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From: rnf@shumv1.uucp (Rick Fincher)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple
Subject: Re: Apple's committment to the // line
Message-ID: <4296@ncsuvx.ncsu.edu>
Date: 24 Oct 89 16:47:58 GMT
References: <8910220019.AA05923@trout.nosc.mil> <35835@apple.Apple.COM>
Sender: news@ncsuvx.ncsu.edu
Reply-To: rnf@shumv1.ncsu.edu (Rick Fincher)
Organization: NCSU Computing Center
Lines: 58

In article <35835@apple.Apple.COM> mattd@Apple.COM (Matt Deatherage) writes:

>
>The fact is that Apple has been very busy on the Apple II line, as it has on
>the Macintosh line.  It's just that a lot of Apple II development has been in
>System Software, which most people can take advantage of very cheaply, and a
>lot of Macintosh development has been in CPUs, which are expensive to upgrade
>even where it's possible.  Most of our Apple II customers say they prefer
>added functionality without having to buy a new machine, and this is what
>we've been trying to deliver.
>
>There is always room for other opinions, though.
>

Thanks Matt for letting on the rationale behind some of Apple's decisions.
You guys in the Apple II group are doing a great job!  I think you catch a
lot of flames sometimes for decisions made by other departments at Apple, ie
Marketing.  I know how this guy at CMU feels.  Most university bookstores
don't sell the Apple IIgs and the education reps never discuss it.  They let
the false impression that the II series is not useful at the post secondary
level go unchallenged.  Although Mac Pluses are cheap at student prices,
they don't always fit a student's needs (no color, no bus for Electrical 
Engineering students to play with etc.).

Some students can't even afford the Mac Plus but they could probably afford
a similarly discounted IIgs with a monochrome monitor.  Instead  they buy a
cheap PC clone and Apple loses another customer.  If they start out on a IIgs
they will be comfortable with the interface and have no trouble migrating to
the Mac if that's what they encounter in business, in other words they develop
brand loyalty.  If they get a PC clone they will stick with that family after
graduation because they are familiar with it.  Because learning DOS is such
a bad experience, they will avoid going through that again at all costs.  They
associate switching computer types with going through that learning curve
again (mistakenly if they switch to Apple).

Many students bring Apple II'sto college from high school.  When they get
there they have no support.  Apple encourages them to buy a Mac which they
don't need since they already have a perfectly good computer.  They feel
abandoned because the company that sold them their computer in high school
has no interest in supporting them in college.  By this I am not saying you
guys at DTS are not supporting them.  It's the sales force in the field.  A 
lot of these neglected folks jump ship and buy an MS-DOS machine because they
are so angry at Apple.  They wouldn't take a Mac if you gave it to them. 

I don't think the sales reps intentionally dump on the II series.  Many
of them are just not familiar with the machine.  The bottom line for these
guys is sales and they get more recognition for moving the more expensive
Macs.  The system that Apple has set up for their sales force causes 
neglect of the II series.  This is costing Apple customers and sales.  The
situation won't change until that system changes or until Apple II's are sold
through non-Apple channels and get discounted to the point that they can
compete with the XT/AT MS-DOS machines (which they are clearly superior to
in every respect except availability of software). 

I realize that you have no part in making these decisions but if you could
pass it along to the marketing folks maybe it will help.

Rick