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Technology Stocks : Apple Inc. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Edward Boghosian who wrote (6651)	12/7/1997 6:21:00 PM
From: Hippieslayer	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 213173

Sad enough, I agree with you Ed. What ever happened to the ad campaign? Pretty weak, if you ask me. Apple not dead yet, but if it does go way of the dodo, Apple will be the premier business school case of how not run a business. How many times have they blundered ovet tha last 10 years? It's a shame that such a great core of products have been screwed by a lack of vision and management. ---MR JOBS, (if you are reading this) I don't know what you are doing or how you plan to make a rotten Apple look fresh again, but you better hurry. The clock's ticking and the rest of world is slowly getting sucked into the evil empire. May God be on yourside, and I don't mean Larry Ellsion.

To: Edward Boghosian who wrote (6651)	12/7/1997 7:43:00 PM
From: Edward Boghosian	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 213173

There is a large retailer, J & R, in lower Manhattan, N.Y.C who advertises all the time on one of the back pages of the N.Y. Times-the whole page. A good part of the ad deals with Apple and this retailer has a separate, good sized, room strictly for Apple and clones and software. There was scheduled an Apple Fair for three days with scheduled speakers and one from Apple. I couldn't go but if anyone did I would like to know how well attended it was. Ed Boghosian

To: Edward Boghosian who wrote (6651)	12/7/1997 8:04:00 PM
From: soup	Read Replies (5) \| Respond to of 213173

"Apple is dead." >One salesman, after finding out it was for an Apple, stated: "Apple is dead." Whether this is true or not is another story but the PERCEPTION is devastating.< So what else is new -- he was trying to make a commission. Can't remember the link or writer's name but I saved this story. Actually, CompUSA now has 54 Apple Stores. The Manhattan store looks pretty nice. - soup. > I went to CompUSA yesterday evening, the following is what I found: (Walk in the store - 3 rows of microcomputers, 1/2 row of them is Macs. All the Windows machines running multimedia demos while the Apple units sat turned off) Jack (CompUSA sales) : Hi! Can I help you? Me: Yes, I am looking to purchase a new computer. Jack: Let me show you what we have... Me: Ok. (Jack takes me to an isle of Windows machines) Jack: We recommend you take a look at some deals we have going with Sony and IBM. The 166 Mhz MMX Sony is only $2299 this week (with 15 inch monitor) Me: Great, but I am looking for something that can be used for web publishing and has built in features like a SCSI port and a really fast processor. I was looking at something that can make programs like photoshop really scream. Also, I want to run 2 monitors. Jack (here is where the lies start) : Well, no systems we sell have SCSI built in, but you can add a card (Jack takes me to a PCI scsi card for PCs. Me: Well, this is $350. That added to the $2299 is pretty steep. Jack: Yes, but this is the "fastest pc you can buy". Nothing out there can run Photorun (not a typo) faster.. Me: What about two monitors? I want a system which can use two monitors as one work space. Jack: Well, no system support two monitors at the same time... Besides, the Sony unit comes with 2 megs of video ram. Thats the most you can get on a computer. It also has level-cache. (no typo) Me: What about the Power Macintosh systems over there (pointing to the mac systems) Jack: If you are going to get into serious graphics and Photorun (again, no typo), you need something with more power than an Apple system. Apple is really struggling to keep people buying their systems, but the new MMX pentiums are dusting them. They are too slow. Me: (hiding my anger) - But, doesn't the MAC have SCSI and the ability to support dual monitors? Jack: No, you cannot "add" SCSI to a mac. They are not expandible. Me: Not expandible? They are PCI based like PCs, right? Jack: No, they have no expansion like this Sony (trying to drag me to the Sony row again) They even require a special tool to open the case that ONLY Apple has. Apple charges you a ton of money just to open up these systems. Me: (pointing to a 7600/132 and 7300/180 and 9600/200) - You mean, I couldn't open these up? Jack: Sad isn't it? That is one of the main reasons we do not sell very many. Apple is so proprietary. Even the memory is Apple Only - non standard. You have to pay $300 for 16 meg "chip". Me: $300? Wow that is high. Jack: Lets look at some "real" computers -- this Sony with this SCSI card can do the trick. Me: Tell me Jack, what kind of people buy Apple units here? Jack: Well, the die hards -- people "still living in the 80s". Windows is much superior now. Mac is based on an outdated OS -- and there is no software available for it. At this point I let him have it. I informed him of the post I read earlier, and that the reason he is not selling Macs is he (and CompUSA) is no way knowledgable about the systems. I went to a 7300 and pulled the lid off the CPU (no monitor was on it) and he just sat there. I showed him the "PCI slots". I also told him that Mac memory is CHEAP - to the tune of $75 for 16 megs. I am going to send a copy of this conversation to the CompUSA national headquarters, Apple, and Mac Addict. Jack probably now classifies me as "someone living in the 80s" -- Apple needs to do something here. CompUSA should not be Apple authorized - they are an insult to Apple and (given the speech above) it is AMAZING that anyone would buy a Mac. If Apple can isolate a problem with marketing, it is the serious MISINFORMATION regarding Apple system given by "authorized" dealers. If you were a new computer user and heard the line of lies from Jack, would you have choosen the Sony or the Mac?< ÿ

To: Edward Boghosian who wrote (6651)	12/7/1997 9:31:00 PM
From: Bill Jackson	Respond to of 213173

Edward; There might be some truth in what you say. If Ellison wants to pick it up cheap, and just wants it for the name and other uses, driving it to the ground will suit him as the price drops. Jobs might just be involved, as he is sure to be a bit pissed and want Apple in someones pocket. The path for Apples potential success was promoted by myself some time ago, however it was to universal boos?? Anyone changed their mind about the current crop of geniuses in charge? That Taiwan co,(Umax) also makes WIntels, and the scanner business has blossomed as the digital camera business has produced huge amounts of off grade CCDs good for scanners, but no good for cameras.(A scanner can be made with lines of CCDs, and camera needs a perfect rectangle, bad rectangles normally thrown away have made scanners drop hugely in price lately. Bill

To: Edward Boghosian who wrote (6651)	12/8/1997 10:00:00 PM
From: Marc Newman	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 213173

Ed, everybody is disappointed with Apple's current ads. Apparently they are going to run an aggressive spot in Jan. featuring the young Ali, but I don't understand the timing. All I can think of is that they figure the best chance of profitability is to just cut all discretionary spending this month. No extra travel, no more ads on tv, etc. We have to just give them the benefit of the doubt on this one, since we don't have access to the internal numbers. Given the scenario your wife encountered and the fact that Apple still needs to rebuild their retail structure, perhaps it is best not to be running expensive ads right now that will send customers into the hands of the "Apple is dead" clerks. Once CompUSA gets all its stores up to date, the new commission schedules are in place for Circuit City-type salespeople, and stores either commit to the Mac or not, that might be the time for ads aimed at the general public. It's frustrating though. One other possible thought is that Apple is selling all the G3 systems it can make (reportedly their factories have a 10,000 a day run-rate) and thus ads touting them would be mostly wasted. We need somebody to buy the rest of those 7300s! If you were following this company closely in 1996 I think you'd see what I'm seeing--Apple is executing much better. Products are generally available. The pricing is good. They aren't pushing in unprofitable areas like they used too. Costs are under control. Software releases are coming out on schedule. Cash position is excellent. Plus, I'm seeing the media's tone softening towards Apple. I like it. And this quarter I don't freaking care about a sub-$1000 system that Apple would lose money on! Perhaps their personal NC will use the television screen. It's a good idea. Good luck, Marc