Apple considering price cuts
2009-05-04
DESPITE THE SPIN that Apple is happy with its Mac sales falling off only three per cent and the company is making shedloads, there are signs that the pastel gadget flogger is really worried. For ages we have been saying that Apple's products are not high-end enough to justify its prices, and that's especially true in the current market environment. Industry pundits with any sense expect Apple's current quarter Mac sales figures to drop still further. Now it seems that Apple has decided that its price levels really are unsustainable and it is worried that the kicking it has received at the hands of Microsoft's latest advertising campaign emphasising how expensive its PCs are might be taking a toll. Apple Insider said that Apple is considering dropping the prices of its more popular Macs and trying to find a way of countering the netbook phenomenon without building one of its own. It is likely that Apple will reduce prices for its 13-inch MacBook laptop. That is available now at $999 in a polycarbonate casing or $1,299 in an aluminum unibody casing. The company might also cut the price of its 20-inch Imac desktop. A price cut could bring down the entry level price of becoming an Apple fanboi to between $800 and $1,000, approximately. This would be $200 less than it used to be. The cost of allowing Steve Jobs to make all your decisions for you is not included in the price tag. Whether or not this will be enough to improve Apple's computer sales is another matter. We still do not know why Apple doesn't try to take control of the market by using its huge cash reserves to drop its prices for the short term to PC levels. That way it might still make a profit and increase its market share. But it seems that the words "cheap" and "Mac" will not be used together for some time, if ever.