There is no denying it, Apple’s new MacBooks are a work of pure genius; combining hugely impressive specs and a beautifully sleek design into a package that sets everyone’s inner geek going.
However, the price tag - though not uncharacteristically Apple - is surprising bearing in mind the current financial turmoil and uncertainty.
While the rest of the market moves towards the development of cheaper, more affordable laptops, Apple has decided to totally buck this trend.
As testament to how this may affect sales, I would like to offer myself up as an example. Everything Apple had produced to date, be it the first generation black MacBook or the reduced-price iPhone 3G, I have craved from announcement to purchase. These new MacBooks are impressive, but times have changed and I can no longer afford to splash out on a £1,000 laptop at a whim, and therefore the inner geeky consumer has not been crying out for this latest update at all - something that I’m really surprised about!
Media coverage also heavily reflects this point. Many doubt whether consumers are likely to part with a grand (or two) to buy a laptop anymore. This was the fate that the iPhone suffered until the cheaper 3G was released; sales have now soared and Apple is making far more money from them.
It will be interesting to look at Apple’s momentum of notebook sales over the next quarter, especially since it was something that Steve Jobs himself was touting at the conference yesterday. Will Mac sales stay growing 2-3x the market? I would imagine not much longer.
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