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Some Promos Live Forever (1/28/02)
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Hey, let's go back to that whole Power Mac thing for a second, and discuss the Promo That Wouldn't Die. When Apple first introduced the "Crystal Clear Savings" promotion last year, it promised $100, $300, or $500 back by mail to customers who bought an Apple display with a Power Mac G4-- the more expensive the G4, the bigger the rebate. The deal was originally slated to end on December 31st, prompting everyone on the planet to assume that this was an exercise in clearing inventory, and new Power Macs were likely to surface at Macworld Expo in early January. So far, so good.
But then, about two weeks before that promo was set to expire, suddenly it gained a new lease on life, and was extended through the end of January. That's when some people started to get a bad feeling about the prospects of new Power Macage at the Expo; as it turns out, they were right, and so we struggled through the show sans new pro workstations. But here we are, just a few days before the end of the Crystal Clear Savings promo's borrowed time, and bickety-bam, new Power Macs! Good deal. So it's adios to Crystal Clear Savings, right?
Well, sort of. Because while that specific deal may well have vanished from Apple's promotions page, faithful viewer Oded points out that a new one has arisen from its ashes, and it looks mighty familiar somehow. This one's dubbed "Screen Saver," and it offers-- ready for this?-- $100, $300, or $500 back by mail to customers who buy an Apple display with a Power Mac G4 between now and March 31st. It's like déjà vu all over again.
So does this mean, perhaps, that the new Power Macs are just stopgaps, and that the "real" new Power Macs (say, G5s) will be at the Tokyo Expo? Not so fast, there, Sparky-- there's a subtle difference with this new promo. This time around, the rebate amount depends on which display you buy, not which Power Mac. (Indeed, the "old" 733/867/dual-800 MHz G4s are eligible, meaning you can score a really sweet deal right now if you don't need the latest and greatest.) If anything, we'd think that this new promo implies that Apple may be planning to revise its display line sometime soon. A bigger Cinema Display come Seybold, perhaps? Or maybe cheaper 15-inchers come Tokyo? The mind reels...
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SceneLink (3532)
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And Now For A Word From Our Sponsors |
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 | | The above scene was taken from the 1/28/02 episode: January 28, 2002: New Power Macs! New Power Macs! Okay, can we all move on, now? Meanwhile, Apple announces that the new iMac is now shipping, after having racked up some 150,000 pre-orders in just three weeks, and the "Crystal Clear Savings" promotion dies abruptly-- and arises in a slightly different form...
Other scenes from that episode: 3530: They're Here-- So Buy One (1/28/02) See? All good things come to those who wait-- and luckily for everybody in the Mac community, evidently that guideline applies equally whether one shuts up and waits patiently or complains constantly and fidgets like a ferret with a painful rash... 3531: A Whole Lotta Pre-orders (1/28/02) Not that you'll have to wait particularly long if you've still got your eye on the 800 MHz iMac, mind you; Apple issued another press release today indicating that the high-end iMac-- the one with an 800 MHz G4, a SuperDrive, and a flat-panel display "that floats in mid-air" (but don't get too excited; you can totally see the wire)-- has just started shipping, thus meeting Steve's original "end of the month" directive...
Or view the entire episode as originally broadcast... | |  |
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