Apple’s (New) Game Plan
Much to my excitement, Apple released updated iMacs, Mac Minis, MacPros and a host of other items last Tuesday. I’d been looking forward to picking up a new iMac for a month or so, since keeping my media on an airdisk drive is really grating on me. At the time, I began looking at the high-end iMac (3.06gHz, 2GB DDR, 500GB HDD) and saw that it was upgradable to 4GB DDR/1TB for a few hundred bucks more. Deduct my company’s employee purchase plan discount and that became a pretty solid machine at a reasonable price.
I couldn’t act yet though. Times are tough and I needed to save up some cash from the freelance biz to make it happen. I kept checking the MacRumors buyers guides that stated plainly “Don’t buy”. All the rumors pointed to new hardware on the horizon, then to dwindling supplies, etc. Needless to say I was stoked.
As it turns out, I happened to be up all night on Monday night for a product launch for MSO when the specs began leaking. The top end iMac was still slated at 3.06gHz, but now with 4GB DDR, 1TB HDD out of the box. Exactly the system I was going to pick up! What cracked me up though, was that people began complaining immediately about these specs, and about how these systems are just the same old systems with really nothing new.
However, what a lot of people aren’t seeing is the fact that Apple isn’t playing by the old rules anymore. They’ve changed the game for themselves. There’s plenty of evidence to point to this:
- Pulling out of Macworld Expo
- Snow Leopard
- Macbooks & displays
Macworld
Everyone freaked out at the MWSF news, and alas, the keynote was sort-of lackluster. iLife is cool (and is one of the primary reasons I’ll be upgradingI upgraded my system) and Phil did a pretty good job talking about it and showing off the 17″ MBP. But as Apple pointed out, they’re getting out of the expo business because it’s not worth it to them. In reality, Apple hasn’t done much at a MWSF in the last few years. iPhone in 2007 is really the only exception and that was 6 months ahead of dropping– that’s a pretty big window in which they could’ve announced it.
Snow Leopard
Last year at WWDC (Apple’s own event), Apple announced OSX 10.6 Snow Leopard. Snow Leopard’s purported biggest feature is its lack of new whizbang features. It’s an OS release that attempts to streamline the OS and the underlying architecture and be more nimble and lightweight than Leopard.
New MacBooks & Displays
At the notebook event in the fall (another on their own terms), Apple brought us the unibody Macbook & Macbook Pro and the LED Cinema Display.
All of these events point to a shift in Apple’s strategies as a company. In the past they came to be known to drop a hot new product every year. I say “came to be known” because they didn’t actually drop something hot and/or new every year. iPod, iPhone, Intel chipsets. That’s about it. Everything else was effectively fluff.
Apple’s new gameplan (I don’t really think it’s new— I’m sure they’ve been trying to do this all along) seems to be to get more out of less. In 2009 on planet Earth, the only thing any of us want to do is get more out of less.
Having to crank something out to show off every January takes resources. Announcing a flop hammers the stock price. Not doing anything and announcing a speedbump in January hammers the stock price. Working on bulky code consumes resources. Screwing together laptops takes time. Shipping less units on a truck costs money.
Everything we’ve been seeing out of Apple lately is being streamlined and pared down in a time when that’s what the world needs to do, and that’s what the consumer is looking for. The new iMac I spoke of is now ~15% cheaper. The LED displays use less power (and cheaper). The MacBooks are stronger (and cheaper) and will theoretically last longer. The new packaging can be shipped for less. The new OS will consume less system resources and move more quickly. The Apple events will have a greater chance of hotter new products hitting and will help raise the stiock price.
I look forward to the future of Apple, however it plays out and whoever is at the helm. I don’t, however, look forward to the countless tweets that complain how “Apple sucks now ” because their latest offering didn’t include what you wanted. I’ll tell you what: YOU go make that computer.
Add Yours!