Apple's iMac Is No Longer the Core
The last time Apple Computer Inc. introduced an all-new iMac computer, back in January 2002, Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs was featured smiling with the desktop on the cover of Time magazine. In order to give the iMac maximum exposure, Mr. Jobs even changed the date of the computer's unveiling to coincide with the publication of the Time story.
But yesterday, when Apple revealed its first new iMac in more than two years, there were no splashy magazine covers. Mr. Jobs, who is recovering from cancer surgery, wasn't there to promote the new flat-panel desktop. While Apple heralded the machine as a "breakthrough," the company didn't bother to have a live Webcast of the event, which took place in Paris at an Apple Expo conference.
The low-key unveiling highlights how much Apple has now moved beyond what was once its flagship product. After Mr. Jobs returned to head up Apple in 1997, he worked to revive the then-floundering company by revamping its computer lineup. The first fruit of his efforts was the iMac, an all-in-one desktop computer that made its debut in 1998. The machine quickly caught the public's imagination with its ease of use and distinctive candy-colored designs, helping to rebuild the Cupertino, Calif., company's reputation as a maker of user-friendly computers and innovative technology designs.
Apple's new iMac G5 includes a faster processor and a more compact design.
Computers still remain Apple's key revenue source, but the company's business and product strategy has since evolved away from the iMac. Indeed, sales of the computer peaked in the quarter ended in late December 1999.
Apple now relies heavily on its portable laptops, such as the iBook and PowerBook, which formed more than 50% of the company's computer revenue in its last quarter. Graphic designers and other professionals favor high-end models, such as the Power Mac G5, which are easy to upgrade with accessory hardware.
What's more, Apple is increasingly focused on its faster-growing business of digital music, which includes the white-hot iPod music player and the online iTunes Music Store.
Still, the iMac makes a statement for Apple. Apple designers spend years finessing the shape and style of the machine. Greg Joswiak, an Apple vice president of hardware product marketing, says the iMac remains "very important" for the company because the desktop "fulfills the brand promise of Apple, which is elegance and simplicity."
Mr. Joswiak also acknowledges Apple is "obviously a very different company" today than at the iMac's inception. At the height of the iMac's popularity in 1999, more than 700,000 units of the computer were sold a quarter, but sales have since leveled off at around 250,000 units a quarter. In the last quarter, the iMac was just 11% of Apple's revenue, making it the smallest sales contributor out of the company's computer portfolio.
Indeed, in a sign of how little Apple now relies on the iMac, the company was barely affected recently after it botched the computer's latest introduction. In July, Apple announced that it had to delay shipping the new iMac until this month, two months later than originally planned and well after it expected to run out of existing iMacs.
The setback, attributed primarily to manufacturing problems at International Business Machines Corp., which supplies Apple with the PowerPC G5 microprocessors used inside the iMac, meant Apple had no new low-end desktop during most of the crucial back-to-school shopping season. Despite the slip-up, Apple forecast strong earnings for the quarter.
The new iMac is already causing ripples, however, with its unusual design. The computer -- a screen with the innards of the computer cleverly tucked behind it -- is less than two inches thick, with speakers mounted underneath the monitor to reflect sound off of the desktop, and a neat row of ports for cables at the back. It is more powerful than its predecessor -- using a G5 chip compared with the previous G4 chip -- and does away with the half-moon-shaped base that formed the foundation of the previous generation of iMacs. The machine was designed by Apple industrial designer Jonathan Ive and his team, who also created the look of the iPod. Indeed, the new iMac bears a striking resemblance to the iPod.
That similarity is no accident. Apple, which will start shipping three models of the new iMac in mid-September, is aiming to convert iPod buyers into purchasers of the iMac, which, like all Apple computers, uses the proprietary Macintosh operating system.
In the past, the company has anecdotally noted how owners of its iPod, which works with both Macintosh machines and computers that use rival Microsoft Corp.'s Windows software, have become more interested in acquiring Macintosh computers after using an iPod. The iMac is calculated to capitalize on that trend.
Apple also is hoping the iMac will convince its existing Macintosh users to upgrade from their current Apple computers to the new desktop, especially as the key end-of-year holiday shopping season approaches. To expedite that process, Apple has built in a migration tool for the first time into its computer, allowing a user to transfer data and information from an old Macintosh into the new iMac through a FireWire cable.
The price could be a hurdle for some consumers. Apple is pricing its new iMac line at between $1,299 and $1,899, compared with between $1,299 and $2,199 that it charged for the previous generation of machines. While buyers will now get more for their money -- the new iMac's $1,299 model comes with a 17-inch screen as well as the G5 chip, versus the older iMac's 15-inch screen and a G4 chip, for example -- the iMac is still priced far more expensively than some Windows-based machines, which can cost just $800.
"Once the new iMac gets through its first burst of interest, will it really sell? That's the big question," says Steve Baker, an analyst at NPD TechWorld.
Apple's Mr. Joswiak says the iMac has a lot of appeal, particularly because of its design elements, including its thinness and quietness. The machine's noise level is at 25 decibels, lower than the previous iMac's 28 decibels and quieter than a whisper, he says.
