Are people now looking to cheaper alternatives?

[Hastings101]

People goto stores like that to buy PC's not Macs and other Apple products.

Walk by an Apple store anytime and it's generally packed. Usually so much so I hate going in them.

Lucky, when I see them they're mostly empty and full of employees ready to swarm you lol

 

[thejadedmonkey]

The price of Apple's smartphones hasn't really changed much since they were released in 2007, meanwhile you can get a 'good enough' smartphone for $99 off contract.

I don't think people are idiots.

I would buy a $99 iPhone if I could.

 

[mattopotamus]

I cant help but notice, each time I was in a Best Buy or larger electronic retailer in the month of December (even today I was in there), that the Microsoft computing stations have been just packed, flooded with people. I would glance over at the Apple section right next to it less than 5 ft away and there were people, just not as nearly as many. maybe 5 or 6 tops.

Ive never seen such high interest and demand for Microsoft ever since stores here have set up Microsoft sections aggresively pushing Windows 8.1. If you havent seen one yet, its pretty much the same thing as the Apple one, have reps in their branded tshirts walking around and endless amounts of gadgets from different brands.

price. Most people can get away with using a $250-$400 pc. Macs start at $999.

 

[ml.sail1]

If I wasn't so lazy I would build a hackintosh.

It is generally illegal.

It is against apples EULA. But breaking apples eula isn't illegal. It is a contract that they can sue you over in civil court but you can't be charged criminally unless you break an actual law.

Apple's EULA states that (paraphrased) "You shall not install this operating system on any non apple-branded computer."

So, slap an apple sticker or two on your case from some other device of yours and you are good to go haha!

(I have built 3, all of which run Mavericks nice and smooth after some strenuous initial setup)

 

[hashholly]

The price of Apple's smartphones hasn't really changed much since they were released in 2007, meanwhile you can get a 'good enough' smartphone for $99 off contract.

I don't think people are idiots.

I would buy a $99 iPhone if I could.

You must, because plenty of folks are buying phone thats are more than $99 right now, and at best, the only decent $99 phone is the Moto X on Boost Mobile, or Verizon Prepaid or MAYBE the Nokia 520/521. Fact is there will always be people that will buy higher end/more expensive smartphones,,,,it's like saying there is no market for luxury vehicles because of the countless cheaper alternatives.


In regards to the laptop market, and the original post, most people that want an apple device go straight to the source for it, unless they don't have an apple store in their area. Overall however, i think as time goes on you will see more people get cheaper alternatives (chromebooks, tablets) because general speaking most consumers use computers nowadays for consumption, not creation, and you don't need a powerful computing device to do that.

Desktops will still be sold because you will always have pc gamers, and content creators will still need a machine with decent power, wether that be a mac or Windows machine will come down to their OS preference more than anything else.

 

[Hellhammer]

The price of Apple's smartphones hasn't really changed much since they were released in 2007, meanwhile you can get a 'good enough' smartphone for $99 off contract.

iPhone proces have changed a lot, at least in where I live. I remember paying 350€ for a 16GB iPhone 3GS in late 2009 (i.e. when it was the latest and greatest). Now the 16GB iPhone 5S costs 700€, double the price I paid. This wasn't a sudden increase, it's a trend that has been continuing for years. Pretty much every update has increased the price of the low-end model by 100€.

This is one of the reasons why I switched to Android (have Nexus 4 now, paid 350€).

 

[nefan65]

I was at 2 different malls over the holidays. Both had Apple and MS stores. The Apple stores were busy, and packed. The MS stores had a few people in them, and a bunch of employees standing around. The only busy part of the MS stores were the Xbox areas; bunch of kids.

I chatted with an acquaintance who's son works at BB during the holidays while out on college break. He said that the Surface sales were "meh". Lot of people looking, but not a lot of buyers. Could be that people purchased online...?

 

[sentinelsx]

Majority of the world population will always buy the cheaper alternative of possible. How come people don't know this yet?

 

[blairh]

price. Most people can get away with using a $250-$400 pc. Macs start at $999.

Mac Mini?

 

[mattopotamus]

Mac Mini?

Very true. Still need a display though but overall a great example. I just will never need the power of even an entry level Mac laptop in my profession. A SSD is the single most important piece of hardware I need.

 

[2298754]

It's the same thing in the computer market. You can buy a $299 windows laptop or a $2,500 Macbook Pro.

Samsung will provide us with smartphones at all price tags, with their flagship Note/Galaxy S being the most expensive.

Apple will probably not have a crappy entry level smartphone. They will probably start in the mid-range, just like the PC market. The MBA is their mid-range device.

 

[Savor]

We are in an era where alot of smartphones with dual-core or 720p screens is good enough for most people's need. The specs sheet and the other fluff is more for bragging rights.

My Wife sold her 3-year old iPhone 4 for about $160. She got a Lenovo A516 for $140. It has dual- core and Mali 400 that was top class from 2011. Her first model of the A516 was a defect where RAM was very low and games like Candy Crush crashed on it. She swapped for a newer one and while it isnt perfect as the less than 512 MB of RAM is not efficient enough for a Lenovo skin and Jelly Bean 4.2.2, it certainly works alot better than the previous handset.

She can still play her Candy Crush and PvZ2. She can now download movies on YouTube or any video site using TubeMate. She can Bluetooth to me the pix she took or videos/songs she downloaded. Alot of cool transition effects. The camera is where it is lacking as it is fixed focus and no LED flash. Yet, this is a $140 handset that pretty much satisfies 90-95% of her actual needs.

The point being is we can purchase a phone from even a couple years back and it will pretty much be good enough to use for a few years. Heck, I'm looking into the Sony Xperia P from 2012 just because I hate onscreen navigation buttons and prefer the capacitive buttons below the actual screen. Plus that LED strip looks really cool at night and that model had an aluminum unibody. Sub-$100 smartphones should be alot more common by this year.