$999 iMac G5? VPC for G5 delayed again.

Well, I'm still getting used to this blogging thing... By accident, I deleted the first and only comment I've gotten. There was this nice little button and I didn't know what it did. So I clicked it, and poof! The comment was gone. Live and learn I guess.

$999 iMac G5

Sulis's comment was about a $999 iMac G5, and how that is likely not possible with a 17" LCD all-in-one, despite the fact that Fred Anderson has already gone on record to say that the US$999 price point (in general terms) is something Apple is looking at.

Well, I agree with Sulis. I don't think it's likely that Apple will make a 17" AIO G5 machine priced at $999. However, I do think it's plausible with a 15" AIO. In other words, contrary to the general wisdom in internetland, I'd be surprised if Apple scrapped the 15" AIO completely. A stripped down 15" AIO with G5 1.4 GHz would still sell reasonably well I'm guessing, for example to institutional purchasers and of course to precisely those consumers looking for a low budget LCD iMac. I wouldn't buy one myself, but I do think the 1024x768 screen size is more than adequate for this market, especially considering the screen is closer to a 16" screen in CRT terms. Well, maybe $999 is pushing it, but certainly $1099 is a reachable price target for this machine.

Some may bring up the eMac, but unfortunately, LCDs are where it's at these days, even in the consumer space, and even at the sub $1000 price point.

Virtual PC for the G5 delayed again

In other news, Microsoft has announced that Windows XP Service Pack 2 will be delayed until August. Considering that Microsoft has said that a G5 compatible version of Virtual PC won't be released until SP2 is out, the absolute earliest we could see the updated VPC is thus August, although it's likely that it won't be until September or later. That will impact some Power Mac users, but at least for the iMac crowd that may not be a big deal, since iMac G5s won't be out until September anyway.

100 000 000 Songs

Oh and I almost forgot: Apple finally reached its 100 million mark for songs legally downloaded from the iTunes Music Store. Unfortunately, we in Canada so far still can't download anything. The wait continues...