Apple & Innovation: the Mac mini
One thing has to be admitted about Steve Jobs: he
knows how to lead a company toward innovation. In the mid-nineties, Apple Mac
computers had very little to differentiate them from x86-based PCs beyond
limited application and peripheral support. PCs were ugly white or gray boxes;
Macs were ugly beige boxes. The Mac OS crashed all the time because poor
multi-tasking support and they were considerably more expensive than
PCs.
Then Jobs comes back in December 1996. Eight
years later, the company has become entirely transformed. Apple is now
hands-down the leader in computer design. Sony, the only company that tries to
compete with Apple in terms of computer design, makes computers that look like
cheap eighties kitchen appliances in comparison.
The newest design coup of Apple is Mac mini, the smallest desktop computer ever. Apple was eager to introduce a computer under $500. PC companies in the low-end market don't give a fig for design. They can't afford to. They simply strive to make a computer as cheaply as possible. Would Apple, in their effort to make as cheap a computer as possible, do likewise? No, not at all. They weren't going to sacrifice design and innovation for the sake of price. The Mac mini not only had to be under $500, it had to feature sort of revolutionary design spec. So what did Apple do? They strove to make the thing as small as possible. An elegant tiny rectangular cub with rounded corners: six inches by six inches, two inches high—under three pounds in weight. So the new Mac mini is not merely inexpensive: like just about every other Mac these days (the eMac excluded), it is remarkable from a design and engineering perspective as well.
But will the computer be a success? Apple has enjoyed design coups before, only to find less than stellar success in the consumer market. The so-called "lamp style" iMac, with the half globe based and the flat-panel screen suspend by a steel arm, perhaps the best designed computer ever, was not a big consumer success. What can be expected, sales-wise, of the Mac mini. Apple is hoping the low price will convince PC users to switch over to the Mac side of things. Looking at the specs of the Mac mini, I'm not so sure this will happen. One reason Apple has always shied away from the low-end computer market isn't they haven't wanted their low-end stuff to cause sales of their high- and medium-end stuff to suffer. To keep the Mac mini from infringing on the sales of their other computer products (and also to make the machine as inexpensive as possible), they have intentionally created a rather weak performing machine. Both models come with a measly 256 MB of RAM and an underperforming 32 MB videocard. The $499 model comes with a 1.25 GHz G4 processor, which was a top of the line Mac processor about two years ago. Very little of the specs can be upgraded. Only one RAM slot exists and if you want to max out our RAM (good idea with OS X, which is very RAM hungry) will cost around $400. If you are going to use the machine even for light work, you'd at least have to double the RAM, which will cost you an extra $75. And to get the machine under $500, Apple has to sell it without a keyboard or mice. Despite claims that it will work with any keyboard or mice, since most PC keyboards and Mice are not USB, you may end up having to buy those components as well. This brings the minimum price of the Mac mini to about $620. For the same amount of money, you can get a PC that would be close to twice as powerful. PC users who buy the Mac mini might think the size of it's cool, but once they plug it in and begin using it, they will probably be shocked by the slowness of it. This has been a long standing problem with Macs. The average PC user will tend to have one of two reactions to using mid range Macs: either they are blown away by the elegance, beauty, and functionality of OS X (which is vastly superior to Windows XP), or they are stunned at how slow the machine is. I suspect a similar reaction will greet the Mac mini.
This does not mean the Mac mini will be a failure. Sales will probably start out brisk. There will even be a number of switchers among the initial buyers. But I suspect the machine will do best among people who already have Macs. There are Mac users on tight budgets who still using hardware from the nineties. They will see the Mac mini as a godsend. Other people will buy it as a secondary computer, for a spouse or kids or parents. Some PC users will buy to hook up to KVM and set up dual system configuration (it's especially perfect for that sort of setup, because of it's small size). But after the initial wave of buying, I expect its sales with tail off a bit, as the reputation of its low performance specs hits the PC markets. At this point, Apple would do well to stick with the machine, because there could be a payoff further down the road, as people to appreciate the uses that can be made for a computer this small. This will take a while. It may require the development of third party add-ons, such as mini-monitors or mini keyboards. What is special about this machine is it's size. It may take consumers a bit of time to realize the fact and learn how convenient a computer of this can be. I suspect the long-term success of this device could be impressive, if Apple is merely patient enough for the market to catch up with them. Many innovations don't succeed because consumers simply weren't ready for them.
