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From: mce@tc.fluke.COM (Brian McElhinney)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: Computer for the rest of us?
Message-ID: <5303@fluke.COM>
Date: 23 Sep 88 21:25:41 GMT
References: <430043@hpcea.CE.HP.COM> <3600031@iuvax> <69545@sun.uucp>
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In article <69545@sun.uucp> chuq@sun.UUCP (Chuq Von Rospach) writes:
> There are those of us who happen to be glad that Apple isn't giving
> away the future (those margins and high prices, among other things,
> guarantee the research and development that'll make future Mac's even
> better. Give them away today, they won't exist tomorrow).

No one said Apple should give Mac's away; I do wonder how much the market can
bear, or if it makes sense in the long term.  Sales have a way of snowballing.
Sales you fail to make this year can add up to many lost sales in the years to
come.

Apple is going the way of the majority of American corporations: maximize
*this* quarters profits and pretend it can have only good affects on long term
profits.  Even worse, long term planning becomes "this quarter, next year".

About that wonderful, and expensive, R&D Apple is investing in...  This has
been a "reason" for higher prices for years now.  Is there a need to spend
even *more* money a year?  Will spending more really help R&D efforts?  I
think not; R&D is needed, but surely the already record profits are funding it
sufficiently.  The money could be better spent elsewhere.

Where?  Well, Apple could price the SE to be competitive with PC/AT-clones,
and by *investing* in the needed production lines, could *grow* a much larger
market share, and, in the long term, much larger profits.  The Mac Plus is not
such a machine because 1) it is too expensive, both in end price and in
manufacturing costs, 2) cannot be bought with an internal hard drive, and 3)
has an absolutely horrid keyboard.  Even better would be a "headless" SE, so
people could buy up to a larger screen.  That way lies huge profits.


Brian McElhinney
mce@tc.fluke.com