Travis, you have certainly come bearing gifts. Welcome to the thread. The cover is Absolutely Fabulous.
PowerBooks have been selling only 50,000-70,000 units the past two quarters and I believe the margin has historically been around 25%. Thus, this refresh could bring Apple a lot of money this quarter. Indeed, the introduction of the 3400 last year kept that quarter from being even more abysmal than it was.
I would think that the simplified motherboards, the lowered component costs due to Asia, and the excellent price/performance of the G3 will keep margins very, very high on these new notebooks, even though they are priced very attractively.
This is why we were excited to find that the ship date had been moved up to May 6, since it gives Apple more time to sell them this quarter. Again, my hat is off to Apple for their new inventory controls. They appear to have managed the "old" PowerBook inventory perfectly. The old Apple would be stuck with a warehouse full of the first G3 notebook. Instead, Apple is essentially out.
We are also excited about the Apple PB ad campaign. Without it I would only expect strong sales for a quarter or two. But the campaign could either convert some Wintel people or convince those who went from PBs to Wintel to "come home again."
I started a new trading position today. I expect at least one or two easy points over the next two weeks.
Marc |
