With thee current economy, will Apple drop prices on MBPs ?

The simple answer is to watch their earnings reports. Their last quarter results were great but they cautioned on future quarters.

 

The way I look it may not make a lot of sense but in theory it makes some sense, to me at least.

The rest of the world might not be going through exactly what the US is right now but for the most part I think proportionally they will or are just starting to right now. No matter what, this is a global recession. Yes some countries may not be in as bad a shape as others but everyone's affected.

I'm in Alberta, Canada, and while I haven't seen the effects personally I have however seen this province be affected quite a bit. Fort McMurray and the Oil patch in Norther Alberta have seen over 20k jobs cut since late 2008 and it's only getting worse.

My wife and I have good jobs that are secure, only have one kid and no debt (except a mortgage) and I can comfortably go out an buy any couple of macs I want right now and will not make a difference on us financially.

But here's the thing; seeing the bad news coming in day after day about the economy, 600k jobs lost in Feb in the US, 8.1% Unemployment and the end or the bottom is completely unknown makes me hesitant about buying anything these days.

So even if I'm not affected by things right now, I certainly am affected mentally and emotionally by it. So those apple customers who may be in theory recession-proof may not be so recession-proof in their minds and hearts and may or will put things on hold. You know that project to replace a whole bunch of machine can wait a bit.

So apple, like everything else, will take a hit I think in the coming months. They may not react aggressively or on the surface but they will cut the cost to resellers a bit I think, in which case it opens up avenues for resellers to discount products. Not unlike Sony, where you can go to the Sony Store or SonyStyle.com/ca etc... and check out the product lineup but the prices are generally firm and then go to a Sony reseller and pick up the same item for a lot less.

It will be like that for Apple Stores and Apple online but then you go to resellers and get the same machine discounted. I can certainly see that happening this year.

 

I think Apple will have to. Even though Apple tries to position itself as a premium brand, clearly the vast majority of its users are not rich and will certainly be affected by the economy. Think about how many students are Apple customers--they will definitely be affected.

I've seen Apple respond on my campus by offering huge discounts on products for students, however. For example, right now a new white MB (9400 version) is just $850 and comes with a Canon Pixma. Maybe they are just dropping prices in their own way.

 

I agree, and to add to that, aside from the great build quality of Apple's computers, Apple has set the bar really high on professional looking products which has caused other manufacturers to step up to the plate but unfortunately they fail at making "Apple style knockoffs" which makes people want to stay on Apple or switch to Apple. Why should they lower they prices when they know people will buy?

Here's Apple's typical customer:

Kids, age 12-18 who have no financial responsibilities. They either save their money or are generally spoiled by parents who buy them Macs or iPods. I hate to say it but that accounts for the majority who install Windows just for gaming.

The ever popular "poor college student", who's parents will pay for their computer because it's best suited for their major or because they pleaded their case as to why they needed a Mac, but they really didn't, they want to be amongst others at school with a Macintosh.

The form over function customer, which in this case accounts for most of us since most things we buy in life are bought this way.

Professional customers, musicians, Professional Software Engineers, graphic designers, web designers, architectural and such and anyone else who runs their business on Mac due to security.

The older crowd. The Macintosh is a much easier to use computer for anyone at any age but Apple knows no matter how fancy and full featured Windows gets it's still a much more difficult OS to use and the majority of computer users in this world are not computer savvy outside of doing emails and web surfing. They just want to sit down and use a computer with very little hassles and that fits the Mac very well.

So even though the economy is down and Apple's stock price is hurting they still have a large customer base at all ages and genres that won't deal with anything non-Apple.

 

You can add Professional Software Engineers to your list.

 

If stores like Sax 5th have to slash prices in half for brands like Versace, D&G, Armani, etc., in places like Rodeo Dr., then do not assume Apple will not have to lower their prices.

A lot of rich people have lost a lot of money in this recession. Warren Buffet's company lost 60% of its value this year alone. This is only the 2nd time Buffet has lost money in a year. It is not just Joe Nobody getting shafted.

 

LOL, great example, now we have to worry about poor Warren Buffet. Yeah, the poor guy had about $20 billion in pocket cash but now that the market has dropped so has his pocket money. Now the poor guy has $10 billion.
Mr. Buffet should buy one of Dell's $600 notebooks since that's more in his affordable range now.

