Apple’s Mac will be product of the year
January 12, 2005 by Mike Wendland
Never before have I seen such interest in all things Mac. There is not a day that goes by now that I don’t hear from one or two people who have had it with Windows.
Yesterday’s introduction of the $499 Mac mini will only increase the movement.
Steve Jobs is brilliant. I predict tens of thousands of these will quickly be sold and hook a whole new market on the Mac. Then, those initial mini buyers will soon pass it on to the spouse or the kids and - spoiled by OS X and the Mac’s immunity from worms and viruses and the security disaster that characterizes Microsoft products - buy themselves iMacs, G5s and PowerBooks.
And I can’t wait to start using Pages, the new Apple word processor. With the new iWork suite, added to iCal, Address Book, Safari, iSync and the whole line of OS X software, it’s now possible to effectively and powerfully be Microsoft-free.
Microsoftians, I know, are scoffing.
But the momentum is there.
Macs are about to become as hot as iPods. Apple may not sell 10 million Macs as it has with the iPod, but watch sales skyrocket.
And when the new Tiger OS is introduced this summer, they will only get hotter.
We’re only a dozen days into 2005, but come December, I’m ready to predict Apple and the Mac will be the tech pundit’s choice as product of the year.
Wow, Mike. You shouldn’t stare directly into Jobs’ eyes. The reality distortion field is burning your brain.
Seriously, though, I’m as excited as you are. I hope you are right in all your predictions. I keep thinking that Apple is on the verge of a major run toward greater market share. My only regret is that I didn’t buy more stock when I bought a few shares at $18.
Oh, and congratulations on being quoted by Jobs at the keynote. Granted he quoted the FP, but we all know who wrote the piece.
Yes, I’m excited too….
i agree with mike. this will be the biggest apple year ever. all the pieces are in place. with this new low cost mac and the momentum of the ipod, apple will see a big jump in market share.
I was going to pick up an older used G3 or G4 and upgrade it to replace a really old PPC system, but now the mini will more than do the job for about the same cash.
I think Apple has really turned the corner with this new product. I wouldn’t doubt their marketshare goes up a few points in the next 2-3 years. Certainly the iPod was an unexpected savior, but with their record profits and current health, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Apple take a couple more risks with new products within the year, though they never quite go as far as most of us “bleeding edgers” would like them too. Probably smarter business that way though.
Heck, we’re even getting an Apple Store over here in Grand Rapids this fall! Whoooopeeey!
I bought two… to replace two old workstations of two employees. I think, Jobs did a great job
The achilles heel of Mac has always been the high cost of the hardware. I had three emails from friends plotting their MiniMac purchase on the day after the announcement and plan to (finally) migrate from our OS 9.2 G4s to the MMs.
I predict that Apple will lose money as those who normally would have bought expensive macs will not buy cheap macs. Everyone else will continue buying a Dell for the $500 the mini costs, and get a keyboard, mouse, and monitor along with it.