Over the past year, Apple has taken great strides in providing the
finest portable computers on the market. The Titanium G4 provides amazing
performance geared for the pro user. The iBook is the finest example of a
consumer portable on the market today with no compromise in design or
performance.
Apple should be very proud of these machines and will hopefully gain
market share because of them. As amazing as these machines are, I feel
a slight tweaking of the line could ensure growth of market share. If I
awoke tomorrow and was suddenly the iCEO of Apple, I would make some
slight adjustments to the line. I would turn my two quadrants into
three and would work in this manner.
Consumer/Student
For the consumer market and student, I would provide a sub-$1K unit.
For $999, the student could buy the iBook that existed until this year.
The machine would maintain its "toilet lid" appearance and come in
indigo or white. This machine would be positioned to compete with the
many $999 machines on the market and would be by far the strongest
player in that space. This iBook would be offered with only one set of
specifications: a 466 MHz G3, the Rage Mobility with 8 MB VRAM, a 12.1"
screen, a 6 GB hard drive, 128 MB of memory, and a CD player. This
machine is no frills, but it would cost nothing in R&D and would
make use of existing parts Apple has been perfecting for two years.
Note: this is not my cup of tea, but the education market would love
the price, and kids still love the design.
Business Class
This quadrant would have a PowerBook G3 that we now know as the
"iceBook" - but with a few tweaks. They would be offered in white and
black.
This machine would begin at $1,299, in its base configuration, but
would have one PC slot and the ability to span video. We would still
see the Rage Mobility with 8 megs VRAM, a 500 MHz processor, 128 MB of
memory, and a 10 GB hard drive.
The second configuration would add a DVD player, 256 MB of memory, a
13.1" screen, and a 20 GB hard drive. the processor would run at 550
MHz. Same graphics card and same PC card slot. The machine price would
be $1,599.
The third configuration would add a combo drive and have a 100 MHz
system bus with a 600 MHz G3. The Rage video card would remain, as
would the 13.1" screen and the 20 GB hard drive. The big feature would
be the SuperDrive. The price for this unit would be $1,999.
Note: I would love to offer a 14 inch screen but I wanted to keep
the same chassis as the other models to keep cost down.
Pro User
Titanium G4/400: specs as today with the addition of a larger hard
drive (20 GB ) and a 16 MB video card. Price is still $2,199.
Titanium G4/600: specs as today's 500 with the addition of the
SuperDrive and the 16 MB video card. Also add a 30 GB drive to the mix
for $3,499.
I priced each machine category within $300 of the previous category
and gave more power to both the business class and the pro class. Using
the old iBook makes sense in many ways and competes well in the
education market.
Apple has never really tried to reach the "business class" and has
left a hole in the current offerings which I think my plan would fill
well. I would have loved to offer the "Pismo" in the business class,
but multiple chassis makes little business sense. I stayed with the
current iceBook to serve as my PowerBook G3 as it has really captured
attention.
Let me know what you think of this plan, Steve. (If you are reading
this, I have been a product manager for years and could certainly be
lured to Cupertino.)
Share your perspective on the Mac by emailing with "My Turn" as your subject.
