Apple reportedly to release US$799 MacBook Air in 3Q12

http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20120507PD214.html

by duck • 14 years ago

18 34 14 years ago

hello_asdf3• 14 years ago

I really hope this happens because I've been wanting to switch to a Macbook Air for a while now. Anyone interested in trading a late 2009 (I think, might be 2010) 13" Macbook Pro for a Macbook Air? :)

envex2• 14 years ago

If you really want to switch, you can usually save a couple hundred dollars by buying a refurb from apple.

hello_asdf3• 14 years ago

I hadn't thought about that, thanks for the idea.

tar• 14 years ago

Why do you want to switch to a MacBook Air?

hello_asdf3• 14 years ago

I don't know really. I just want a change, plus Linus uses one. I suppose that's reason enough.

envex2• 14 years ago

I just switched from a MB to a MBA.

My older macbook was starting to show it's age and I really wanted to switch to a SSD. My MB was already a 13", so the size wasn't an issue.

I ended up picking up a refurb for $1,099.

toadkick7• 14 years ago

I don't buy it, and this article doesn't really make a strong case for it either. If the MB Air is a strong seller (and by all accounts it is), what sense does it make for Apple to drop the price down $200 to "compete" in a segment where it is already dominating? Clearly other "ultrabook" makers are already having a hard time competing at even the $999 price point, so there's no need for Apple to eat into its (presumably healthy) profit margins for the MB Air. With that said, I wouldn't mind if this was true, I would have a hard time turning it down at that price. The only way I could see this happening is if Apple takes a similar approach as it does with iPhones (and now iPads), where they keep the last gen hardware on the market at a reduced price when they update the lineup. But still...a $200 price drop seems unrealistic.

stuff4ben• 14 years ago

Exactly! I don't recall many times (if ever) where Apple has competed on price. Gotta keep those margins healthy. To me it seems the article is link-bait.

viscanti• 14 years ago

The year old iPhone and iPad seem to be pretty good examples of Apple competing on price first. They're able to, because they're selling older (cheaper) components in a product that they've already paid for the design/development/engineering for. It's not impossible to imagine that Apple would sell the current low-end version of the Air for $200 cheaper than it's current price. Doing so, should help them appeal to a new demographic of laptop buyers who buy on price first, and are willing to sacrifice performance. The same people who buy a 2 generation old iPhone for $1 are the ones who may be interested in a $799 Air.

gte910h5• 14 years ago

Maximized profit is achieved by hitting profit X unit sold

If unit sold goes up by more than the lost per unit profit, then that's a winning proposition.

If people convert to the Apple brand, then Apple is going to make tons more than just that first sale. SSD prices also have probably REALLY made that 1k MBA a high profit device (they dropped a ton in the last year)

I predict the $800 MBA will just be this years 1k MBA.

See: The iPod Nano, the still sold iPhone 3GS (for $0 with 2 year contract), etc for past downmarket moves.

achompas3• 14 years ago

This comment isn't clear, but you make a few good points.

Short-run profits are maximized by producing at the point where marginal benefit = marginal costs (I think you state as much: "If unit sold goes up by more than the lost per unit profit, then that's a winning proposition."). Apple might want to produce these if the cost equation works (it might not--see below.).

You're also addressing the halo effect ("If people convert to the Apple brand, then Apple is going to make tons more than just that first sale.") This is anecdotally true: after I bought my first iPod in 2004, I purchased my first Mac in 2005 and now purchase Apple products as I'm happier in their ecosystem.

With that being said, what will Apple cut back on to generate large margins for a $800 MBA? Do they decrease storage? Produce a smaller (9.6") laptop? I really don't see how they go to $800 and preserve margins.

podperson• 14 years ago

Digitimes is completely worthless as a source of info on Apple. (They're right sometimes insofar as a stopped watch is right twice a day.)

That said:

1. Apple is pointedly not afraid of cannibalizing its own markets.

2. Apple is pointedly thinking in terms of "the Mac should respond to the iPad as a competitor" and this basically puts the iPad + keyboard case directly in competition with the Macbook Air (expect the SSD capacity of the Air to be reduced or the iPad to increase -- no way a 64GB Air sells for the same price as a 64GB iPad).

3. Now that the Mac is decidedly not central to Apple's revenues, expect Apple to rethink its Mac pricing in (to competitors) scary ways. Apple can afford to license its OS to third parties, and/or replace the Mac Pro with a dongle-based OS X license (buy whatever beastly workstation you want, and install Mac OS X Workstation Edition on it).

4. Apple really has no-one to compete with but itself at this point. Its competitors are a joke.

toadkick7• 14 years ago

Yeah, Digitimes is notorious for being completely wrong about Apple's plans.

