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Foolproof iMac Plan #112 (7/13/01)
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Man, make the suggestion that next week's iMac probably won't feature an LCD display, and suddenly people treat you like you kick blind puppies for fun and profit. As an extra bonus, you also get to hear every synonym for "liar" found in Roget's Thesaurus-- plus a fine collection of epithets slightly too "alternative" for that staid publication. Look, folks, we understand that you're upset, but don't shoot the messenger; all we're saying is that, based on various arcane and mystical methods of divination at our disposal, the odds of an LCD-based iMac shipping next week are looking pretty slim.
In other words, our own sources independently confirm yesterday's report of new CRT-based iMacs over at MacMinute. (For those of you who said you don't believe MacMinute because you've never heard of the site before, you should know that it's produced by Stan Flack, the man behind MacCentral before it was bought out by Macworld. Stan's not one to mess around with unconfirmed rumors without labelling them clearly as such, and we're not just saying that because we still owe him twenty bucks for that glowing review he gave us.) If you want still more evidence that this upsetting news is true, faithful viewer Five.Pence notes that MacUser has leapt in with its own independent confirmation-- and details about Apple's grand scheme to sell what is essentially the same old same old when the public is clamoring for new blood. Ready for this? Rebates!
Yup, according to MacUser, Apple is hoping to sell a ton of these still-G3, still-CRT iMacs through the magic of mail-in rebates. Purchase a Mac (apparently any Mac, not just an iMac) between July 18th and October 14th, and get $50 to $80 back on certain inkjet printers, and $100 back on select digital cameras, camcorders, PDAs, and MP3 players. Because nothing sells expensive equipment in a depressed consumer economy like the prospect of spending yet more money on still more high-tech toys. We love this plan! We're excited to be a part of it. Let's do it! (At least that "October 14th" end date for these alleged rebates hints at Apple's new ETA for the real new iMacs, right?)
There's still a chance that Steve has somehow bamboozled everyone on the planet with fake stories of minor speed bumps and new colors, all so he can roll out a kickin' new flat-panel iMac G4 with a maximum degree of showmanship and surprise, but at this point, we just don't see it. That said, faithful viewer Kevin Wojniak notes that longtime Mac pundit Matthew Rothenberg does see it-- or, at least, his latest Interactive Week article indicates that he's still expecting a flat-panel display on Apple's new consumer desktop. His basis for that assertion is the alleged fact that Apple is no longer "even purchasing the tubes that shaped the current all-in-one systems." Let's hope he's correct. But then again, even if Apple isn't buying any 15-inch CRTs anymore, that doesn't necessarily mean the company couldn't wedge a different CRT in there-- like perhaps, oh, we don't know... say, a 16.1-incher, maybe? Just a thought.
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SceneLink (3175)
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And Now For A Word From Our Sponsors |
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 | | The above scene was taken from the 7/13/01 episode: July 13, 2001: Further evidence arises hinting at CRT-based iMacs next week, but Apple has a grand scheme to make sure those babies sell like hotcakes. Meanwhile, Dell refutes recent research showing Apple to have regained the lead in education sales, and after three years, Microsoft finally allows the removal of Internet Explorer from Windows -- now that it no longer makes a difference, of course...
Other scenes from that episode: 3176: "You're Wrong! Probably." (7/13/01) This probably won't come as any particular surprise to anyone, but you remember that scene a few days ago about how one research firm has determined that Apple has overtaken Dell in educational sales to reclaim the crown? Well, prepare yourself for a shock: Dell is denying the truth of that claim... 3177: Stalling Tactics Win Again (7/13/01) Do you suppose that Microsoft is devious enough to time its moves in the "Redmond Justice" saga so that the AtAT staff is too distracted with other issues to notice? After all, it's the week before Macworld Expo, we're overloaded with mail about G4 spy photos and LCD-less iMacs, we drove three hours out of state to cram the AtATmobile full of hundreds of t-shirts and cart them back to headquarters, we're still engineering a tricky switchover to a new bandwidth provider, and in the midst of all that, Microsoft decides that now is a good time to make noises about settling its antitrust case...
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