Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!snorkelwacker!bloom-beacon!athena.mit.edu!captkidd
From: captkidd@athena.mit.edu (Ivan Cavero Belaunde)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: The SE as the low cost Mac, why not?
Message-ID: <1990Feb9.152805.13494@athena.mit.edu>
Date: 9 Feb 90 15:28:05 GMT
References: <817@ashton.UUCP> <22144@uflorida.cis.ufl.EDU>
Sender: news@athena.mit.edu (News system)
Reply-To: Ivan Cavero Belaunde <captkidd@ATHENA.MIT.EDU>
Distribution: usa
Organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Lines: 36

In article <817@ashton.UUCP>, jimvons@ashtate (Jim von Schmacht) writes:
> The new machine will be cheaper to MAKE, reducing Apple's cost, and hence
> our cost as well.  You don't very often see a 1987 Celica replacing a 1990
> Corolla....

Cheaper?  How much cheaper?  It was my understanding that the SE is
already *incredibly* cheap to make: $150-200, even cheaper than the
plus, because of the use of DFM (design-for-manufacturing).  Now,
consider this:
	a) A *complete* redesign is likely to be necessary (as well as
	substantial assembly-line level changes) in order to bring down
	the cost of the machine significantly.  The redesign is bound to
	be *costly*, and thus I question the wisdom of that, especially
	considering the piss-poor performance (in a relative sense)
	of Apple's low-end lately.  I mean, it is serious bucks to redesign
	the whole machine to shave off probably no more than $50-100
	on the production costs, and have a short product life (a
	machine with just a 68K on board will probably die as a
	product by late '91, early '92, IMHO).
	b) Apple needs to release a low-cost Mac *NOW* (actually, six
	months ago, IMHO).  The longer Apple waits to release the
	low-cost Mac, the shorter the life of the product and the lesser
	the impact it will have on the marketplace.
Based on those two, I think Apple should just drop the plus completely and
slash the price of the SE so as to make street price about ~$1000 (what the
plus's is right now).  Max return on investment...  The other thing, the SE
already has an Apple-approved upgrade path to 030, so these users won't
be left out in the cold.

-Ivanski

	"Y aprendo mucho... Y no aprendo nada...
	Maestra vida, camara', te da, te quita, te quita y te da."
		-Ruben Blades, "Maestra Vida"

Internet: captkidd@ATHENA.MIT.EDU