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From: jack@Taffy.rice.edu (Jack W. Howarth)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next
Subject: Re: NeXT Positioning Problem
Message-ID: <1990Nov11.214338.8369@rice.edu>
Date: 11 Nov 90 21:43:38 GMT
References: <1990Nov9.160743.18770@magnus.ircc.ohio-state.edu> <10939@milton.u.washington.edu> <isaacso.658353046@copper>
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Eric,
    When Apple released the new machines (Classic,LC and IIsi) they gave
some numbers for the amounts Apple would spend on advertising on TV for
those machines alone and the expected numbers Apple expected to sell. I think
the average cost of advertising was about $40 per CPU. Considering that
NeXT will sell a factor of ten less at best (the probably don't have the
capacity to produce that much more than that...) that would be at least
$400 per NeXT box. Considering that they are almost giving the 040's away
as it is, they could never afford it. The thing I wonder about is considering
that NeXT can barely be in the black as it is, how long will Canon, etc. 
bankroll them. I'm sure someone has already written off the factory and
startup costs as unrecoverable. Otherwise, NeXT could never price these
machines so low. Also, is NeXT on the stock market? If it is a private
company, NeXT could be mighty deep in the hole already and just keeping
it mouth shut whereas a public company would have to face up to its share
holders occasionally.
                     Jack Howarth