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Posted on 21 Jan 2005 at 15:29

Apple's stance on launching a low-cost Mac took a U-turn with the announcement of the Mac mini.

Only last year, Apple VP of worldwide sales Tim Cook told shareholders that the company wasn't interested in the low-end PC market and would, instead, invest in the iPod. The company explained that it was more interested in profitability than market share. So what has changed?

The answer is, of course, the iPod. It has been more successful than Apple could ever have dreamed. Sales figures for the Christmas quarter show that 4.5 million units were sold in the three months to the end of December. There are now millions of people using Apple hardware and software who have never been near a Mac. That is too good an opportunity to miss. By launching a Mac that costs less than the most expensive iPod, Apple is ensuring that many of those iPod owners, together with many more for whom a Mac was an unjustifiable luxury, will now buy one. This will significantly increase the Mac's market share . The Mac mini is the perfect machine to capitalise on the much talked-about 'iPod-halo effect' and ensure that the Mac is more widely used than it has been for more than a decade. And that has to be great news.

Author: Kenny Hemphill

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