09/22/2008, 3:20pm, EDT
Monday, September 22nd
Apple sales staff steer clients to MacBooks
JMP Securities analyst Samuel Wilson is reporting that Apple sale representatives are steering customers from MacBook Pros to MacBooks. Barron's Tech Trader Daily is reporting that Wilson's survey of 30 stores (20 Apple stores and 10 Best Buys) found most of the sales force steering customers to the MacBook, away from the more expensive MacBook Pro, calling the Pro a designer's laptop. Wilson said, "We were repeatedly told that that Pro is designed for the design community, with a high-end video card and large screen, and that we would be better with a MacBook for the cost."
Wilson also reported that Apple has cancelled orders for memory from Asian suppliers, possibly indicating that sales have not reached forecasted demand. He noted slowed growth across the computing business due to the recession like conditions most customers are facing.
Wilson believes that low-cost PC notebooks featuring small form-factor designs may create a strong challenge against Apple products retailing at higher prices. He said, "At this point, valuation is not compelling." He is still maintaining a Market Perform rating on Apple's stock.
Barron's also reported that Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster upped expectations for Apple's September quarter (maintaining a Buy rating and a $250 Apple stock price target), and American Technology Research's Shaw Wu is continuing a Buy rating, despite a "minor speedbump" for Apple, who had to recall its iPhone power adapter Friday. Wu said that the news is causing little or no disruption in iPhone shipments, as most users charge their phones via USB cables.
Filed under: Investor, Apple
Other story tags: MacBook, MacBook Pro
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This is basically true
and the reason I went with a MacBook to replace my PowerBook G4 1.67ghz...
The performance differences between the MB and the MBP really ARE geared more towards visual design, and such. Seemed like a waste of money for backlit keys (even though I miss backlit keys :-( ... ) and a graphics processor that will... what, make exposé move a little faster? I was even running Aperture & a RAW library off of this little beast with little – if any – hiccups.
not to mention...
a little inventory clearing. Though it doesn't say when the survey was done, so it may not be relevant to the speed-bump coming.
laptops should be laptops
I still miss my 12" Powerbook. Even though I would like a faster video processor- I have a large screen to work on at my desk, I don't want a 15" laptop. Apple's product mix is so limiting. It's one of the reasons we love to hate apple.
Bring out a headless iMac, bring out a high performance 12" laptop- and voila- I'd be a happy camper.
basically true
Unless, of course, you actually want a good-sized screen, then the 13" MacBook seems a little small. Of course, if Apple could somehow find a way to add a 15" screen to a MacBook, and keeping the price down to, say, $1200, it might help.
Plus the white plastic? Doesn't have that 'pro' feel to it if you're trying to use one for business/work.
erm, I dunno...
My son has a Macbook and I wouldn't trade my MacBook Pro for it for any amount of savings. Then again, I like being able to work and game on this thing. :)
I would hope so
I also hope that most Sales Reps would steer most buyers to an iMac rather than the Mac Pro, unless of course they need the additional power of the Mac Pro.
Was there a story in here???
In other words
Apple is geared towards the customer's and not their needs.
Most people don't need a MacBook Pro and so Apple's steering towards the MacBook is a good thing.
The only thing I can think a consumer would need a MacBook Pro for is for games from slack programming companies like EA who refuse to support the Intel graphics chipsets in their bloated games.
I personally
prefer the MacBook Pro because I need to have two monitors, mail, browser, word processor, a virtual machine, MS-RDC, and Apple-RDC with processes sometimes running in all (yeah, I know. RDC remote processes don't count). Video performance is important in this setup, and I generally have enough power to handle adding iTunes, and the occasional java-based MS-SQL app foray.
I would shop for this capability for my personal machine (and did) because you just never know...
A sales person pointing me to a MacBook for this would be met with a polite thank you, and "the hand".
I'd rather have more horse-power than I need, than too little.
it's called clearing stoc
Nice that you have such short titles MacNN
They are just clearing stock of the current MacBook in order to prepare the way for the new models. It's not rocket science.
Smaller macs
I had a similar experience with the Toronto Apple Store who suggested my next mac should be the high end imac, rather than the pro, as it would more than meet my needs for working with large photos in Aperture, etc.....made sense to me, and I appreciate them trying to give me the best value.
Cheers
Chris