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Lower Costs? Uproar! (1/26/98)
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Has Apple gone mad? That's the only feasible conclusion we can make based on the story over at MacOS Rumors that Apple's going to focus tightly on lowering retail costs for its products. Apparently this is some harebrained scheme to grow into previously-untapped markets (like, say, the home) and grow market share, now that they've got the house in order enough to maneuver a little. The reabsorption of Newton and the rumored reabsorption of Claris are symptoms of this convergence into a smaller, leaner, tighter ship that can develop great technologies with lower costs, all in an effort to pass the savings on to the consumer. (That's you, buddy.)
We at AtAT don't mind saying that we're a little uncomfortable with this concept. Whenever we hear murmurs about the possibility of a Mac that your average household can afford, or the prospect of market share climbing instead of falling, we start looking around for other signs of the coming Apocalypse. But at least there's one constant: Steve Jobs himself apparently promises "surprises every ninety days." Well, at least now we can sleep nights.
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SceneLink (395)
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 | | The above scene was taken from the 1/26/98 episode: January 26, 1998: Best Buy quietly ducks out of the Mac-selling business, amid whispers of impropriety and scandal. Meanwhile, Big Boy Compaq scores with its indecent proposal to bed Digital to the tune of almost $10 billion, while Apple slims down in preparation for a new tactic in the battle: better machines at lower prices...
Other scenes from that episode: 393: Best Buy Bowing Out (1/26/98) Remember our recent episode in which Apple was reported to be pulling out of retail chains that couldn't market a Mac if their prefabricated lives depended on it? Well, it seems that the first ineffectual chain has bailed; according to MacInTouch, the yellow and black splendor of Best Buy stores across the country will no longer be sullied by the presence of nonfunctional Macs on the show floor. Apparently the news was circulated to Best Buy's staff via an internal newsletter, which stated that while the chain would continue to sell Macintosh software, Apple computers are now a no-go... 394: Sorry, All Sold Out (1/26/98) Of course, the big news in the computer world today was the acquisition of Digital Equipment Corporation by Compaq. Compaq swallowed DEC whole and the bill came to $9.6 billion, in the largest takeover in computing history...
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