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

To: znv who wrote (13795)	5/19/1998 2:04:00 AM
From: Richard Habib	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 213177

Well I agree that the Wintel world will be down to $600-$700 by Xmas with the $700+ machines using the 300 Mhz Celeron chip but the iMac will still be quite a bit better. It may be true that the 1st time buyer won't go for the iMac in mass as it will actually be closer to mid-range but I think some will be swayed by what you get. I think students will go for it as well as people buying 2nd computers. I wouldn't be surprised if it's a big seller in Europe for 1st time buyers. Due to the lack of market penetration there, 1st time buyers are probably somewhat more sophisticated then the unpenetrated market that remains in the U.S. I also think it will appeal to people who value style and for whom efficiency isn't all that important (By that I mean value style over the problems inherent in switching platforms.), which again is a more sophisticated market and some of those may be Wintel. Remember, many people don't actually use their computer for a whole lot, some email etc. I agree, I don't think all that many Wintel users will switch but remember quite a few are ex-Mac users and they may be persuaded to come back. Apple's market will never be the low end and I think Jobs expressed that when he stated he wanted to sell great products at a decent margin. I think Apple can get back to the 6-8% range which would be just fine for Apple and for it's investors. I really think the iMac will help. Rich

To: znv who wrote (13795)	5/19/1998 2:12:00 AM
From: WebDrone	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 213177

<I haven't met a single person who switched from Windows to MacOS. Even if such people do exist, we know that the net result for the last three years was shrinking of Apple's market share. The question now is this: will there be enough first-time Mac (iMac by now) buyers to offset the number of repeat buyers abandoning Apple?> Now this market share number is highly suspect. As I have mentioned before, Mac's account for about 20% of web traffic. There are lots of obvious reasons for this. Now, as for individuals switching from Win to Mac- if you say market share is 3%, and you want to grow it to 4%, you only need one of 97 wintel users to switch. You would need to know a lot of people to be sure you knew that one person who switched. Here is who is going to switch by the labfulls- high schools. Wintels are a nightmare to maintain. I do this, I know. Macs are much easier to maintain than windows in a lab setting, in my experience. I bet a lot of people will back me up here. In my opinion, imac is going to surprise everyone. Don't you want one? I sure do, my wife does, my totally nontechnical friends don't even KNOW they want one, yet. But they will. They just need to surf the web. The web is the killer app- it is just that simple. Do you doubt it? Richard

To: znv who wrote (13795)	5/19/1998 2:12:00 AM
From: HerbVic	Respond to of 213177

>"will there be enough first-time Mac (iMac by now) buyers to offset >the number of repeat buyers abandoning Apple? Repeat buyers, by definition, are not abandoning. That's why they are called repeat buyers. --- >"One other thing we know is that after three years of staying at >the 39% level of home computer ownership, the rate increased last year >to 42% almost entirely due to sub-$1000 prices." Didn't the sub $1k PC just come into vogue during the last two months of last year? --- >"By August, it's going to be sub-$700." Ahemm! Perhaps the reason for this inventory glut and the constant thud of falling prices on them Wintel boxes is that the manufacturers overestimated the demand for "home computer ownership" of their computers. Think they'll sell any better at "sub-$700?" --- >"The $1300 iMac is just irrelevant." That remains to be seen. However the little $1300 MSRP iMac competes quite well in the performance contests with them $2100 Wintels. How well do those sub-$700 Wintels compete on performance? And just one more comment, since your remarks were obviously intended to be inflammatory. Apple saw an increase in market share quarter over quarter for Jan/Feb/Mar. No inventory problems here. Gross margins = 25% too. What's the gross margin for Compaq's most recent quarter? Could it be ... say ... perhaps ... 18%? Wassa'matta? Tired of people shortin' yer' stock? HerbVic