the system's various shortcomings and predicting that, in the final analysis, the average consumer wouldn't be willing to pay more money for an underfeatured computer "just because it's blue." That kind of statement pretty much illustrates the unfortunate Wintel cloner attitude that price is the only thing that matters-- that the key to building a successful computer is to buy whatever components are cheapest this week, bolt them together, and try to undersell the competition by ten bucks or so. The Wintel price war has gotten so fierce that we're seeing PCs sold for $399, for $199, and even for "free," provided the customer prepays for a few years' worth of Internet service. So how the heck can Apple ever expect to win that game?
Personally, we think they found their solution in much the same way that we, the AtAT staff, find our rules for living: through extensive immersion in the cable television experience. Basically, you have two choices for philosophical growth and balance in this day and age: you can devote yourself to the intense lifelong study of the great works of Marcus Aurelius, Kant, Nietzsche, Lao Tzu, and Plato, or you can plant your butt on the couch and watch the tube until your eyes start to crust over. Our guess is that Steve Jobs caught a showing of Wargames on TNT at some point and realized, like Joshua, that when it comes to price wars in the market for "free" PCs, the only way to win is not to play.
Just think about it for a second; here you've got all these cutthroat teeth-gnashing PC cloners duking it out by lowering their margins and hoping to scrape out their success by selling in volume, yet according to PC Data, the number one selling personal computer in June was... the iMac. A CNET article notes that at $1199, the candy-colored space egg that critics called "underfeatured" costs about $500 more than the overall average selling price of Wintel systems, but people keep buying them. When Apple released their quarterly financial results, money guy Fred Anderson indicated that Apple doesn't plan to touch the iMac's price while demand is still high-- and it's high. Apple's gross margins were over 27% last quarter, which is a pipe dream in the cheapo PC bloodbath. So as it turns out, people will pay a premium for a computer just because it's blue. And beautiful. And stylish, and easy to use, and a joy to operate, and... Well, you get the point. Professor Falken would have been so proud.
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SceneLink (1676)
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And Now For A Word From Our Sponsors |
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 | | The above scene was taken from the 7/22/99 episode: July 22, 1999: Other computer manufacturers are getting bloody in the battle to ship low-cost PCs, but Apple stands coolly on the sidelines. Meanwhile, Tangerine proves popular with the viewers, though some people wonder if Steve has ulterior motives for pushing orange, and while this Expo feels smaller somehow, it's still a smashing success...
Other scenes from that episode: 1677: More Tangerine Dreams (7/22/99) On a related note, do we have to tell you what we think of the pundits claiming that the iMac's revolutionary industrial design is not important enough to influence the rest of the computer industry? Heck, computer manufacturers everywhere are finally realizing that style sells, and we're not just talking about the Future Power rip-off artists... 1678: Some Expo Reflections (7/22/99) As we prepare to head back into the Expo for a last happy day of wandering the floor, we thought we'd just share a few random thoughts about the overall experience this year. See, we at AtAT generally aren't the schmooze type, so we don't spend all our time getting sneak peeks at secret products in the back rooms and drinking ourselves into oblivion at the various parties only to awaken half-naked in a dumpster inexplicably clutching a tin of Altoids and a rubber chicken...
Or view the entire episode as originally broadcast... | |  |
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