Did you know that Apple still makes computers? It may be easy to forget that the company now best known for the iPhone (its top revenue generator), iPad and iPods has put tens of millions of Macintosh computers in American homes since 1984 and continues to do so.
But everything seems to become less cool as it pushes 30, and so Apple -- like other manufacturers -- needs to add some sex appeal to what was once its signature product, particularly the seemingly flagging MacBook line, to keep up sales in a world rapidly shifting to ultra-portable devices like tablets and super-capable smartphones.
Cheaper and Faster
The Cupertino, Calif.-based technology giant announced Wednesday that it was knocking $200 off the price of its 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display, which it calls the "highest-resolution notebook  ever." The 128-gigabyte model now sells for $1,499, and the 256-GB model is $1,699. The 256-GB, 13-inch MacBook Air is also dropping by $100, to $1,399.
The price stays the same for the 15-inch models, but Apple is packing more power into them: a 2.4 GHz processor for the 256-GB model and a 2.7 GHz processor for the 512-GB model, which goes for $2,199. That's up from 2.3 GHz and 2.6 GHz processors, respectively.
Price reductions typically signal that Apple is about to introduce a successor line of products.
Overall Apple was third in U.S. computer sales in the fourth quarter of 2012, after Hewlett-Packard and Dell, with 12.3 percent of the market, up about 5 percent from the same quarter of 2011, according to Gartner.
But another firm, IDC Research, said Mac sales were essentially the same in that quarter as the 2011 fourth quarter and down sequentially from the third quarter. The NPD Group said sales of MacBooks dropped 6 percent during the holiday season, and overall Mac sales -- including MacBooks and desktops -- were down 22 percent in the last quarter of 2012, with 4.1 million sold, according to Apple.
"Yes, tablets are cutting into PC sales -- for Apple and everyone else," said consumer devices expert Avi Greengart of Current Analysis.
Given the phenomenal success of the iPad, we asked Greengart if he sees Apple eventually creating a device like Microsoft 's Surface, which can be used as both tablet and laptop /netbook. (continued...)
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