Apple Introduces $499 Mac, $99 iPod

[mamabot]

Here is a story about a couple of new products from Apple. Steve Jobs is a genius.

[UvaGirl]

Tell me about it. The more I think about it, the more I want a Mac.

[BarTopDancer]

Feh. No keyboard or moniter so be sure to add a couple hundred dollars to the price of that $499 Mac. Don't forget to add in the cost of the flash memory to enhance that 512k hard drive on the $99 or the 1mb hard drive on the $149 iPods.

By the time you're done buying the stuff you need to make those things worth while you coulda bought 1) an iMac or 2) a super nice PC.

[mamabot]

A lot of times people upgrade their computers when their current technology is outdated. Most times, the only part of a computer that needs to be replaced is the hard drive.

I see the move to have just a hard drive available as a smart move. This helps the environment by not having keyboards,monitors and mouses (mice) sitting around in landfills when they still had many years of life left in them.

And, if you read the article, the new iPod is being launched in an attempt to nab a share of the flash market:

Originally Posted by CNN Article

The new iPod falls into a category of music players that use "flash memory," like that found in digital cameras and some portable disk drives, rather than hard drives like the other iPod models.


"We'd like to go after the remaining mainstream flash market," Jobs said, noting that the flash memory-based digital player market is currently highly fragmented. "The products are all pretty much the same."


He also claimed the iPod holds a 65 percent share of the entire market for portable digital music players, up from only 31 percent a year earlier.

The article also discusses automobile manufactures wanting to have iPod capable systems in their cars. My boss has this option for her BMW. It sure beats an FM receiver for an iPod.

I think this is a good move by Apple.

[NirvanaMan]

It's a good move, but genuis? To offer a computer without a monitor or keyboard? Uhhh...like everyone else has been doing that for like...uhh forever. Same with the flash music players. They have been around for years. Good move, but hardly genius. Rather late to the party actually.

The integration with cars is cool. BMW offers it, but it is expensive and the integration is very poor. Mercedes just announced a much better integration unit. In all, a simple phono jack is sufficient for most and that can be easily wired into any car stereo. Much better sound than you get from the FM modulators. I would consider this move far more "genius" than the other two. It actually is somewhat pioneering, partnering in an industry where they have not had a presense and ensuring that they will be the dominating force in portable MP3 players. Once again, Jobs is the man. Though, I'm not sure he is actually still running the show up north anymore. Does anyone know? Either way...I want his money.

[mamabot]

My statement about Jobs being a genius was an all around statement. He has a unique vision that is fun to watch to see what more he can come up with.

[Kevy Baby]

Originally Posted by UvaGirl

Tell me about it.

Look here

[SusieP.]

Originally Posted by mamabot

The article also discusses automobile manufactures wanting to have iPod capable systems in their cars. My boss has this option for her BMW. It sure beats an FM receiver for an iPod.

My new car has a built-in port for an MP3 player, but I don't know how it works yet. It came standard. Maybe I should buy an i-Pod so I can check it out. Perhaps that would bring a touch of swank to my Honda Element!

[BarTopDancer]

My point is if they are trying to attact a new segment for their market by offering a comptuer for $499 the segment (most likely PC users) will have to lay out the additional money for a moniter and keyboard which will increase the cost of the bare bones system.

As for mice and keyboards filling up landfills? Well I don't know about the rest of the computer using population but my mice and keyboards eventualy stop working. Until they do I don't see a need to buy a new one. And when I get a new system that comes with mouse and keyboard I will store them for when my old ones break (unless they are ikky).

Yes, they are trying to attract flash users with the flash drive iPod. However the flash drive users [that I know] have zero desire to have an iPod, and there are quite a few flash drive systems on the market for half the cost and a larger hard drive.

[mamabot]

This is really an age old debate. We are not the first to discuss the issue of Mac vs. PC. If you would like to join the existing debate regarding PC vs. Mac, clique here.

Their marketing people know who their target audience is. Just because you buy a whole system at once does not meant that there are other people out there who do not need to replace only certain components of their computers.

My mom is a perfect example of Apple's target audience. She has a fairly decent Mac setup, but her Cube (hard drive) is a bit outdated. Every other part of her system is in fine working condition. Since she works for a state agency, they tend to attempt to save money where they can. This new hard drive only option is perfect for someone in her position.

Everyone's situation is unique. Don't assume that since you have your own experience that your neighbor will ahve the same experience.