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From: jfr@locus.com (Jon Rosen)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.hardware,comp.sys.mac.system
Subject: Re: A Classic Dead End?
Keywords: Classic,System 7.0
Message-ID: <24576@oolong.la.locus.com>
Date: 20 May 91 22:44:17 GMT
References: <53050@apple.Apple.COM> <1991May20.154508.4325@midway.uchicago.edu> <1991May20.164257.1959@milton.u.washington.edu>
Followup-To: comp.sys.mac.hardware
Distribution: usa
Organization: Locus Computing Corp, Los Angeles
Lines: 63

In article <1991May20.164257.1959@milton.u.washington.edu> gwangung@milton.u.washington.edu (Just another theatre geek.....) writes:
>In article <1991May20.154508.4325@midway.uchicago.edu> jcav@quads.uchicago.edu (john  cavallino) writes:
>>I'm sorry, but I still think my arguments contain one or two shreds of
>>reasonability.  :-)
>	The market aint gonna move anywhere until it wants to.  The reason
>why Apple is making the Classic is that the market wants that particular
>product.  No amount of prodding by Apple is going to force the market
>where it doesn't want to go.  Otherwise, the lowball winner would have
>been the LC and not the Classic.  The market doesn't agree with you.
 
Actually that statement is not entirely provable by the evidence.  First
of all, the Classic is, at street prices, still about $1100 less than 
an LC.  That means the Classic is about half the price... What is not
available for comparison is if the LC, priced closer to its "real"
value compared to a Classic which, based on the IBM market cost for
color and a faster processor, would be about $1500 instead of $2100,
would still sell less than the Classic.  I bet not.  If the LC were
in the $1500 price range (which would still allow for reasonable margins 
to Apple) LCs would sell better than Classics.  However, for the average
person at home, the Classic makes economic sense.  This does NOT mean
that the market doesn't agree with the original poster.  Rather it means
that the market has, once again, been coerced by Apple into buying a
lesser product in order to protect Apple's margins.  What is amazsing
is that Apple, despite the hype, continues to ignore the obvious.  They
could, on the basis of a superior product, OWN the personal computer
marketplace at a price that would probably improve their profits by
a factor of 2 or 3, if they were willing to sacrifice their margins
in order to gain marketshare.  The Classic proves that this is the case.
Unfortunately, where the Classic would have been remarkable three years
ago, it is merely hohum today (I am talking strictly about hardware 
value, not the intrinsic value of the Macintosh and its philosophy,
which, I agree, is uncontravertable).  Today, the LC is closer to being
a mainstream computer.  Last weekend, I went to a local computer show
where mostly IBM clones were being sold and the prices were astounding.
A 386SX (which by most ratings is about the same speed as a 68020) is
selling for about $1100 WITH 2Meg, a 40Meg hard disk and VGA 256-color
monitors at 1024x768.  This machine will run Win(less)3.0 at reasonable
speeds as long as you don't try to multitask more than printing in the
background.  This is half of the street price of an LC similarly (or
actually not quite similarly equipped - the LC has lower color resolution
at that price).  I know, I know, everyone should be willing to spend the
extra bucks because Apple is the GREATEST (and I agree) but most people
don't buy that argument.  It just hurts too much in the pocketbook.
What people say, when comparing a Classic to a 386SX clone, is "Why
should I give up color, and some speed, and some expandability, in order
to just have a Macintosh?"                                           
 
We are the choir.  We know why the Mac is better.  Unfortunately, most
other people will never try it as long as the price of entry is either
too high in dollars or in sacrificed capability (at least perceived
capability).  Apple made a brave attempt with the Classic, but, again,
it is probably too little too late.  Sure, they are selling all they
can make, but only because they have kept their production lines low
in the past to stay in line with what they were selling.  Do not attempt
to tell anyone that Apple, with a little lead time, could not TRIPLE
their production volume if they so desired, and if the market warranted
it.  All of this woulld happen, if the LC (or Si, or any other machine
that Apple sells) were within the price point of the average computer
purchaser.  As long as their price point stays in the double range
of other machines, and as long as the capability of their low price
machines is less than other machines, people will continue to buy
non-Apple by at least 3-1.