August 19, 2003
Apple is Porsche
Apple is Porsche
If there wasn't verifiable proof that the PC industry is segmenting into a market differentiated by price, power and style, the 100,000 orders for the G5 Macs that greeted the release of the systems by Apple yesterday is concrete evidence. Where the typical PC might sell for $1,400 pretty fully equipped, this new, stylish Mac starts at $1,999 for the basic unit. It's completely cool and very powerful, like a Porsche Carrera. There are plenty of fast PCs, too, but here you have style and power packaged together.
That makes Dell the General Motors, HP the troubled Ford and IBM the Chrysler, so to speak. Why do people pay a premium for Alienware PCs? They are kind of powerful, but here is a Pentium 4 3Ghz Alien system with the basically the same configuration and the same price as an entry-level G5 CPU. Style rules for a certain buyers, just as in cars. Apple is Porsche and, I guess, Alien is BMW....