The computer is kept cool by three different cooling zones inside all of its machinery. Unlike one general cooling mechanism that is generally found inside most computers, the three zones inside the iMac are designed to cool certain portions of the machine, allowing the fans to run more slowly and quietly, Mr. Joswiak says.
iMac风光不再
苹果电脑(Apple Computer Inc.)上一次推出全新的iMac电脑还是在2002年1月。公司首席执行长乔布斯(Steve Jobs)的笑脸伴随著iMac台式电脑一起出现在《时代周刊》(Time)的封面上。为了尽可能地扩大iMac的曝光率，乔布斯甚至调整了iMac正式推出的时间，以便和当期《时代》周刊一同上市。
但最近在苹果电脑两年多时间以来首次推出新款iMac时，却没有漂亮的杂志封面相伴了。乔布斯刚作完癌症切除手术，正在恢复期，不能亲自出面推广iMac新款液晶台式电脑了。虽然苹果电脑仍将这款电脑称为“一次突破”，但当这款新产品在巴黎举行的苹果博览会(Apple Expo)上正式推出时，公司并未安排网络现场直播。
这一次低调行事表明了苹果电脑的业务已在多大程度上超越了它原先奉为旗舰产品iMac电脑。乔布斯在1997年4月重返苹果电脑，开始大力整顿当时困难重重的这家公司。他一系列努力结出的第一枚硕果就是1998年问世的iMac，它集全套电脑功能于一身，使用方便，色彩亮丽出众，一亮相就吸引了众多用户的目光。iMac的大获成功重建了苹果电脑好用而又创意十足的电脑设计大师这一声誉。
电脑仍然是苹果的主要收入来源，但公司的业务和产品策略已经有了很大发展，离iMac越来越远了。实际上，iMac电脑的销售在1999年12月当季升至顶峰后再也没有重现辉煌。
苹果电脑现在大力发展便携式电脑，例如iBook和PowerBook等。上个季度便携式电脑的销售额就占公司电脑销售总额的50%以上。图形设计师和其他专业人士则热衷于Power Mac G5等通过加装硬件就很容易升级的高端设备。
此外，苹果电脑对快速发展的数码音乐业务也投入了越来越多的精力，包括热销的iPod音乐播放器和iTunes Music Store网络音乐业务。
然而，iMac仍然是苹果电脑的代言人。公司设计师们多年来不停地改进iMac的外观和风格。负责苹果电脑硬件产品营销的副总裁Greg Joswiak说，iMac对公司来说仍然很重要，因为它充分体现了苹果这个品牌的特色：简洁优雅。
Joswiak也承认，与iMac问世之初相比，苹果电脑已经发生了很大变化。在1999年iMac电脑大行其道的颠峰时期，其每季度的销量超过70万台，但那以后销量就日渐回落，现在停留在每季度25万台左右。上个季度，iMac的销售额只占公司销售总额的11%，是公司各款型电脑中销售额最低的。
实际上，从一个小小的迹象中就可以看出苹果电脑现在对iMac的依赖有多轻：新款iMac延期推出几乎没有给公司带来多大影响。今年7月份，苹果电脑宣布被迫将新款iMac延期2个月推出，远远滞后于公司预计的现有iMac电脑的售磬时间。
推迟的主要原因是供应商国际商业机器公司(International Business Machines Corp.)出现生产问题。iMac所用的PowerPC G5微处理器由IBM生产。推迟意味著在关键的返校季节苹果电脑没有新款低端台式电脑可供消费者选购。但即使如此，苹果电脑仍然预计本财季业绩表现出色。
新款iMac设计不俗，已经在市场掀起涟漪。各种电脑内设巧妙地隐藏在机身中，屏幕不到2英寸厚，音箱安放在显示器下方，背后是一排简洁明快的接口。新款iMac内装G5晶片，比上一代内置G4晶片的iMac功能更加强劲。外观也摒弃了iMac传统的半月型底座。苹果电脑的工业设计师Jonathan Ive及其团队负责新款iMac的外观设计，iPod的外观也出自其手。实际上，新款iMac与iPod的外观有惊人的相似之处。
这种相似并非偶然。苹果电脑新款iMac旨在将iPod买家转变为iMac买家，两种产品同样使用苹果电脑拥有产权的Macintosh操作系统。三种型号的新款iMac预定于9月中旬上市。
iPod用户往往同时使用Macintosh系统和微软(Microsoft Corp.)的视窗(Windows)系统，但在用过iPod之后很多人会变得更喜欢Macintosh系统。苹果电脑偶然得知此事，这次推出的iMac就是为了迎合这个潮流而专门设计推出的。
苹果电脑还希望，新款iMac电脑能吸引现有的Macintosh用户将他们现在的苹果品牌电脑升级成新款电脑，尤其是在年底假日销售旺季日渐临近之际。为了鼓励电脑更新，苹果电脑有史以来首次在电脑上配装了方便转移数据的工具FireWire数据连接线，帮助用户将数据和信息从旧款的Macintosh电脑转移到新款iMac电脑中。
但价格对某些消费者来说可能是个障碍。新款iMac系列售价在每台1,299-1,899美元之间，而上一代iMac的售价在1,299-2,199美元之间。虽然新用户现在用同样的1,299美元可以买到G5晶片配置17英寸显示器的新款iMac，而不是当年那个G4晶片15英寸显示器的iMac，可是与一些售价只有800美元的视窗系统电脑相比，它还是身价不菲。
NPD TechWorld的分析师Steve Baker问到，“一旦新产品的新鲜劲儿过去了，新款iMac还会好卖吗？这才是大问题。”
苹果电脑的Joswiak认为，iMac有许多特色，尤其是设计方面，其小巧轻薄和低噪音是两大特点。新款iMac的工作噪音只有25分贝，低于上一代iMac的28分贝。他说，这比人们的耳语声还低。
iMac独具三个不同的冷却区，而目前大多数电脑机箱里都只有一套冷却系统。Joswiak说，三个冷却区是为了让不同的零部件冷却下来，这样风扇就可以更缓慢安静地运转了。
