Time to review and reposition the iMac range?

[ASGR]

For a start, totally love the iMac range but... The desktop market is already contracting and at the prices Apple charges, it's going to contract faster than for other manufacturers at Apples expense. It's not going to win market share in what is a mature market and it's not going to abandon the desktop market either.

I've got a top of the range 27" that is just over a year old and it is the most awesome thing I've had the pleasure to admire and it should be at a cost of about $2500!

The basic entry 21.5" machine retails at $1300 which is ridiculous. I know the MacMini goes from $600 but that don't include zip and is also ridiculously priced compared to the rest of the market which includes more! Apple is creating barriers to enter into owning it's own products.

And I know the products are superior in just about every way but in a world of diminishing budgets and disposable income, Apple has become a luxury brand for the masses that few people can afford as I am sure we are all aware of the socio-economic data showing the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer with a widening gap.

Hence, as suggested in the title, it may be time to reposition the range to include a smaller machine, e.g. 19". A something for everyone machine and also offer a medium and large machine at say 23" and 27" respectively.

Now you're going to say what about the cost of implementing a new manufacturing line. Well two already exist and sheer basic economics should take care of the other with it's lower price and increased availability with the majority of it being outsourced anyway (for now).

Then you may raise issues of demand. Well I bet you corporate budgets specifically filter out Macs for over 90% of corporate use solely due to the price without even taking into account the lower cost of ownership. Then factor in the retail sales that never happen of 'mac-wonna-bies' and the 'wouldnt-it-be-nice-to-have-a-second/third/forth-machine-a-bies'.

So then what would it look like? How about super-energy efficient made from existing technology or laptop/iPad technology reducing the cost of the rest of the product line with common components and standardisation with 2.5" drives with optional SSD. Relatively expensive and small capacity but getting cheaper and bigger. Besides, you've always got Thunderbolt.

 

[theSully]

I agree with you on the 24" thing. I use a 27" iMac at work generally. Sometimes the 21.5". the 21.5" is a bit frustrating, from the lack of screen real estate, but I don't use the whole 27". And I really like my 24" monitor at home.

 

[ASGR]

It seems like a bit of an odd dimension like they couldn't make up their mind and thought they would combine two machines into one and got 21.5"

If I had it my way, I'd have Macs as far as the eye can see. Unfortunately, for general use I'm having to look at wintel machines with Linux OS.

It would be nice to see more macs outside of the specialist/niche markets. This is exactly how Apple got into trouble in the first place 15/20 odd years ago, software and hardware years ahead of the competition but at a massive premium that few could afford with the competition catching up fast with 'good-enough' alternatives.

As soon as the niche market hits trouble, your revenues get hit without any other sources of revenue. It took the introduction of a new home computing revolution to revive Apple i.e. the first generation of iMac.

With these super-featured new iMacs, with a price-tag to match, it seems like Apple is moving away from what Jobs did when he returned with the first iMac and making owning a mac more unviable.