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

To: Richard Habib who wrote (13260)	5/9/1998 6:01:00 PM
From: Zen Dollar Round	Respond to of 213182

I hope we don't see postponed G3 buyer this quarter in favor of waiting for the iMac. Based on the response on this thread I think it's a real possibility. Apple needs to clearly define iMac's market by keeping it less attractive than the G3 desktop and tower. Rich I don't see this happening. Anyone who wants the speed of the G3 won't wait for the iMac to save a few hundred dollars. The iMac is targeted at students and the home consumer who don't have the need for external SCSI, serial ports, or general expandability of current Macs. Sure, a few people may wait, but I have a feeling those who want a current G3 will get it now, not in August. The feature set of the current G3s is clearly superior to that of the iMac. I think one of the reasons Apple announced it so soon was to capture the back-to-school crowd and any low-end Wintel users who might be listening. If the iMac were shipping today, then we might see more reaction for AAPL stock. I bet the WWDC will garner more interest in AAPL, and if Apple sends a careful and coherent message there, the stock will move more than with the iMac announcement. The promised analyst upgrades soon to follow will help it even more. That said, I still think $60-69 for AAPL by year's end is too wildly optimistic. I'm guessing $45 by then.

To: Richard Habib who wrote (13260)	5/10/1998 9:01:00 PM
From: rhet0ric	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 213182

I hope we don't see postponed G3 buyer this quarter in favor of waiting for the iMac. I don't think this will happen. The iMac seems to be aimed at the non-Mac crowd. I see two clues to this: 1) The iMac doesn't have the traditional Mac connectivity, such as SCSI and ADB. As such, it doesn't fit very well into an established Mac office. It makes more sense for Mac shops to buy low-end G3s or, if in education, to buy a G3 AIO. 2) Apple has lately established a pattern of not preannouncing their products. This luxury is one of the many benefits of killing clones. It allows Apple to clear out old inventory at decent prices before introducing the next round of products, which in turn maintains the new, high margins. So the question is: why did they pre-announce the iMac? Answer: it's intended to undercut low-end PC sales, not Mac sales. So pre-announcing, it is hoped, will have a damaging effect on an already over-stuffed PC pipeline, and regain Mac market share. Here's hoping the strategies work. rhet0ric