The new Mac mini.
The newest design coup of Apple is Mac mini, the smallest desktop computer ever. Apple was eager to introduce a computer under $500. PC companies in the low-end market don't give a fig for design. They can't afford to. They simply strive to make a computer as cheaply as possible. Would Apple, in their effort to make as cheap a computer as possible, do likewise? No, not at all. They weren't going to sacrifice design and innovation for the sake of price. The Mac mini not only had to be under $500, it had to feature sort of revolutionary design spec. So what did Apple do? They strove to make the thing as small as possible. An elegant tiny rectangular cub with rounded corners: six inches by six inches, two inches high—under three pounds in weight. So the new Mac mini is not merely inexpensive: like just about every other Mac these days (the eMac excluded), it is remarkable from a design and engineering perspective as well.
But will the computer be a success? Apple has enjoyed design coups before, only to find less than stellar success in the consumer market. The so-called "lamp style" iMac, with the half globe based and the flat-panel screen suspend by a steel arm, perhaps the best designed computer ever, was not a big consumer success. What can be expected, sales-wise, of the Mac mini. Apple is hoping the low price will convince PC users to switch over to the Mac side of things. Looking at the specs of the Mac mini, I'm not so sure this will happen. One reason Apple has always shied away from the low-end computer market isn't they haven't wanted their low-end stuff to cause sales of their high- and medium-end stuff to suffer. To keep the Mac mini from infringing on the sales of their other computer products (and also to make the machine as inexpensive as possible), they have intentionally created a rather weak performing machine. Both models come with a measly 256 MB of RAM and an underperforming 32 MB videocard. The $499 model comes with a 1.25 GHz G4 processor, which was a top of the line Mac processor about two years ago. Very little of the specs can be upgraded. Only one RAM slot exists and if you want to max out our RAM (good idea with OS X, which is very RAM hungry) will cost around $400. If you are going to use the machine even for light work, you'd at least have to double the RAM, which will cost you an extra $75. And to get the machine under $500, Apple has to sell it without a keyboard or mice. Despite claims that it will work with any keyboard or mice, since most PC keyboards and Mice are not USB, you may end up having to buy those components as well. This brings the minimum price of the Mac mini to about $620. For the same amount of money, you can get a PC that would be close to twice as powerful. PC users who buy the Mac mini might think the size of it's cool, but once they plug it in and begin using it, they will probably be shocked by the slowness of it. This has been a long standing problem with Macs. The average PC user will tend to have one of two reactions to using mid range Macs: either they are blown away by the elegance, beauty, and functionality of OS X (which is vastly superior to Windows XP), or they are stunned at how slow the machine is. I suspect a similar reaction will greet the Mac mini.
This does not mean the Mac mini will be a failure. Sales will probably start out brisk. There will even be a number of switchers among the initial buyers. But I suspect the machine will do best among people who already have Macs. There are Mac users on tight budgets who still using hardware from the nineties. They will see the Mac mini as a godsend. Other people will buy it as a secondary computer, for a spouse or kids or parents. Some PC users will buy to hook up to KVM and set up dual system configuration (it's especially perfect for that sort of setup, because of it's small size). But after the initial wave of buying, I expect its sales with tail off a bit, as the reputation of its low performance specs hits the PC markets. At this point, Apple would do well to stick with the machine, because there could be a payoff further down the road, as people to appreciate the uses that can be made for a computer this small. This will take a while. It may require the development of third party add-ons, such as mini-monitors or mini keyboards. What is special about this machine is it's size. It may take consumers a bit of time to realize the fact and learn how convenient a computer of this can be. I suspect the long-term success of this device could be impressive, if Apple is merely patient enough for the market to catch up with them. Many innovations don't succeed because consumers simply weren't ready for them.
The new Mac mini.
Posted: Wed - January 12, 2005 at 05:16 PM
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