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John Fraser's flat 'pizzabox' Mac has caused quite a stir on the Mac web as of late. Ever since Apple shut down its three-year, third party experiment in clone licensing in 1997, many have pined away for a low-cost Mac. Although I am not sure that a clone arrangement would work well in conjunction with Apple's market position, there is a gap in the kind of products Apple produces and the kind of products many consumers are demanding.

Apple is a monopoly. Their position is one of extreme control over the platform. I don't have a problem with this because their position is tapered by the ever-present threat of the Wintel marketing machine. Apple must do things different and they must do it better. I am not sure that Apple's tenuous hardware/software, entire widget strategy can withstand competition from cheaper clones going for Apple's jugular. If Apple were primarily a software producer, cloning would be very successful but Apple's market position is one of a hardware maker with a proprietary OS.

Apple can sit back and say with a straight face that they don't compete with Microsoft and the PC cloners. They can proclaim that they market to a different market sector and that Microsoft can be a friend to Mac users. Why? Apple is the sole producer of the hardware. It represents a niche market where Microsoft can earn a few extra bucks by making Mac-compatible versions of its own Windows-based products. If Apple became a software company, they would be squarely in Microsoft's crosshairs. This would represent an attempt to compete with Windows on a level playing field and this would hurt both companies.

If Apple allowed cloners to produce Mac compatible computers, their own sales would suffer. Apple's market position is one of a niche provider of differentiated, quality computers. They cannot afford to have competition in this market from cloners who do not have to worry about the expense of building the OS and evangelizing the product to heretics and believers alike. Apple's current market position may lead them into the magical 10% market share one day, but they will never be a major producer on the scale of Dell or Compaq. The reason for this is simple. Their market position will not allow it. If we want Apple to remain the Apple we all know and love, cloning is just not a doable idea.

Apple's button rung of products does seem a bit bare. Ever since Apple stopped producing the LC line of computers, they have not tried to compete in the ultra-cheap PC market. I would like to see Apple offer a low-end desktop unit that is similar to the 1993 LC III. It could sell for $699 without a monitor and somewhere around $1000 with a flat screen, 15-inch monitor.

The new LC model could offer a slower G4 processor (500 to 600 MHz), an older AGP chip, two PCI slots, a 100 MHz bus, 258 MB SDRAM (max of 1 GB RAM), and a 30 GB hard drive. The ports might consist of two USB ports, one FireWire port, a modem port, and an Ethernet port. They could build in some nifty industrial design and provide an easy to open top along the lines of the PowerPC G4 drawbridge towers. This could be a starter kit for those who don't have the upfront money to purchase a new PowerPC G4, iMac, or (heaven forbid) eMac.

The new LC's could be a true hobbyist machine in the tradition of the Apple IIe and open-source software. Hobbyists could get the basic model and then build it up over time as their needs warrant. With two PCI slots, Sonnet accelerators could offer an upgrade path to keep the machine going for years to come with room to spare for something else. New AGP chips, more RAM, or a larger hard drive could be added as the need arises.

Low-end users would finally have something they can bite at. There are so many Mac users out there who buy nothing but second-hand towers or keep their old Macs far too long as production machines because the cost of a new Mac is just too high. There seems to be no low ground. Apple produces middle and high-end computers. Most people have to go for an Apple loan just to get into a low model iMac.

If Apple does it right, then we will have a modern LC III. The LC III was a remarkable machine and is a testament to the validity of this form factor. If they do it wrong, we will end up with an LC II, which was a crippled system that stressed economy over common sense. Apple does have a history in this market sector. I hope that they will give it a try again.

I do not believe that a new LC will cannibalize iMac sells. The two form factors are not related. iMacs are suited to people who want a clever all-in-one with extreme ease of use. An LC desktop suits hobbyists and low-enders. The two groups are really not related. Apple wouldn't even have to spend much to market the new LC. Web watchers would spread the news for them. It seems like a win-win proposition to me.

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