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To: Saturn V who wrote (154161)	1/7/2002 3:13:39 PM
From: Paul Engel	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 186894

Saturn V - Re: "Surprisingly none of the Intel's tiny concept PC's took off. " The "Wintel-PC" is more oriented towards utilitarian tasks - using a PC as a tool - for productivity increases or games or communications. The PC is generally not envisioned as a work of art - and low price and high performance dominate purchase decision making. Apple, on the other hand, has succeeded in wrapping the "WOW FACTOR" around their products - for looks, style, etc. They maintain a loyal following with stylistic improvements - with a customer base that prefers to pay a little more for the style points. Paul

To: Saturn V who wrote (154161)	1/7/2002 4:16:17 PM
From: tcmay	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 186894

Saturn V writes: "Overall the new IMAC integrates a flat screen into a good nifty package. A good JOB of industrial design and hardware integration. ( Pun intended !). Unfortunately it costs more ($1300)." "Overall it unlikely to gain market share for Apple, but will keep Apple loyalists happy with the MAC. The cute packaging can be copied in due time by Wintel machines. Surprisingly none of the Intel's tiny concept PC's took off. Apparently no one was willing to abandon the ISA and PCI bus slots. Now the appeal of the small factor will be greater, and let us see what happens." I watched the entire MacWorld presentation on TechTV this morning. Some comments. 1. The new iMac is visually stunning. I expect a lot of Boomers will be inclined to buy them (folks buying iPods in large numbers). 2. An analyst on TechTV, from the New York Times I think he was, said that the PC companies (Dell, Gateway, HP, etc.) are "running away from the PC as fast as they can." By this he meant they are not targeting home or "PC" (traditional) users as much as in the past. (I think Dell's t.v. ads suggest otherwise, but there's some truth to what he is saying, in terms of design efforts.) Apple is explicitly targeting home users, with iPod, iPhoto (impressive!), iMovie, etc. 3. The PC box makers are making...no surprise...boxes. Experiments to copy the iMac failed, partly due to lack of customer demand, partly due to the rapid pace of processor speed increase in the PC world (making fixed boxes with Celerons in them into white elephants), and partly due to uncreative copycat designs for these "iMac clones" (hmmmhhh, sounds like a Sunnyvale company we know). 4. The "Digital Hub" strategy. Apple now has all bases covered in this, with highly integrated and usable apps for music, movies, and photos. In my view, Apple understands what a lot of people want in a home PC. If you are not Mac users, as most of you are not, you probably don't agree with me. For the sake of understanding where things are going, a useful research exercise is to visit a good retail store carrying Macs...just so you know what the "competition" is doing! (As I've said several times here, I'm a Mac user. Have been since 1986. I own Intel stock and I am happy to see a lot of Intel processors sold. I don't believe for a second that Apple will cut significantly into PC box sales...they could double their percentage--only slightly likely--and still only be half the percentage AMD now has. In other words, Intel will likely have the bulk of all PC sales for years and years.) 5. I'd say that Apple is now "firing on all cylinders," just as Intel is (both companies having stumbled a few years back). They are on separate and divergent paths, however. 6. The apps on the Mac run adequately fast on the various G4 processors. This is shown by the use of apps like Final Cut Pro to edit movies and t.v. shows--Macs are the machine of choice, even with 2 GHz P4s as competition. However, there's no getting around the "Megahertz issue": Motorola is not keeping up with Intel and AMD. (IBM has involvement in the PPC, of course, and their Power4 architecture is advanced and fast. Is this the future of the Mac? Is it even the future of IBM, given their heavy use of Intel processors as well?) 7. I was impressed by the new iMac, but disappointed by the lack of any speed upgrades to the existing Titanium Powerbook line or to the G4 Tower line. Rumors had been flying that upgrades to 1200 MHz and 1400 MHz were coming, with a dual 1400 MHz model as well. (OS X makes excellent use of dual processors...). 8. Lastly, Jobs showed a bunch of past and current t.v. ads for Mac products. And a short film about the new iMac, with interviews with Francis Ford Coppola, Annie Leibovitz (the photographer), Seal (the musician), and others. Very impressive. A few years ago Andy Grove made the comment that the PC world had better take a close look at what Apple is doing with the Mac. The new iMac, with its lack of clutter and its suite of "Digital Hub" apps, makes this case even more strongly. --Tim May