$499 Mac for 05?
p2pnet.net News:- Yesterday morning we had a call from a Hungarian newspaper. It was well before the crack of dawn. The caller probably thought we were in the eastern time zone. We’re Pacific.
Had we seen or heard anything on the supposed $499 Mac, other than Think Secret’s item, which we’d quoted? – asked the Hungarian reporter.
“Nope,” we told him. “What you read in out story is all we know. Maybe it’s Steve & Co floating a rumour so they can get an idea of demand.”
Steve Jobs, “famously kicked off 2003 by declaring it ‘The Year of the Laptop‘,” Mac Central points out, going on:
“The Apple CEO never made a similar declaration about 2004, but there’s little doubt as to which Apple-made portable device dominated the last 12 months.”
So – is the Q88, $499 Mac computer real?
We still don’t know, but the possibility has raised a lot of speculation, given a lot of pundits and ‘analysts’ an excuse to spout, some not even bothering quote their source, and created a lot of headlines. Below are a few of the more recent ones from Google News.
CNN International – 2 hours ago
Analyst says model may come out to attract iPod-loving consumers weary of Windows security issues. SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Apple Computer Inc. …
Apple buzz: $499 computer
San Jose Mercury News (subscription), CA – 3 hours ago
By Dawn C. Chmielewski. With the approach of the Macworld Expo in San Francisco, Apple devotees have turned to their annual ritual …
Bargain Mac rumoured
ZDNet.co.uk, UK – 3 hours ago
Apple fans have a little more fodder for the rumour mill after a new posting on ThinkSecret.com. The Apple rumour site claims that Steve Jobs & Co. …
Apple’s next great idea
New York Daily News, NY – 4 hours ago
BY TOM VAN RIPER. Apple may be gearing up to take a big bite out of the mass computer market. Following the overwhelming success …
$500 IMac May Be Coming Soon
Los Angeles Times (subscription), CA – 6 hours ago
Analysts lend credence to rumors that Apple will unveil a low-priced computer next month. The Piper Jaffray Cos. analyst who follows Apple Computer Inc. …
Apple to unveil $499 Mac
Xinhua, China – 6 hours ago
BEIJING, Dec. 31 (Xinhuanet) — Think Secret, “through highly reliable sources”, has confirmed that this week in January Apple will …
TECH BUZZ: APPLE PLANNING INEXPENSIVE PC
New York Post, NY – 6 hours ago
By SUZANNE KAPNER. December 31, 2004 — The tech world is abuzz with reports that Apple is preparing to introduce an inexpensive …
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See:-
Year of the Laptop - iPod News Dominated Apple’s Hardware Releases, Mac Central, December 30, 2004
January 1st, 2005 at 11:02 am
How the hell did they find your phone number?
Bloody annoying people who only consider themselves important…
When you have to compose a number you should have a pretty good idea where that is!
The concept or area codes is not that difficult to grasp.
January 2nd, 2005 at 11:50 am
An iMac (eMac?) or any other Apple computer for under $500!? The guys at Think Secret (the Point of Origin of this rumor…) are inhaling the smoke from burning strange substances again.
PC makers really don’t sell many of these el-cheapo crud boxes and they exist only to sucker the unwary buyer into a bait-and-switch scam. Most actually sold PCs (or Macs…) run around two grand (US currency, such as it is worth in the latest round of Republican devaluation schemes…) give or take a few cents.
Since Apple has never make anything in the crap end of the market (Well… maybe there was that Performa misadventure a few years back before the Second Coming of Jobs…), don’t expect themselves to get into a Dell style Bait-And-Switch routine. Few Mac users would be stupid enough to bite and PC Weenies would ignore it out of old engrained habits. It would be just a cheaper version of the cube. Pundits (with a habit of being perennially wrong…) would praise it to bolster public perceptions their worthless “predictive skills” and like the original Cube, would sell like ice cubes in Antarctica.
Do we really have to fall for another one of these silly bits designed only to increase web hits for the sites that post this stuff?
Borborygmus