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From: cmm1@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu (Christopher M Mauritz)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Re: New Apple Mac rumored...
Message-ID: <1990Oct17.133121.22756@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu>
Date: 17 Oct 90 13:31:21 GMT
References: <4b5T8dC00Vor8OekRA@andrew.cmu.edu> <1990Oct15.212324.23704@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu> <1990Oct16.213742.1148@chinet.chi.il.us>
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In article <1990Oct16.213742.1148@chinet.chi.il.us> saj@chinet.chi.il.us (Stephen Jacobs) writes:
>In article <1990Oct15.212324.23704@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu> cmm1@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu (Christopher M Mauritz) writes:
>>In article <4b5T8dC00Vor8OekRA@andrew.cmu.edu> jk44+@andrew.cmu.edu (John Knight) writes:
>>
>>>yet. I kind'a hope they *do* get a low end system out the door at really
>>>competitive prices since that would tend to drive A3000 and TT prices
>>>more into my range :-).
>>
>>Yes, that would make sense.  However, the quesiton you have to ask 
>>yourself is this: "Can companies like Atari and Commodore survive on
>>even lower margins?"  They are in no position to have a protracted
>>pricing war with a company like Apple.
>
>Last time I looked, Apple was in no shape to wage a serious price war them-
>selves.  Plenty of magazines carry 'Can Apple Survive?' stories.  They carry
>relatively high overhead, and their advertising needs pretty substantial
>margins to pay for it too.  If you look at the probable prices to manufacture
>products, all 3 companies could cut prices a fair bit before it started to look
>like selling the machines was a bad proposition.  A serious price war would
>delay product improvements, though.

Ah, but it is far easier to trim the fat off a big pig than a skinny
squirrel.  Atari has already trimmed a significant amount of fat.  Its
margins are already low and its earnings have suffered.  Apple could
probably cut significant amounts from its operations costs if it finds
that it has to.  Anyone writing "Can Apple survive?" type articles is just
plain foolish.

>                                     Steve J.

Chris

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