Apple on Tuesday unveiled a revamped line of Macintosh laptop computers made leaner, slicker, faster and a bit more affordable.
Along with showing off new MacBook models heading for store shelves, Apple cut the price of the original version to US$999.
The price drop marked the first time Apple is selling a laptop computer for less than a thousand dollars.
PHOTO: AP
“We sell a ton of these MacBooks and people love it,” Apple chief executive Steve Jobs said as he announced that US$100 was being trimmed from the model’s price tag.
Enhanced MacBook, MacBook Pro and MacBook Air models boasted improved features in Apple’s historic price range of US$1,200 to US$2,500.
Key upgrades to Macintosh laptop models included custom-designed graphics processors by NVIDIA to enhance computer game play and video viewing, as well as glass touch-pads that allow finger gesture controls.
“Apple did some things that are critical to this market,” said analyst Rob Enderle of Enderle Group in Silicon Valley. “It really is more for the money. In a market where people are very focused on value, that should play well.”
Before fielding questions from reporters gathered for the event at Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino, California, Jobs flashed “110/70” on a screen behind the stage.
“This is Steve’s blood pressure,” Jobs said in a joking reference to a bogus blogger report that wrongly claimed he had suffered a heart attack. “This is all we are going to talk about Steve’s health today. If you want to see that number go higher, just ask some more questions.”
A gaunt looking Jobs turned portions of the presentation over to other Apple executives in what may have been an effort to show the company’s fortunes do not rise or fall with him alone.
“After the heart attack scare the market is still nervous there is no heir apparent at Apple,” Enderle said, adding that he suspects Jobs, who was treated for pancreatic cancer in 2004, is undergoing chemotherapy. “None of those guys could stand up and be a Steve Jobs. He presents like a minister at a holy revival to his audience. His knack for putting together a story is unmatched in the industry.”
Sales of Macintosh laptop computers have outpaced the industry average each fiscal quarter for nearly four years. MacBooks have grown to account for 18 percent of US laptop computer sales, industry statistics showed.
In related news, South Korean consumer electronics giant Samsung is reportedly planning to break into the packed US laptop computer arena next year.
Samsung executives cited in the Wall Street Journal and other news outlets on Tuesday said the company would return to the US laptop market with low-priced “netbooks” as well as thin, powerful models aimed at Apple’s elite MacBook Air.
Samsung said it would sell its laptops in a partnership with a yet-to-be-disclosed US retail chain.
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