Well the post MacWorld news, items, and other goodies seem to be flowing pretty well after the big mac Mini announcement. Here’s some interesting items:
Apple Pepsi iTunes Giveaway, Round 2 – Well it looks like Apple is partnering with Pepsi again with the iTunes promotion, which will begin at midnight on January 31st. Seems like we’ll see another Pepsi/Apple commercial for the Super Bowl.
Apple’s Tipping Point: Macs For the Masses – This next item comes from NiXLOG where Paul Nixon created a nice inforgraphic of Apple’s products, with Market Opportunity as the central metric to place the products on the graphic. His “inspiration” was from Malcolm Gladwell, author of The Tipping Point, and the associated article over at Fast Company.
Daring Fireball: Small, Cheap, and Without a Display – John Gruber discusses both the mac Mini, and the iPod shuffle in a lenghty blog post. He begins by quoting David Pogue’s summation of the products for the New York Times:
The iPod Shuffle and the Mac Mini are bold attempts to shatter the common wisdom that Apple makes gorgeous, expensive things. For the first time in its history, Apple has begun to make gorgeous, inexpensive things.
John then delves into the iPod shuffle details, and summarizes that Apple is cashing in some of it’s brand value for a shot to dominate the entire music player spectrum. He then goes into thorough detail on the mac Mini, and comes to a conclusion about why Apple released both the shuffle and mini:
Both the iPod Shuffle and Mac Mini are defined by their price points. What kind of iPod can we do for $99? What kind of Mac for $499?
In both cases, Apple is attempting three things:
1. Gain a foothold in the low end of the market
2. Avoid cannibalizing sales from Apple’s mid- and high-end products
3. Bring in new customers who have never purchased Apple products before
He feels the shuffle hit the mark on all 3, but item number 3 with respect to the mini is a little uncertain. Definitely a good article.
Taking Apart the mac Mini – Over at Smash’s World he stumbled upon a leaked video on how to disassemble the mac Mini. It definitely looks like a Mac Genius product training video for their retail repair staff. It’s interesting how they officially endorse a putty knife as the tool of choice.