Apple Stores would soon compete with Microsoft Stores with Microsoft announcing the thrust to open Microsoft Stores in the following months world wide. This effort “to help shoppers make smarter decisions about spending money on technology”, remarks newly appointed VP for retail stores David Porter. With recession biting deeper on worldwide economy, I think Microsoft anticipate consumers to think twice before purchasing any tech item. A $500 notebook vs. a $1,000+ counterpart is a valid option to know.
It’s “The Gurus” vs. “The Genius Bar” too in the customer-service representatives arena. We can expect pleasant Microsoft smiles from BestBuy. These gurus will be answering questions about PCs and Microsoft products, as well as giving demos of how the company’s products work together. Basically like Apple’s “Genius Bar”.
I hope this little game plays well into giving consumers the benefits of competition. I like Apple, I admit, but sometimes it’s just too expensive. If Apple could scale down it’s price, even for a little bit, I’m sure they’d securely grasp or even increase the pie they have.
If Apple priced their Macs to compete with cheap PCs then Apple’s Macs would have to use cheaper PC parts and Apple would be losing money on their Mac business just like Dell, HP, Sony and others are with their PC business.
Cheap PCs are loss leaders. If you don’t up-sell potential buyers to $1000 PCs you lose money on the sale.
i don’t know if microsoft could compete with apple “to help shoppers make smarter decisions about spending money on technology”
Make Apple products cheaper certainly is a common cry. I wonder if Mercedes, BMW and Porsche were to make cheaper cars that everyone could afford, would they just take over the whole auto industry. I’m sure they’d have to cut back on quality to make them cheaper for the masses.
I figure if you can’t afford an item, you just buy some cheaper substitute or get a better job or save a little longer. Asking a company to lower their prices somehow doesn’t make all that much sense. Apple doesn’t have much in the way of market share, but most higher-end companys don’t. I’m almost certain that Apple will never have a market share higher than 20%, no matter how long Apple continues to build computers. There are far more people in this world that value cheap over quality. There is always some exclusivity factor involved in higher-priced items. So I suppose if you just want some inexpensive PC go to the Microsoft Store and if you want a more expensive product then go to the Apple Store. It’s good to have a choice.
@Constable Odo,
don’t you think that a huge chunk of the price of Apple products is to finance the design chain? I think Apple users have to become clear and admit that the Apple boards full are with HW failures.
Obviously every manufacturer suffers of this problem, but Apple machines do not score a lot better. Faulty HDDs, for years problems with the Logik board, casing problems.
Maybe I’m biased as recent switcher, but I can state that I have had more HW failures in 17 months with Apple than in 5 years with Sony. 3 faulty HDDs on 3 different machines, white MacBook casing cracks, faulty receptor/antenna in the iPhone. And I can point you at friends who had machines fail 4 times before they received a new model (for free though).
I am not ready to switch back, but I certainly won’t say that the Apple products are that special when it comes to HW. Let’s just say that it are very good looking machines with a very competitive prices compared to similar specs. And they have a heck of a sexy OS.
I own a Macbook & a Dell Laptop… and I’m sure you have or had also owned products from Apple and Microsoft. I think they’re one and the same. As Franky said, Apple products have HW defects too. I remember bringing my Macbook in for replacement 3 times last year due to faulty bluetooth interface, faulty cd rom drives, faulty iSights…
which got me thinking “why would they highly market their warranty extension services”… hmmmm….
@constable… you’re not seriously comparing Apple with mercedez, BMW and Porche… que horror!!!