Apple to roll out new lower-priced Macs?

Posted May 4th 2009 9:30AM by Brian White
Filed under: Competitive Strategy, Apple Inc (AAPL)

Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) may be looking at lowering pricing on some of its most popular Mac PCs after the first year-over-year decline in Mac shipments (3% drop) in the last six years. It's no surprise: the U.S. and much of the world are in a recession and cash conservation is king. Macs are among the most expensive PCs there are in many ways (regardless of style, design and software), and customers are backing off a bit.

And then there's the sub-$400 netbook PC that's also taken a bite from Apple's business. Apple interim chief Tom Cook recently said that netbooks are full of "cramped keyboards, terrible software, junky hardware, very small screens, and [a poor] consumer experience."

That still is not dampening customer demand, which went through the roof in 2008 and is still red-hot this year. And then there's Microsoft Corp.'s (NASDAQ: MSFT) new ad campaign that emphasizes the large price gaps between Windows-based PCs and Macs. While price is something Apple has never really competed on in comparison to the generic PC, it may have to soon in some fashion.

Apple's 13.3" aluminum MacBook may see a price dip from its current $1,299 to $999 (possibly with a new model?), while the current plastic entry-level MacBook could go for $799 (from the current $999). Also, another iMac could be introduced to hit the sub-$900 level, kind of like the current 20" iMac model that is offered to educational institutions for $899 (but retails for over $1,000 for normal retail).

Tags: AAPL, Apple, Apple Mac, AppleMac, Cheaper Macs, CheaperMacs, Inc., inthenews, Mac prices, MacPrices

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

5-04-2009 @ 12:19PM

Jeff said...

is this article even based on a rumor?

5-04-2009 @ 3:57PM

iphonerulez said...

Probably based on conjecture due to analysts saying that Apple needs to lower prices to stay somewhat competitive against those nickel and dime netbooks. Analysts theorize that a company is best served by nearly giving away products to gain vast amounts of market share. I'm glad that most of those so-called analysts don't run Apple which is sitting on close to $30 billion of cash and doesn't seem to be in much danger as analysts claim from companies willing to operate on razor-thin profit margins.

Profit margins come first, market share comes second. If your products are of high quality and in demand, you'll get both.