All of a sudden, everyone is doomed except Apple
by Horace Dediu
Antler tipping doom denial.
The MacBook Neo is turning the whole PC world on its head. Tip o’ the antlers to Horace [Dediu], who says:
…a doubling of the Mac user base is certainly a worthy and achievable goal over the next decade.Now, before you sniff and say “Where were these customers when the Mac was dying? Where were these customers when we needed them? And where are we going to put them all now that they’re coming to the Mac? They’re not staying at my place. Kevin has much more room than I do and Kevin never does anything,” remember first that Kevin is still reeling from the heartbreak of psoriasis. So… you know. But also, while millions of people buying cheap Macs may not be the best thing for Apple’s margins, it does mean good things for Mac users.
Source: Macworld
NB: As honored as I am to be the recipient of an antlers tip, I must respectfully disagree…
…Apple is always doomed is axiomatic. It was not long after the Neo took off like, well, Neo in the final scene of the Matrix, that the stories of failure came out. First it was noted that there would not be enough supply then the the A18 chip was "binned" meaning it was "flawed" or "defective" and thus "free" to Apple. But regardless, there were not enough of these broken chips.
So Apple would have to raise prices or make more A18 chips or stop selling the Neo altogether.
The only thing you could be sure of is that Apple is doomed.
5 comments
deemery ·
I am always suspicious of assertions that the Neo will significantly damage Apple's margins. But I fully agree that "demand exceeding supply" Is A Good Thing (tm).
And who's the clown who said "Don't rush to buy a Neo. These won't sell, so there'll be plenty." ???
AAPL ·
Apple store shows 14-20 day delivery time for a navy colored Neo with max storage. That's for something that may be highly manufactured by robots.
Sacto Joe ·
As I said on ped30, Apple has plenty of time. And one of the most interesting aspects of the Neo is IMO being overlooked; its resale value. Like all Apple products, it will command a very high resale value. That means that, whatever you spend, in a year or two when there is a new Neo, you can sell your old one and use the money to buy a new one....
Sacto Joe ·
Almost as interesting to this reality is that ALL Apple products have this major advantage, including within the corporate world. But especially in the corporate world, it has been virtually ignored.
So the Neo is serving as kind of a wake-up call to corporations that all Apple products have a built-in discount that allows them to both be kept up to date and that simultaneously reduces the overall cost of upgrading.
Meanwhile, older Apple products are snapped up because the are (1) well-supported, (2) wear like iron, and (3) are part of the amazing Apple ecosystem, with the tangible and intangible ROI to users that the Apple ecosystem represents
deemery ·
I heard yesterday that our local independent Apple store went out of business. In some respects, that's a testament to the fact that Apple products just don't break. They did do a repair for me on a 8 year old MB Pro, it was in 'legacy' but they were able to get the replacement motherboard.
Between no repair revenue, and price competition with on-line retailers for accessories, it's hard for me to see how an independent could stay in business.
(I'm driving the hour to the closest Apple store today, the USB socket on my phone seems to be clogged and the cable keeps on falling out. I had that problem with an older phone, the 'Genius' bar has tools and training on how to clean that.)