More of my sites

WinInfo Daily News
SuperSite for Windows
Windows IT Pro Magazine
Connected Home
Thurrott Dot Com
Windows Weekly at TWIT

About this site

For six years, the Internet Nexus served as my technology blog, but I've since started blogging at the SuperSite Blog instead. If you're looking for the blog, please head there. --Paul

Monday, January 10, 2005

Sure, iPod is hot, but will it ever help Jobs sell more iMacs?

CNN/Money:

Analysts expect sales of Apple's groundbreaking iPod device to come in between 4.5 million and 5 million units for the quarter, up from 2 million the previous quarter.

Introducing a lower-cost iMac (Apple's least expensive unit is $749) would eliminate the "boutique" tag and finally get Apple into the fastest-growing segment of the PC industry -- the low end.

Actually, Apple's least expensive iMac is $1300. The eMac starts at $799 (not $749).

As to the halo effect -- the belief that the rocket-fueled growth of iPod sales would spur users to buy a more margin-rich Apple computer -- it's a nice theory. But so far, that hasn't happened.

"I have sifted through the numbers, and there's no evidence of [a halo effect]," IDC vice president Roger Kay says. "The iPod is two years old, and Apple's desktop share has been absolutely flat for that period. I would applaud Apple's introducing a sub-$500 computer. It would address the company's one glaring weakness in its computer line -- nothing on the low end."

Ah yes. And that's exactly what I've been saying for quite a while now as well. There are lots of anecdotal (but, as it turns out, completely bogus) reports about the iPod helping Mac sales. But that has never actually happened, according to real-world sales figures.

Will a $500 iMac, if it happens, help? Maybe. But Apple fanatics have repeatedly exclaimed that "this is it" when a new product is introduced. But so far, none have actually helped Apple's troubled Mac sales.

[ Posted at 5:28 PM | Permalink ]