>Soup, I may be wrong about the P1 not selling that much more than PBs.<
Richard,
It comes down to price.
In Tekserve's waiting area sits a massive mechanical 1930s (?) era calculator with a paper roll on its own table. How many homes at the time do you think owned one?
Currently, I own two calculators:
an old 5 lb. Royal 320 PD desktop with paper roll that I got at the Salvation Army for $5 (new $50-70?) that I drag out at tax time, and;
a 2" x 3" solar powered hand-held-made-in-China AT&T AT140 "Big Number" which I picked up in a convenience store for $3.19 and use every day.
Right now, rule-of-thumb dictates that a consumer should expect to pay 50-100% over a desktop for a laptop with the comparable features. Right now an iMac 266 goes for $1200 and comparable 266 mhz Powerbook goes for more than twice that.
[Note: IMO, the price differential is not totally unreasonable when you figure you're taking 40 lbs. of crap, sticking it into a 7.5 lb container and getting it to run on batteries ... etc.]
Yet many new buyers (consumers or non-corporate business persons) come into a store thinking they'd like a laptop 'cause it will be smaller (New York City apartments) and easier to take to work, libraries, vacations -- but still expecting that the costs will be comparable to a desktop.
Right now, I lay out the cost differential, and ask how much do you really *need* vs. *like* the portability? How much is it worth to you?
Obviously, the answer will vary according to need and income level, but IMO if the price differential narrows significantly, sales for the "consumer laptop" will *easily* surpass that of the iMac.
And, if they can incorporate something like wireless internet connectivity as a no, low or even mid-cost option ... stand back. |
