Apple has taken a leaf out of the same marketing book used by American Biblical creationists. They regard science -- especially evolution -- with the same baleful malevolence many afford Microsoft. But after years trying and failing to get their agenda accepted, they've switched tactics: now, they're concentrating on an equally wacky idea called Intelligent Design. That looks enough like science to get into school biology lessons, or so they hope: once it's there, they say, it'll be a wedge that they can start to use to break apart the rest of the scientific establishment.
That's what the Mac mini is: a wedge. It's less expensive than an iPod Photo and falls well within many people's discretionary budget. It looks gorgeous, so nobody's going to get into trouble for bringing one home. When people decide to upgrade their old PCs, it's going to take very little persuasion for them to give the Mac a go. As the fundamentalists know, one bite of an Apple changes everything. The main difference with the Mac is that it really does work better than the alternative. You can find ZDNet's preview of the Mac mini here.
Apple fanatics have been calling for a device like the Mac mini for years now, but it's taken the iPod to convince the company that the time is right. Yes, you can assume that your target market has got a lot of digital infrastructure at home: monitor, keyboard, broadband are already in the nest. Yes, you can repackage mature technology and it'll still be more than powerful enough to do the job. Apple understands the principle that products work best when matched to their environment, and that's a key insight for profitability.
There are three important questions that have to be answered before Apple can pronounce the Mac mini a success: does it perform to expectations, can enough be made and will it substantially increase the OS X user base? It'll take all three to go right before that wedge can be used to break into the greater challenge, the business desktop market. On this sort of confident form, Apple seems up to the task.
Talkback
Personally, I think it is a good thing, buying a PC without a mouse or keyboard (and the German market doesn't have bundled monitors in general anyway, do many markets outside the UK include monitors in the normal bundle?). I have a stack of manufacturer supplied keyboards and mice at home, because the ones that are normally provided are, to be kind, junk.
When I buy a PC, I usually end up with a 3rd party keyboard and mouse anyway, so saving me a couple of quid on the bundled ones and not having to make me store them until I get around to throwing them away is a good move. And some of my machines are on KVM's, so they don't need keyboards, mice or monitors of their own anyway.
I've wanted to try a Mac for a long time, I used the first ones for about 10 years from their launch, then the company I worked for switched to PC's. I've been looking at a new one for a while, I would love a G5 Mac, but as their US prices are high, and their European prices make the US prices seem dirt cheap in comparisson, I've steered away...
No, if they could do a decent job of a no-frills G5 Mac at a reasonable price, I would be very interested. As it is, I might give the mini Mac a look anyway, something to experiment with...
With the Mac Mini and the iPod Shuffle it looks like it's been a good day at the office for Apple. I think and hope they sell shed loads of both as the lack of a monitor, keyboard and mouse won't put off most users as they have those anyway. Customisability is the key right now and Apple have caught on to that.
Your "intellegent design" comment was cute but incredibly offensive.
Yes- your comment (in part derision?) over "intelligent design" was actually pathetic!
I take it you are an evolutionary theorist? I suppose evolution offer no "intelligent" design- just design by accident :-)
On the Mac Mini: it is a wedge, but one that needs more thought. Basic RAM at 256MB is poor, and the lack of ability to upgrade that yourself will mean that those unable to pay for the instant upgrade at point of sale will be put off by the need to visit a local Apple techie. Having said all that, comparable performance with a PowerBook will mean good things. I'm at BETT tomorrow, and I'm looking forward to catching a glimpse of this little beauty.
Designed by intelligence. I mean, can you imagine a 747 factory producing the beauty that is that airliner as a consequence of an explosion that causes random parts to come together? No? There's nothing random about the Mac Mini either.