Anyone hear noise from cpq about component costs-------
SAN FRANCISCO, March 20 (Reuters) - Apple Computer Inc
<AAPL.O> on Wednesday jacked up the price on its low-end iMac
desktop computer by $100, complaining that prices of components
were going through the roof.
The price increase takes the consumer line, introduced with
great fanfare early this year, up to a range of about $1,400 to
$1,900, Apple said in a statement.
"Since the new iMac's launch in January, memory costs have
tripled and flat-panel (display) costs have increased with
little relief in sight," Phil Schiller, senior vice president
of worldwide marketing said in the release.
Apple has shipped 125,000 iMacs and is now shipping more
than 5,000 per day, Greg Joswiak, Apple senior director of
hardware marketing, said in an interview. He added that
component pricing was affecting all personal computer makers.
Apple at its Macworld Tokyo exposition also debuted free
software that lets its iPod portable music player hold contact
lists, an improvement that heads the music player, which can
also act as a portable hard drive, toward the personal digital
organiser (PDA) arena where Apple has no product.
"It is not trying to be a PDA. It is a music player with
some extended functionality," Joswiak said. The contact list
does not synchronise with any contacts program, he added.
In addition, Apple introduced an iPod with 10 gigabytes of
storage, twice the previous level, for about $500, $100 more
than the 5-gigabyte version, and a 23-inch high-resolution
display.
((Peter Henderson, San Francisco Bureau 415 677-2578
peter.henderson@reuters.com)) |
