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In order to attain what goal?  Is money or market share Apple's goal?  Granted these don't need to be mutually exclusive, but Apple may not be interested in that sub 1k market.

Spaceman wrote:

It's obvious Apple isn't selling many sub $1k comps - but where's the budget arm of Ferrari?

Thats hardly comparable given the fact that apple DOES have some sub $1k offerings. ... Just not many.

Spaceman wrote:

It's obvious Apple isn't selling many sub $1k comps - but where's the budget arm of Ferrari?

Ferrari is owned by Fiat...

The article from which you got that graph points out that Mac sales are growing while other computer sales have been flat (for laptops/notebooks) or shrinking (for desktops. To quote the article:

Apple's success above $1,000 defies some of the conventional retail thinking about PCs, where the emphasis is on lower pricing and greater features. "Consumers don't care about features," Stephen [Baker, NPD's vice president of industry analysis,] asserted. "People see a value proposition in an offering that gives them a great experience."

I think Apple will make a very low cost computer for the masses and I don't think it will be too long before they do it. It won't be a standard computer like the ones we are all using now. It will be a cloud computer. Once cloud computers hit the market your average user who simply surfs the internet and reads emails will have a very low cost alternative to the standard desktops and notebooks we use today. The MacBook Air is a step (a small step) in that direction. Giving you less onboard equipment and relying on wireless networking to communicate with drives and your desktop's large hard drive. Once cloud computers are on the market the computer won't even use a hard drive at all, your files will be on Google's or Yahoo's massive file storage system and you will access them through WiFi internet signals. Sounds a little scary to me but it's coming and with it you will see your well below the $1000 mark Apple computer.

I'm not saying I'm for it. I'm saying it is heading our way. I doubt you will be forced to use it but it will be a low cost alternative. Plus I'm sure WiFi technology will have greatly improved by the time this hits the market or else it will not be very successful.

Apple will alter it's product line when/if their sales plateau or start to decline, not before.

Perhaps all we really need is a subprime lending program to make Macs more affordable to the masses.

Apple is already working with Google on the cloud computer deal. I subscribe to the How Stuff Works Computers RSS feed. That is where I am sourcing my information from. It was really quite interesting. If you read about it on their site be sure to check out the section on DNA computers as well. That blew my mind!

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Howstuff … mputer.htm

Id be expecting the iPod OS X variant to become a much more formidable market in the coming years.

Pariah wrote:

In an age when extremely fast computers and vast hard drives are dirt cheap the notion of cloud computing seems silly if not downright stupid.
What problem does cloud computing solve?

It's the same principle as having your home directory on a network share - it doesn't matter what computer you're physically using, you're you and your files are "there."

In practice, it's slow, unreliable, and annoying, which is why nobody but schools do it.

Besides, most people only use one or two computers. If you have a thumb drive and an IQ over 80, you should be good to go.

dvpierce wrote:

If you have a thumb drive and an IQ over 80, you should be good to go.

I got the thumb drive.  Now if I could get my IQ up I should be good to go.