Apple’s reputation for making premium consumer electronics at premium prices is something that is clear as day, but Apple surprised the industry by announcing on Wednesday that it cut the prices on select MacBook notebook computers by $200, while also adding free upgrades to faster processors on its 15-inch models.
Lower prices and more speed
In real world terms this means some of the starting prices for the MacBook Pro models with Retina displays will be $200 less, while the 15-inch MacBook Retinas will see faster processors:
13-inch MacBook Pro Retina, 2.5 Ghz processor, 128 Flash memory -- $1,499 13-inch MacBook Pro Retina, 2.6 GHz processor, 256 Flash memory -- $1,699 15-inch MacBook Pro Retina, 2.4 GHz quad-core, 256 Flash memory – $2,199 15-inch MacBook Pro Retina, 2.7 GHz quad-core, 512 Flash memory – $2,799
In addition the 13-inch MacBook Air with 256GB of flash memory has a new lower price of $1,399.
Why the price reductions?
Apple’s new policy of discounting some of its MacBook notebook computers may be directly related to the popularity of its iPads. The enormous success of its tablet seems to have cut into sales that would otherwise be tallied by its MacBook computers. This situation, where one company's product hurts the sales of another of its products, is known as cannibalization.
The drop in price of some of Apple’s MacBooks is seen as an attempt to recapture some of the lost sales that were caused by iPad sales.
Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, realized this problem within his company and said of the MacBook problem:
“If we don’t cannibalize it, someone else will.”
Via Apple
via Examiner National Edition Gadgets & Tech Channel Articles http://www.examiner.com/article/apple-slashes-prices-on-its-15-inch-macbook-pro-retina-display-notebooks-by-200?cid=roadrunner