Dude, come up with something better, WB is still richer than this entire forum put together.

 

WB will probably be richer than the government after this Bailout goes through....

 

I doubt it, then do not have to. There not some bargain brand like compaq or emachines.

 

Why does that last statement remind me of the scene in Disclosure where Donald Sutherland was going in for the big wet one with Michael Douglass in his nightmare sequence?

 

Unless... Bill Gates was registered here secretly...Hmmmm

 

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm

You think those 651,000 people who lost their jobs in February were all Windows customers or despite losing their income they will just go ahead and buy that MacBook they have been looking at?

Apple will either lower their prices or realize a drop in demand and sales. People are not going to continue buying expensive notebooks at the pace they did in '07 and '08.

Really? You think software engineers prefer Mac OS? Ever been into an upper level computer science or engineering course at a major university?

 

Right now the market cap of Apple = market cap of Dell+HP
Anyone see this as wrong ?

 

LOL. I guess the rich losing money means they are not effected by this economy. Even the richest man in America is losing money. Buffet would buy a Windows PC because he is friends with Billy Gates. Buffet also does not buy gigantic homes, expensive cars, or other wastes of money. Buffet became the richest man in America because he does not waste money trying to be cool with an overpriced Apple computer.

 

Buffett became rich by buying low and selling high. He is frugal by nature but one can become rich while not being particularly frugal too.

 

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http://www.macdailynews.com/index.php/weblog/comments/8206/

after 2 years,Dell costs ~15 billiard $,while apple is still ~75

 

You have absolutely NO idea what WB buys. So what he's friends with Bill Gates, that says nothing. Microsoft's own team has used Macbook Pro's to demonstrate Windows Vista.

Please, don't tell me that you are now defending the rich for being now "less rich" when the middle class are losing their jobs and can't feed their families. R U a member of the elitist rich?

 

> Really? You think software engineers prefer Mac OS? Ever been into an
> upper level computer science or engineering course at a major university?

I have an IS degree from Boston College and an MSCS from Boston University. I've been a professional software engineer since the mid-1980s. I was a software consultant before making the transition to engineering. So yes, I do know a little about software engineering.

 

You dont become the richest man in the United States from not owning an Apple Computer. If I had billions of dollars and I spend even $100,000 on an insanely equipped Apple setup you still wouldnt go broke and its just "pocket change."

With your logic it means that Bill Gates became a billionaire just because he never bought an Apple computer and owns only windows machines!!

I'm sure Buffet throws money away with some "other interests" that he has, maybe on boat collections or some other type of collections that you wouldnt know about.

C'mon~

 

Buffett owns a $13 million home in Laguna Beach. He used to own two but he sold one in 2005. I owned Berkshire Hathaway stock (both A and B shares) for several years earlier in this century and followed Buffett and Berkshire as a shareholder would.

 

"I'm sure Buffet throws money away with some "other interests" that he has"

There's always the mistress that he had for 30 years.

 

What mistress ??

 

So we are talking about rich people now?

 

"What mistress ?? "

Google Warren Buffett Mistress. This has been well-known in financial circles for a long time.

 

well, this is kind of a slight bump, but the #s came out recently, with apple mac & ipod sales dropping 16% in february compared to last year.. surprised a lot of analysts, most were predicting somewhere in the neighborhood of -5%

guess we'll see . . apple is still in a very strong position right now though

 

How about Buffet's super secret midget slaves??!!

 

Nope they will not.
Apple has been selling gear above the price of PCs for quite a few years now and even when PC sales were tanking a few years ago, Apple didn't budge.

They make machines that work better than PCs (running Vista), that's the bottom line. So people who work on their machine and value thier time, they will continue to pay the premium for build quality and OS X.

 

I disagree. I think everyone is affected with the economy especially Apple. Their not immune to this economy, if no one is buying their notebooks and sales drop dramatically, they will still sell their notebooks to make a profit while being less greedy.

 

There is no indication from Apple's most recent quarter, that they are suffering from the problems in the economy. Their stock price is about 25% higher than it was several weeks ago and they do have a stream of products coming out this year.

We should find out soon.