Apple's Year Ahead: Slashing Mac Prices to Boost Market Share?

same stuff again great results ...moderate projections and investors panic...when will they ever learn...

More like an iPod Tablet based on iPhone OS targeted to the education market. Basically, a much bigger touch screen, a video camera, a microphone, and the wonderful iPhone OS with App Store and you have a killer product. It does need to be priced aggressively given its target market, therefore, so lower gross margins for a while. And, I think Apple is just now realizing how big a revenue generator the App Store can be. They need to get the iPhone OS in more hands than those who can afford an expensive 2 year subscription.

Soon or late Apple has to be bust like a soap - bubble

let cut prices

Finally someone gets it... drop prices slightly and triple market share... Apple seems to be the only company out there with these growth numbers, yet people fear a slight profit margin drop...wait till Iphone revenue is added in... numbers will be huge..

Spot on! A recession is the right time for a innovative company with strong balance sheets to go on the offensive.

the report was great news for the long term; they're making their move by positioning themselves globally for incredible growth, they recognize that the u.s. market is small in comparison to the global market. they stated that they're happy with the demand elasticity they've witnessed so far with the shuffle & are moving in that direction. they're out to rule the world, i'm betting they'll be successful beyond imagination!

Every personal that buys a mac, buys all the addition items that Apple offers. They spend money on iTunes. Apple customers are the most loyal people in the industry. Get idea to get more people involved with the lower prices. When Mac takes 25% of the market share in the next 3-4 years, the stock price will expenentially grow. I could easily see this at $600 -700 with $20 per share in annual income.

I've been a Mac fan for years. Have 24 Macs in my small business and 6 at home. Each of my 4 family members has the first iPhone. And, I am an Apple stockholder. But I am becoming concerned with the company. During the conference call last night, Peter O. brings about a 10% drop in the stock price with his soft outlook. Why does he keep doing this? It kills the stock price and Apples loyal stockholders suffer financially when he knows his outlooks are inaccurate. And his lame response to Steve's health sounded like he picked the words right from the analyst's own question. Can't they come up with something better than "Steve's health is a private matter". I was watching the after hours ticker and it dropped 5% on that answer. Why doesn't he just say Steve's sick and get it over with. Let the stock take a hit and get it over with. Finally, I took one of my iMac's to the Tyson's Corner Genius Bar this morning and after working my way past the 500 deep line waiting for a new 3G I was amazed at finding lots of boxes of 3G's inside the store and plenty of sales people standing around but only a few actually assisting customers with their new 3G. Are they keeping these people in line just for show? This doesn't look like the Apple I've known for so long.

The biggest mistake in this article is that its headline ends with a question mark, implying that you don't know to be true that which you are inferring. If you can't end the headline with an exclamation point, or even a period, then you shouldn't publish the article until you know what you are talking about, and right now you don't. Now get back to work on it.

I love it, after I stated the mac is too expensive and the stock will be below 150 4 days ago, this comes out. I am sure aapl will be the one company that is not affected by the current economy everyone needs a touch music player right? No they need two or three lol... If you don't see how this company is gonna get hammered in this economy, you probalby own a mcmansion with an interest only loan and think your house is different than the foreclosure next door.

The glaring market that Apple does not offer a competitive product is gaming. Even Mac afficionados must have a PC for processor and video-intensive gaming. If Apple releases a gaming-capable product, they will reap market share, regardless of price because there would be no need for gamers to maintain two systems. HINT..HINT...HINT...

duh what a stupid article, US economy is slowing down most merchants I know are down 10% year to year for Q1 and Q2.... now apple is being cautions thats all.....

Please, an iMac with more ram and hard drive and speed. My G5 needs a companion. Photos take up so much room I have almost filled my 750 gigs. A cost cut would be icing on the cake.

huh? $600-$700 with ONLY $20 income...Dryships(DRYS), a dry bulker, that ships grains, iron and the like makes $18 in earnings THIS YEAR. The stock price is $75 with a PE of 4, if they scrapped the ships for metal the stock is worth $85 but its grown 42% annually for 5yrs. They also bought Ocean Rig giving them deep underwater oil cash cows. At worst Dryships will make $15 between the two for the next 5yrs. as that is what is locked up in contracts. Maybe not as sexy as Apple but fundamentally a far FAR better investment...may make 25% just with the BDI run into the fall. http://www.dryships.com/ then click on recent investor presentation(June 16th) and look at the charts yourself. Oh and when Steve Jobs dies or retires expect a 20% or more haircut...he IS Apple.

they've got the market cornered on innovative computing products--their business has matured enough to increase scale and make a push for taking market share instead of remaining more of a niche company in the computing industry--i just wonder if the price drop comes at a good time---a recession may be a good time for a strong co. to go on the offensive, but with their products being more on the luxury side, will they see increased sales proportional to the price drops?

"I love it, after I stated the mac is too expensive and the stock will be below 150 4 days ago, this comes out. I am sure aapl will be the one company that is not affected by the current economy everyone needs a touch music player right? No they need two or three lol... If you don't see how this company is gonna get hammered in this economy, you probalby own a mcmansion with an interest only loan and think your house is different than the foreclosure next door." Oh, dear! I should've listened to you when I bought the stock at $10/share (pre-split). BTW, you're a moron.

iPhones sales will depend on the manufacturing. As soon as an iPhone is made it is sold. The manufacturing can't keep up with demand. If Apple wants to sell 10 million iPhones, they will have to produce 10 million. If Apple wants to sell 20 million iPhones, they will have to produce 20 million. So the more iPhones Apple can produce the more they will sell. You can't be unrealistic and say 1 million iPhones will be produced a week because that is not physically possible unless Apple has multiple manufacturing plants.

Wow-- Optimistic Article. I love this company but... No mention of the skyrocketing cost of materials and the weakness of the dollar. They must be doing all they can just to maintain current prices which will cannibalize margins when manufacturing contracts are renewed. Look for aluminum enclosures to see a swift end.

I think Apple has something else entirely up its' sleeve. I think we will shortly witness a product introduction that will change the current "categories" of personal electronics. I believe this has been in the pipeline for some time.