September 1, 2005 6:42 AM PDT
Mac Mini offer quickly dropped
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The promotion--"Mac Mini Test Drive"--offered a 30-day money-back guarantee, and was available only through Apple's online store. It was launched on Wednesday in the U.S., but by Thursday morning U.K. time Apple's site no longer showed the promotion.
An Apple representative refused to talk about why, after only one day, the company pulled the plug on a promotion that was supposed to last for two months.
Apple's site had stated that: "We're so confident you'll love your new Mac Mini, we'll let you test-drive it for 30 days with no risk. If you decide you don't want it, we'll take it back."
The rapid retraction of the offer prompted plenty of speculation online among bloggers and those in the Mac community.
"This couldn't have been a promo which was initiated lightly. It had to have been approved by Steve himself. But was it too successful? Did more people try it than imagined? After all, any machines returned would have to be resold refurbished through (other) channels," one Apple fan speculated.
Some bloggers also suggested that Apple could have sold out of Mac minis quicker than anticipated.
The promotion may have been launched because Apple is not happy with the pace of Mac mini sales, according to technology analyst Roger Kay.
"I think the issue now is that growth may have stalled, and a campaign like this may be designed to reinvigorate it," Kay told ZDNet UK sister site CNET News.com.
Apple introduced the mini in January 2005. The product, which does not come with a keyboard, mouse or monitor, was hailed at the time as a major move into mass-market desktop computers.
Many viewed the introduction of the Mac Mini as a shrewd way to profit from the huge success of the iPod. To some degree, it appears to be working. Apple's global share of the desktop computer market hit 2.1 percent in the second quarter of 2005, nearly double its share a year ago, according to Kay.
CNET News.com's Alorie Gilbert contributed to this report. Tom Espiner of ZDNet UK reported from London.
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ATMs, cash registers, and corporate clones...and only look at the
personal computing market/installed base. Just curious.
Somebody is going to get whipped for this one.... either they
released it too early, it was not officially approved, too much
demand.... either way... someone is going to get "Steve'd".
Or Apple is less then confident that having used the machine for a month, anyone would buy.
Your right though, someone will get "Steve'd".
As far as home use, I seem to be the computer go to guy for family, friends, their families, their friends, their friends friends (I'll get even with them someday), and I still only see a 3-4% home use of the Mac. And no, people are not 'forced' into using Windows. It is what they are familiar with, and tend to stick with.
Apple has done this type of promotion many times over the last 20+ years. Apple was doing this type of promotion even when it was the #1 desktop computer maker with a 19% market share ('89/'90 era). Often their reasons for doing this type of promotion has had nothing to do with market share or how well the item is selling. It has had to do with Apple being Apple.
There is no reason to believe Apple did this promotion because the Mac Mini was selling more poorly than Apple had hoped. Maybe Apple just wanted to go more agressively after the "back to school" croud. (How many people would buy a Mac Mini, take it off to college and then return it a month later? Few would return them after using them for a month because they would have to convert to a whole new system after they had gotten well into their classes.)
As many have suggested, maybe this promotion went much too well for Apple, and they found themselves with an instant backlog of orders for Mac Minis. Why have a "30 day" kind of promotion if the people ordering them can't get them for 45 or 60 days?
And... The media have routinely beaten up Apple for having huge backlogs of orders which are not fulfilled for several weeks. (Sometimes the bludgeoning of Apple has been warranted, sometimes not.) Maybe Apple decided it did not need that kind of bad publicity and decided to pull the promotion.
The other extreme is that the promotion was an idea still being considered but not fully authorized. Someone made a serious error by posting it. Apple took several hours to pull it because it was an option to still go with it, but in the end they decided to pull it. In this scenario it was a significant marketing error and the persons involved have definitely been "Steve'd".
We may never know the real reasons for the promotion nor the reasons for it being pulled. IF the Wall Street analysts on the quarterly report conference call badger Apple about it Apple may tell all. I doubt it.
visited it and the 'test drive' offer is still indicated, without any
option of actually taking one once you click the link.
Anyone think someone else will get "Jobbed" for this oversight?
C'mawn!
glad it din't take Apple more than 12 hrs to realize this.
Seriously, whom are they kidding? The PowerPC G4 processor
plain sucks. I have an iBook G4 (my wife has a Powerbook G4)
and I also have Compaq laptop with AMD-64 Turion. G4
processor performance is abysmal. Believe me even iTunes runs
10 times faster on my Windows computer. Even graphics and
games are faster on PC laptop though it has integrated graphics.
My advice, is don't get a Mac mini with G4, slow memory, bus
speed (167 MHz...) and hard drive (not to mention the lack
monitor, keyboard or Mous). If you are really inclined to buy a
Mac, wait until apple releases Intel computers. May be then
programs will run faster.
glad it din't take Apple more than 12 hrs to realize this.
>> Seriously, whom are they kidding? The PowerPC G4
processor plain sucks. I have an iBook G4 (my wife has a
Powerbook G4) and I also have Compaq laptop with AMD-64
Turion. G4 processor performance is abysmal.
Is that so? Weird, I am writing this on a 500 MHz G4, which I
often use for DVD encoding and video format conversion. I have
few problems running other apps as well, at adequate speed.
>>Believe me even iTunes runs 10 times faster on my Windows
computer. Even graphics and games are faster on PC laptop
though it has integrated graphics.
If this is true, and I doubt it, you have some serious issues you
need to fix. 10 times? Bull.
during warraty period it is OK. Otherwise don't even think of
sending your computer to apple for service. Even third party repair
services are not cheap for Mac's, take it from me.
that saw a Dell or Gateway ad for a $299-$999 PC. The Mini
gives fair performance and lets you pick the screen, keyboard
and mouse, or transfer them from an slightly older PC that
might have these available. I sell "only as much" computer as
some need, is the real goal of the Mini. To expect it to run
circles around a P4 is out of the question. The iMac G5 give the
P4 a closer run on speed, and the All-in-One box gives your
"home, cublicle" workspace room to shuffle the usual papers
around. The same design is in the Gateway Profile or those
units from MPC.
I think the Mini is a hit for the ones it was made for, that it isnt a
full blown Mac, is merely about speed. There is not much it cant
do with a few Firewire, USB and Wifi connections, encoding,
decoding, and avoiding uddate hassles, these are all the best
measure of performance, in that case Apple's features and
pricing, make the Mini a better buy than a Windows low cost PC.
- They are Switching to INTEL!!!!
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by
September 29, 2005 8:05 AM PDT
- Jeesh, it does'nt take a rocket scientist to figure it out. Who would'nt wait for the Intel based machine, not only for the faster machine, but the chance to buy a computer that wont become immediately out of date, as you could potentially run both Mac OS and Windows, having the best of both worlds.....
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