Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!cunixf.cc.columbia.edu!cunixa.cc.columbia.edu!cmm1 From: cmm1@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu (Christopher M Mauritz) Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st Subject: Re: New Apple Mac rumored... Message-ID: <1990Oct15.010213.5800@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu> Date: 15 Oct 90 01:02:13 GMT References: <7340003@hpfcso.HP.COM> <4536@rex.cs.tulane.edu> Sender: news@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu (The Daily News) Organization: Columbia University Lines: 94 In article <4536@rex.cs.tulane.edu> dejesus@rex.cs.tulane.edu (Francisco Xavier Dejesus) writes: >In article steve@thelake.mn.org (Steve Yelvington) writes: >> >>Apple isn't cleaning out old inventory. They're setting up new production >>lines to crank out hundreds of thousands of low-cost, low-price Macintoshes >>in an effort to regain market share lost to PCs and clones. I don't know >>precisely what the new machines will have (the announcement is Monday) >>but advance reports suggest they'll have 16-megahertz CPUs. These are not >>marked-down Mac 512s with extra memory. They're Macs for the masses. >>They're Macs for Apple II owners. They're Macs for would-be Tandy/Blue >>Chip/Amstrad/PS-1 buyers. I agree completely. If the strategy works, it will be VERY bad for Atari and Commodore. > > Apple is hurting because of MS Windows 3.0. For the first time, Apple is >seeking help from Japanese computer manufacturers... they are going to >license someone to make a new Mac portable for them. Windows 3.0 is nice (still a little kludgy, but I guess not any moreso than TOS), and I DO think it is eating into Mac AND Atari and Amiga sales. If Apple can take some of the price advantage (Macs already have the utility adavantage) away from PC clones running windows, perhaps the Mac will start to regain some of its market share that has been lost to PC clones. The outcome can only be negative for Atari. They are having trouble turning a profit at current margins. Can you imagine what their earnings will look like if they have to cut back on the margin to compete with Apple? I think I hear violins playing... > > I just finished reading the latest issue of MacWorld, which features >a preview of all three new Macs, and for Apple, the prices are _low_! >The Mac Classic is simply one model to replace the Mac Plus and SE... it's >an 8MHz 68000. The other two are the Mac IIlc (low-cost color) and IIsi. >The lc is a 16MHz 020 with built in 256 color video (16.7mil pallete), and >has and expected street price of about $2000 (!), the si is a 20MHz 030, >also with built in color video, and expected street price of about $3000. >Both new Mac IIs include a built in sound digitizer, and they will >probably replace the SE30 and the IIcx. Yep, I saw the article too. I was impressed. Macs aren't speed demons by any stretch of the word, but they are one of the easiest platforms to use and to teach relative beginners to use. At these prices it just doesn't make sense to buy a non-standard ST. Now, you can get a color 68020 Mac for the cost of a 68000 ST with equivalent memory and HD space offered in the new Macs. > These now low cost Macs, along with the $1500 price reduction on the >IIci, are a bold move to regain market share by Apple. They will make good >competition for similarly equipped 386/486 PC's (though the new NeXT machines >might compete with them too, but those are more workstation-type computers). I wasn't aware of a $1.5K price reduction for the ci. That makes it VERY attractive. YOu can buy a ci from stores in NYC for about $3000 right now. At $1500-2000, it would be a steal! Who cares if it pumps out 5% less drystones than an A3000 or TT (if they ever go on sale that is)? The benefits to owning a Mac outweigh that in my mind, particularly from an ease-of-use standpoint. > What does all this mean for Atari (as well as the Amiga)? They will be >caught in the middle of a major price/performance war between Mac II's and >PC clones. I don't expect the ST/STe/Mega (or similar Amiga models) to I don't think Atari or Commodore are in a position to fight in any kind of pricing war with Apple. They don't have the resources. Atari is practically on Food Stamps as it is. Commodore is a little better off than Atari, but also suffering from a cash-poor situation. >survive... Atari and Commodore had better concentrate on their 68030 >computers, and Atari in particular should actually start _selling_ the TT >instead of just announcing that it's "coming out soon"... Well, as is often the case in the high-tech business, the early-bird gets the worm. Atari is VERY late this time and may end up starving before the next worm pops his head above the soil. > ___ / _______________________________ - Francisco X DeJesus > |- / \/ \\ > ' / /\ dejesus@comus.cs.tulane.edu \\__________________________ > / ak662@cleveland.freenet.edu //////////////////////////// Cordially, Chris ------------------------------+--------------------------- Chris Mauritz |D{r det finns en |l, finns cmm1@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu |det en plan! (c)All rights reserved. | Send flames to /dev/null | ------------------------------+---------------------------