As the Apple Turns: Scene 227: May I Take Your Order? (11/30/97)

May I Take Your Order? (11/30/97)

Our own Boston Globe has an article that is primarily a profile of Dell Computer, but is of interest to Applewatchers for its analysis of the pros and cons of the build-to-order paradigm.

Dell's success story is legendary; as the pioneer of the build-to-order computer business, they haved increased their value a whopping 20,000% since 1990, all without building a single retail store. The benefits of their build-as-you-go system include lower inventory costs, zero reliance on channel resellers, and quicker delivery of new technologies to the customer. Apple can soon reap all of these same benefits, if they play their cards right with the Apple Store. (Imagine: an Apple without an inventory problem. It staggers the imagination, doesn't it?)

Incidentally, Apple is conspicuously missing from the author's list of computer companies who have come to embrace the build-to-order strategy, though that's unsurprising, since the author is none other than longtime Apple-basher Hiawatha Bray; we're surprised he didn't just say "Apple's doing this, too, but they're bound to fail." But regardless, Apple would do well to heed the warning set forth by examples such as Gateway 2000, who, despite having the same business strategy as Dell, posted a $107 million loss last quarter. (Should we call them "beleaguered" Gateway 2000?) The trick is in amassing the right quantities of the right parts, and Apple is notoriously poor at forecasting demand. Here's hoping they get it right.

SceneLink (227)

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From the writer/creator of AtAT, a Pandemic Dad Joke taken WAYYYYYY too far

The above scene was taken from the 11/30/97 episode:

November 30, 1997: (Sorry—this was before we started writing intro text for each episode!)

Other scenes from that episode:

226: Hail to the Chief (11/30/97) The ever-watchful MacCentral has noted an interesting tidbit on the MacWorld Expo web site. If you take a look at the Keynote page for the January show, you'll notice a reference to "an insightful presentation by Apple's yet unnamed CEO."...
228: Twisted Barbie (11/30/97) And in the "It's Sunday So Here's Something Totally Unrelated" news, have you heard about Mattel going after unauthorized Barbie sites? ZDNet's got the bizarre, though strangely compelling, story... and it raises some interesting points about culpability on the 'net, and how the lawyers haven't quite caught up yet. See, instead of contacting web site authors and requesting that material be removed, Mattel's been sniping Barbie sites by pointing their lawyers at the ISP's who host the pages...

Or view the entire episode as originally broadcast...


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