#1 and #2 are fair points, in light of the fact that the iPhone completely cannibalized the iPod market. But, the amazing iPod sales weren't going to continue forever, and I think Apple just took the next logical step when they released the iPhone.

As you mentioned, an $800 MB Air would be in iPad + Keyboard/other accessory price range territory, which could certainly cannibalize iPad sales. But in this case it doesn't make much sense to cannibalize the still young and very profitable iPad market with a product that has been around much longer, has historically had low market share, and doesn't have the same "new and cool" factor.

#3 I don't see happening as long as Apple still intends to sell Macs, because that would dilute one of the things that makes a Mac a Mac (the combination of the hardware + Mac OS X), and they've fought pretty hard to keep Mac OS off of other machines.

netcan• 14 years ago

I would add another point to that. Until a few years ago Apple built relatively expensive products and tried to make them good enough that buyers would want them enough to pay more. With Macs and to some extent with iPods that let Apple collect a nice big share of the market's profits, but not much of the marketshare.

Now, they've learned to make products price competitive without sacrificing quality or much of their profits. iPhones and iPads are not a more expensive option. They stay well away from the low end, but they are not expensive relative to the competing products especially those with similar specs.

Thats a whole other kind of strategy ('penetration' they called it at Uni) and maybe they're bringing it to the mac.

ctdonath• 14 years ago

Well, with iCloud in place Apple could start weaning users off massive local storage, reducing significant hardware costs. What with the biggest reason for local storage being one's iTunes library, and Match alleviating the practical need for storing all that music/video on expensive spacious & speedy storage, why not plan for OS X & iTunes to ease offloading content (most of which is little used) and relieve the need for most of the Air's flash memory?

toadkick7• 14 years ago

I'd hardly call the 64 GB in the $999 model "massive". I still know a lot of people who won't make the switch to an Air due to the lack of an optical drive, and reducing the already small hard disk capacity would reduce the attractiveness of the Air to those folks even further. Also, I don't think iCloud and iTunes Match are good enough (yet) to convince people that the don't really need a hard drive anymore.

icefox• 14 years ago

Personally I am waiting for them to put floppies back in laptops. Seriously, Air will never get a built in optical drive and you either accept that and use the USB drive once a year when you need it or you just go and buy a different laptop, but for everyone else they are picking up the air in massive numbers and it is clearly the direction laptops are heading.

I have a macbook pro that came with a built in optical drive, but I still spent the extra money (and time) to remove it and replace it with a second drive.

gte910h5• 14 years ago

SSD's dropped in price precipitously. What used to cost about $140 (that 64GB drive) now costs about $40-55 bucks.

I could see them continue to sell this years model with perhaps a cost reduce step or two just like they do the iPhone 3GS.

shimsham• 14 years ago

The Mac Pro replacement, the iMac Pro should see the light of day soon, with hot-swappable disks at the left and right sides, thunderbolt (obviously) including simple multi-screen support, touchability where required and multiple gpu support.

ef4• 14 years ago

I'm still wondering if there's a Macbook Air with a retina display in the works.

pkamb• 14 years ago

An 11" with a 16:10 screen would be nice.

oemera• 14 years ago

I really don't think so. Imagine every app with custom images / icons would need an update and this is way harder than updating iOS apps. The App Store is pretty "new" business and it is really fast but on the Mac it is kind of different. These things take longer.

Imagine Microsoft would need to release a version with retina graphics. This would take ages instead of weeks!

Another point is that it would cause fragmentation in the whole Mac / MacBook ecosystem.

I really don't think that this will happen in the next time!

rdl• 14 years ago

I assume for laptops, unlike iPads, it doesn't make sense to just keep selling the late-2011 MBA11 for a new $799 price point once the expected 2012 MBAs ship (presumably at the current price points).

Unless there are parts shortages, bumping the CPU to a newer one probably raise costs -- smaller process should eventually make the same number of computrons cheaper from a low spec new chip than a mid-spec older chip.

Not upgrading to better (retina?) screen (although 1440x900 on the MBA13 is pretty close, especially when used at arm's length), keeping RAM at 4GB, and maybe cost savings with older/slower integrated graphics...maybe that could let you have lower costs and price discrimination.

Refurbs already are -$100 to -$200; I don't know what availability there is on laptop refurbs vs. iPad refurbs.

protomyth• 14 years ago

I am trying to think of the last time digitimes got a rumor correct. They have an exceedingly poor track record.

It does seem natural that a portable from Apple will hit the $799 price range to capture the college freshman crowd. Portables and not tablets are still a requirement at many schools.

Apple reportedly to release US$799 MacBook Air in 3Q12

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