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kscherer
Which way is up?
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Boyzeee
 
2019-08-19, 13:38

Quote:
Originally Posted by Robo View Post
Apple just discontinued one of its three laptop lines due to an apparent lack of demand.
The 12" MacBook didn't fail because of keyboards or any other such thing. It failed because it was too expensive. Period. Had it been $999 it would have sold like hotcakes to students rather than the older MacBook Air, which was cheaper and more powerful. The MacBook was DOA because of its price, and that's it. From the very beginning it should have been the cheapest system in the lineup. Where Apple failed was in thinking that the "thinnest and lightest" thing was still where the premium pricing was at. It worked with the original MacBook Air because it was a new concept. It failed with the 12" MacBook because the "thin and light" thing had already been done, and the market for them had changed. I think that laptop was awesome! It was thin and light, and students wanted them, but could never justify a higher price on such tight budgets.

We sold about ten of them in the first 3 months as the gotta-have-it-nows rushed to get the new shiny. After that, they fell off to about 1 every 6 months through 2017, and then it took us over a year to sell the last one (a floor model that eventually sold at a $400 discount because no one was willing to pay $1299 for a computer that was never worth more than $999 brand new). I think I sold 1 to a student, once, but every other student* left with a $999 MacBook Air. I mean why would you spend more?

I would say it was an even bigger misstep than the G4 Cube or the 2013 Mac Pro. The market was sitting right there (students) and Apple was entirely blind to it. Even right now, today, that laptop—physically speaking—was the best option Apple had for the student market. Of all the people I know that are carrying laptops around, students are the ones who genuinely need the reduction in shoulder-sapping weight! And the 12" MacBook was by far the best laptop on the market for that.

*An exaggeration. A few students opted for 13" MacBook Pro's.

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